Any mention of an insulated society on the Korean Peninsula is likely to evoke images of a brutal regime run by a pudgy, screwball dictator.
Sure, North Korea could be fairly described as an insulated society, but what about "English Village" in Paju, South Korea? Located just a few miles east of the 38th Parallel, English Village is a world onto itself.
Like any small town USA, English Village boasts a main street flanked by Western shopfronts.
Ironically, the town also resembles North Korea in some respects. For example, English Village imposes what some might consider to be bizarre, draconian laws on its schoolage inhabitants: They are barred from speaking their mother tongue.
Luckily, "punishment" for speaking anything but English ranges from a friendly reminder to a gentle scolding from a teacher. For now, the Disneylandesque "language immersion camp" has decided against gulags and summary executions.
Inspiration
"We visited English Village twice in South Korea. It is basically a theme park, and we were so inspired that we had to set up our own English Village in Taiwan," said Morgan Sun (
A non-government organization (NGO) devoted to improving the quality of education in Taiwan, the foundation recently announced plans to open the Happy Global English Village in Taoyuan County in September next year.
Modeled after English Village in South Korea, Taiwan's village will accommodate 140 elementary and middle school students per day.
Although much smaller in scale than English Village, Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-lun (
"To date, the King Car Education Foundation has invested NT$30 million (US$910,752) in the camp and we will have more infrastructure and software in place by the summer," Sun said.
Boasting additional funding and other material support from the Taoyuan County Government, the camp will simulate a tiny town in the West for Taiwanese children to lose themselves in.
A post office, airport customs, a Western restaurant, a hospital and, of course, classrooms galore will comprise the "town," according to a foundation press release.
Foreign staff will provide the finishing touches by fostering an English language environment, foundation and Taoyuan County Government representatives said.
"In addition to attracting retired teachers from the US for the camp, we want to offer teaching internships to native English-speaking college students," Sun said.
Jeffrey Lamb, a graduate student in the Graduate Institute of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language at National Taiwan Normal University, said that language immersion camps are all the rage worldwide.
Immersion
"We know that immersion is a good way to teach [foreign languages]," Lamb said, adding that camps and theme parks like English Village are popping up all over the US for Chinese and Arabic.
An expert on foreign language pedagogy, Lamb said such camps provide youth with more exposure to foreign cultures and languages than they can receive in the typical classroom.
"The camps are an effective way to teach language and broaden kids' global vision," Lamb said.
Attached to the Happy Elementary School in Taoyuan County, Taiwan's first language immersion camp boasts new buildings and plenty of public and private support: signs that the camp is a project with strong legs and the potential to be duplicated nationwide.
"We don't want this camp to be the only one of its kind in Taiwan," Chu said.
"We want it to be the first of many," he said.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS