Published by the Gwangju International Center since 2001
Welcome to November; the penultimate month of the year is here already. The solar term, Ipdong (입동, Onset of Winter) on November 7 reminds us of the coming colder season, and Soseol (소설, Small Snow) of the coming white precipitation. Also here already is the penultimate issue of the Gwangju News for 2022, hopefully bringing you much-desired warmth through its contents to counter the chilling effect of the outside elements.
If you have been around Gwangju for a while, you have likely heard of Julian Warmington – that pack of energy from New Zealand. Julian taught for years at Chosun University. During that same time, he also spent years contributing to a fledgling Gwangju News, where he wrote articles, served as co-editor, and later served as editor-in-chief. Julian was also considerably involved in Korea TESOL, serving for several years as editor-in-chief of The English Connection, KOTESOL’s quarterly magazine, as well as founding and being a driving force in KOTESOL’s Environmental Justice Special Interest Group. In this interview, we touch on all of the above but focus on how EFL instructors can instill in their students a strong sense of environmental awareness.
October is already here! It seems like only yesterday that we were experiencing the greening of spring, followed quickly by the yellow heat of the summer sun. This month brings us the onset of polychromatic autumnal hues, and this October issue of the Gwangju News brings you a colorful variety of news, views, and interviews for our multifaceted readership to peruse.
“Many expat teachers in Korea today got their start in English teaching at one of the many private English institutes that populate the streets of every population center in the nation. I did not begin my days in Korea working at a language institute (aka hagwon) – nor did any expat in Korea at the time. It was against the law. “English fever” and “English hell” are not such recent phenomena. During the Park Chung Hee administration, only a very few hagwon were granted business licenses, and those that were so lucky were limited to teaching content directly related to standardized exams such as the college entrance examination, and hiring non-Koreans to teach English was also against the law. “
The revolving door is currently opening on the month of September, allowing in a cooling breeze unfamiliar to the sultry summer. Heralding this cooling are the seasonal terms of White Dew (백로, Sept. 8) and the Onset of Autumn (추분, Sept. 23), and we must not forget the biggest autumnal holiday of all: Chuseok (추석, Sept. 9–12). Coordinating with these seasonal temps, the Gwangju News offers you a “cool” issue of information and enjoyment for the entire month.
We are all familiar with the terms linguistics, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, and psycholinguistics. But peace linguistics may not be so firmly seated in our lexicons. To find out more about this, we turned to Jocelyn Wright for an interview.
Those familiar with English language teaching (ELT) are most likely familiar with the international ELT associations TESOL Intl. Assn., centered in North America, and IATEFL, centered in Europe. These two associations have been with us for nearly a half century, leaving Asia underrepresented. To fill this gap, AsiaTEFL was relatively recently formed. The following interview is with AsiaTEFL President-Elect Park Joo-Kyung, a resident of Gwangju, and focuses on what AsiaTEFL is and what it has to offer the ELT community.
It’s July, it’s already our seventh issue of the Gwangju News for 2022, and it’s hard to believe that the year is already half over. July signals the beginning of warm and sunny summer weather, school vacations, and vacation trips, which are now more easily possible with the abating of Covid. So, whether you are relaxing in a long chair on a sandy beach or in an armchair in the air-conditioned comfort of your home, we provide you with a new issue of the Gwangju News for your July reading.
