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July 18, 2008
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Despite the 60-inch flat screen television and travel-themed design, a fifth grader with the family name Kim is not too impressed. “It’s nice that the classroom is now bright and clean, but none of the class materials had changed,” he said. At another English-only classroom that opened last month, 30 middle school students are engaged in a vocabulary game with their instructor. The teenagers, divided into teams, yell, “Here! We got the answer!” as they hold up answer cards. Blinds printed with a large photo of a double-decker bus on the streets of New York hang in the place of the usual curtains. “We study English three times a week, but we always have one class here,” said a student with the family name Kwon. “We have been playing this vocabulary game before the classroom was redecorated.” Although this school spent 50 million won remodeling two classrooms, there is still little difference in the quality of instruction. The Lee Myung-bak administration is splurging 100 billion won ($96 million) on creating such classrooms with the purpose of establishing an English-friendly educational environment across the country. However, there is criticism the budget is only being used to change the decor, rather than to reform the curriculum. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology gave 16 district education offices each 73 billion won to fund such English class projects. Some offices are planning to use their own budgets for curriculum development. The Gyeonggi Office of Education has already planned for 198 English-only classrooms, costing 100 million won each. Seoul will have 278 installed by the end of the year, at 50 million won apiece. However, this budget of 50 million won per school is being handed out by district education offices indiscriminately, regardless of a school’s size or situation. Despite the ample budget, software is insufficient. Besides a selection of teaching materials including books, DVDs and dictionaries, there is no standard English education system. “Although the facilities are pleasant and encourage student motivation, there is an urgent need for a program to utilize these benefits,” said a female English teacher who only gave the name Park. “There may be problems because this is a pilot project, but a new class agenda and budget distribution plan will be developed for gradual reform,” said a Seoul Office of Education representative. Despite this internal deficiency, however, the project is a financial jackpot for the interior design companies remodeling the classrooms. “Last year our sales were 1 billion; this year they have increased to 10 billion won. We are getting inquiries from all over the country,” said one company representative. By Min Dong-ki JoongAng Ilbo [enational@joongang.co.kr] |
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