Summer Intensive Program

Changnyeong English Village's Summer Intensive Program

This year our summer intensive program was three weeks long. Our program is available for elementary and middle school students in the Changnyeong area. 

On the first day all of the students are interviewed and split into class according to how they scored. Three teachers taught the middle school group and three teachers taught the elementary school group. 

This year our program was very unique because we found that teaching a group of students for three weeks could get boring so instead we decided to do a rotation. Each teacher came up with a topic and made relevant material. Each day for first period the students would go to their homeroom class, then for second through fourth period they went to the other teachers to learn about their topic. We also made sure each week had an activity day. Our activities included: golden bell quiz, talent show, movie with trivia, and a field day. I think the students and the teachers had a great time getting to know each other and having fun learning English together. 

Some pictures of our classes:

In classroom six the students learned how to set up a tent. Then they talked about first aid, shared camping stories, and ate S'mores

In classroom five the students learned about fairy tales and they also practiced and performed a short play based on a Korean Fairy Tale

In classroom four the students learned how to play different American sports.

In classroom three the students had a great time talking about food and restaurants.

In classroom two the students learned about many things including pirates, body parts, and colors.

 In classroom one the student learned and talked about hobbies and jobs.

Pictures of the talent show:

 Limbo, how low can you go?

 The Fairy tale play.

 The Ukulele player won the talent show. She was good.

This boy played 'Let it be' on the recorder and he came in second place.

Golden Bell Quiz:

During the quiz we had some visitors from a TV show come and interview some of our students.

On the last day of summer intensive we had a field day and it ended like this.

Changnyeong English Village has Grass!

Changnyeong English Village has GRASS!

For those of you in America grass doesn't seem like a big deal but here in Korea it is huge DEAL. I didn't even know grass existed here. Schools usually just have a huge dirt field out front where the students play. People don't have a "yard" with grass that I have seen and I live in the country. Everyone has a garden and weeds are everywhere but weeds and grass are so different. 

Before the grass:

During The Planting:

What you see in the picture above is a team of ajimas planting little clumps of sod in the fresh soil.  The process took over three months after all the rain delays and other issues that came up. They first installed a drainage system under the whole field. They then buried the system and let the soil settle. We then had our team of hard working ajima's, commanded by three guys, who planted the grass clump by clump all while taking the rocks out and putting them into little piles. That took them almost 7 days to get finished. Since then our little ajima squad has returned every so often to hand weed the grass and trim, by hand. Seem like they prefer to do things the hard way here.

after:

Yes the yellow ribbon wraps around the whole field. We are not allowed to walk on the grass. I wonder how long we will have to wait, or if we will ever get to play on it. 

Changnyeong English Village and How it works!

Below you will find a breakdown of what life is like during the average week at CEV. TL;DR? I'll try to sum it up at the bottom.

*  CEV is a government school, which means it's a little different than the average school in Korea.

*  We work a midday shift, usually from 12:30pm-9pm, with 6-7 for dinner.

Are you following so far? Good. It's gonna get a little more complicated.

* CEV is an English camp. Think of it as summer camp, but it runs all year, and it's also kind of school.

*  All of the teachers come from English-speaking countries.

*  It's a full English immersion program. All of the teachers only speak English. We only use Korean (very basic) when absolutely necessary, which is not often.

*  Every week, we teach students from a different school in the province.

*  On most weeks, we teach a different grade level than we did the previous week. The grade range is usually 4th-8th.

*  We split the children into six groups, 1 being the lowest proficiency, 6 being the highest. Every week, we teach a different (descending) fluency level.  If I teach Level 6 this week, I will teach Level 5 next week, Level 4 the following week, and so on.

*  We use textbooks and materials created by the teachers at CEV. The textbooks are made up of Basic English, and activities related to our many simulation rooms.

Still with me? If so, congratulations! You've made it through the most complicated part. If not, rinse and repeat. Simulation rooms, you ask? Yes! This is the coolest part about CEV. Basically the school's goal is to create the experience of traveling to an English-speaking country. We teach the students vocabulary associated with each room, and then go to the rooms to play games, perform role-plays, have scavenger hunts, and more. What we do depends on the level of the students. I've had days where we just walked around and talked about what was in the rooms in simple English, and days where students have come up with their own full-scale role-plays on the spot. Wanna see?

 The register in the Market. The wall is pretty cool; it's basically a duty free store at the airport (but we use the room as a regular shop. Kind of like our own mini-Walmart?) The kids love it.

 The clothing store in the Market. Students love to buy the clothes and put on fashion shows.

 The hodgepodge part of the Market. Students can go shopping for anything here and practice purchase role-plays with anything in the room.

The grocery store section of the Market. Great for helping students practice their foods!

 Science. Students can do experiments, learn about their 5 senses, or (a popular new activity) test their heart rate using different exercises.

Language Lab. This is a great place for various review games, or to introduce students to each room via various videos (Mr. Bean is most popular).

This place is creepy at night. He gets me every time. My gift to you.

 The Airport. Students learn various travel vocabulary words, role-play a travel experience, or have a question scavenger hunt here. They can even make passports to get stamped by a "customs officer."

The Hotel. Students can role-play here, or play games on the map or with international landmarks.

The doctor's office in the Hospital, where students can perform role-plays using lab coats, a stethoscope, and a toy needle, otoscope, pager, and thermometer.

 The optometrist corner of the Hospital.

There is a pharmacy in the Hospital that is used in a scavenger hunt activity.

 The Bank. Students practice exchanging money, withdrawing money from an ATM, and counting.

 The Post Office. After going to the Bank (same room), students can use their "money" to pay for shipments. There's a fun packing contest that we do in here that students like a lot.

Art Room, full of various crafts. Students usually make masks or paper crafts, or draw whatever.

 Our (small but hopefully growing) Restaurant. Right now it's in the travel room, but maybe one day in its own room? :D

Restaurant menus made by an awesome teacher (Lauren S.) We have all of the food on the menu for role-playing.

 My (Amanda) classroom!

From the other side.

So that's pretty much CEV. We use simulation rooms to teach English to elementary and middle school students in a week-long, camp-like immersion program. It's pretty cool.

Where is Changnyeong English Village

Changnyeong English Village -CEV as we like to call it- is located in the Gyeongsangnamdo region of South Korea. 

Here it is on Google maps!

We are located in a small farming community where rice, onions, and garlic are grown. Yes, it is a rural area but it's surrounded by beautiful fields and mountains. It quite a nice view!

What about Transportation?
Buses come by our school on a timed schedule. It costs 1,200 Korean Won to ride the local bus to Changnyeong, which is where the nearest bus terminal is located.

Taxis are always driving by too, and they are relatively cheap here in. For the approximately eight-minute ride to Changnyeong, it cost around 8-9,000 Won.

Once you make it to the bus terminal, you can take a bus to Busan (Pusan); it's about a one-hour ride. Daegu, third-largest city in Korea, is just 30 minutes or so away. The terminal has buses to other places as well. However, the above-mentioned are two of the most popular among foreigners in Changnyeong.

You might be thinking, "YUCK, a bus," but in Korea public transportation is amazing and everyone uses it.

This is our town in the fall. This picture is taken from the mountain behind our school. You can see our apartment building at the bottom left of the photo.

Another Fall picture of the school. We live in the apartment building on the left.