Speaking Korean is not allowed at the Paju English Village, a huge English camp near Seoul, South Korea, that immerses its students in an all-English environment. But this is more than just a language camp. It is a real community made to look like an English village where hundreds of people live, eat, sleep, shop and learn.
The Paju English Village is built on a 277,000m2 piece of land, and is the world's biggest English immersion camp, boasting its own bar, bookstore, bakery, restaurant, bank, theater and even a city hall.
Electric buses drive along the main street, which branches off to classrooms and houses for 550 Korean students and 70 staff, as well as 100 teachers from various English-speaking countries. Korean is outlawed and even written signs are not allowed.
PHOTO: AFP
"We wanted to create an environment where students feel they left Korea behind," said Jeffrey Jones, head of the Paju camp.
Tens of thousands of young Koreans go abroad every year as they try to learn to speak English. In an attempt to reduce the outward flow, and to provide another choice for people who can't afford the trip, English villages are starting to appear across South Korea. Ten of these villages have already opened since 2004, and at least four more are expected to open soon.
Jones said the village allowed its Korean residents to speak in Korean only twice a day over meals, while making them speak English the rest of the time.
The Gyeonggi Province government, which owns the Paju camp, pioneered the huge immersion language program in South Korea by building the first English-only village in 2004 at a cost of 85 billion won (NT$2.88 billion). (AFP)
在南韓首爾附近的大型英語營「波州英語村」不准說韓語，讓學員沉浸在全英語的環境。不過這不只是一個語言營而已，它是一個打造成英語村的真正社區，有數百人在此居住、飲食、睡覺、購物與學習。
波州英語村佔地約二十七萬七千平方公尺，是全世界最大的英語營，以擁有酒吧、書店、麵包店、餐館、銀行、電影院，甚至市政府而感到自豪。
電動巴士沿著主要街道行駛，巷道內是教室及五百五十位南韓學生、七十位職員與一百位來自各英語系國家的教師的房舍。村內禁止使用韓語，連書寫的標語都不准。
波州英語營主任傑弗瑞．瓊斯說：「我們想創造一個讓學生將韓國拋諸腦後的環境。」
每年有好幾萬南韓年輕人出國學習英語。為了減少出國潮，提供負擔不起海外旅行的人另一個選擇，南韓各地開始出現英語村。從二○○四年開始，已有十家英語村開幕，短期內預計至少還有四家將開幕。
瓊斯表示，英語村只准許村內南韓人一天兩次用餐時說韓語，其餘時間都得說英語。
波州英語村隸屬於京畿道道廳。京畿道道廳在二○○四年斥資八百五十億韓元（新台幣二十八億八千萬元）打造了南韓首座全英語村，是南韓全英語學習計劃的先鋒。 （法新社／翻譯：賴美君）
A: In your view, what are Taipei’s top buffet restaurants? B: Feastogether Group’s outlets — A Joy, Inparadise, Eatogether, Sunrise and Fruitful Food — are the runners-up. A: A Joy’s deluxe meal, priced at NT$3,880 per person plus a 10-percent service charge, is the most expensive of its kind. B: My No. 1 goes to Hi-Lai Group’s outlets — including Island and Hi-Lai Harbour. A: I feel like I’ve gained 3 kilograms just from hearing all the options. A: 你心目中最強的吃到飽餐廳是？ B: 亞軍是饗賓集團的吃到飽品牌︰饗、饗饗、饗食天堂、旭集、果然匯。 A: 饗每人高達3,880台幣加一成，是全台最貴的吃到飽！ B: 冠軍則是漢來集團旗下的品牌︰島語、漢來海港。 A: 哈聽到這麼多吃到飽，我感覺又胖了3公斤。 （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張迪）
As summer approaches, people everywhere start enjoying frozen treats, especially the increasingly popular “gelato.” This Italian-style ice cream features vibrant colors and intense flavors. Made primarily with milk and often featuring seasonal fruits, gelato has a lower fat content of 4–8 percent compared with ice cream’s 10–14 percent. These ingredients ensure each spoonful is fresh and flavorful. The magic of gelato also lies in its texture and density. Unlike ice cream, which is stirred faster and harder, gelato is blended slowly by craftsmen. This process introduces less air into the mix, thus creating a creamy texture that is denser and smoother
A: In recent years, all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants have become the highest growing dining sector. What are some of the best buffets in Taipei? B: In my opinion, No. 10 to No. 7 are: Renaissance Taipei Shihlin Hotel’s Shihlin Kitchen, Denwell Group’s Feng Food, Grand Mayfull Hotel Taipei’s Palette and Shin Yeh Group’s Nagomi. A: The all-you-can-eat Japanese Wagyu beef at Shihlin Kitchen is superb. B: No. 6 to No. 3 are the “Big Four:” Sheraton Grand Taipei Hotel’s Kitchen 12, Grand Hyatt Taipei’s The Cafe, Regent Taipei’s Brasserie and Le Meridien Taipei’s Discovery Kitchen. A: Wow, all four
★ Bilingual Story is a fictionalized account. 雙語故事部分內容純屬虛構。 Uneasy voices started to ripple through the lines of anxious students outside the school gate. “No signal?” “VPN’s down too.” “Wait — is this a cyberattack?” Nothing loaded on Jun’s phone either. Not his AI tutor, Echo. Not any app. Not even the Internet. Jun stood shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of other students outside the school gate. It was national exam day and the early July air was thick with heat and now charged with anxiety. The scene of everyone’s head hunched over their phones, cramming vocab,
RSS