Daegu·Gyeongbuk English Villages Bounce Back After COVID-19, Bustling Again After 3 Years

48 Japanese Kosen Students Enroll

Yeongjin College Operates English Experience School

Recently visited Daegu·Gyeongbuk English Village's Travel Agency experience center, where about 10 male and female students enjoy English experiences necessary for overseas travel against a backdrop of walls decorated with flags from various countries around the world.

Students from a Japanese technical college are learning English while participating in situational experiences at the Daegu-Gyeongbuk English Village.

Listening to explanations from native-speaking instructors about passports, currency exchange, and airline tickets, those practicing as if in real situations are not Korean students but students who flew in from Japan.

Tomino Kokoro (富野心, 19), a fourth-year student at Niihama National College of Technology in Japan, whom we met here, said, “It was my first time at a place like an English village, so I was very nervous when I entered, but now, after a week, communicating with native teachers has become much easier. The food is delicious, the facilities are beautiful, and I have made many new friends, which makes it even better. I am also envious that Korea has a place like an English village, and if I get the chance, I want to come again.”

Yeonhwa-ri, Jicheon-myeon, Chilgok-gun, Gyeongbuk, near Chilgok Logistics IC on the Gyeongbu Expressway, is where Daegu·Gyeongbuk English Village is located, and spring has returned here as well.

Daegu-Gyeongbuk English Village in Jicheon-myeon, Chilgok-gun, Gyeongbuk, operated by Youngjin College.

With expectations that English experience activities, once halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will regain momentum, the staff at this English village are welcoming this spring more than anyone else.

As the COVID-19 clouds cleared, students from Japanese Colleges of Technology (a 3-year high school + 2-year college program) were the first to visit. Among these colleges of technology, seven schools including Ube College of Technology in Aichi Prefecture sent 48 enrolled students to Daegu·Gyeongbuk Village from April 6 to 17 during their spring break.

The Japanese students participating in the 12-night, 13-day English Immersion Camp engaged in conversation and business interview and presentation English programs with native instructors, including situational experiences (bank, post office, police station, grocery store, hospital, travel agency, etc.). They unanimously expressed that their listening skills improved and their anxiety about English was greatly alleviated.

On the weekend of April 11, they toured downtown Daegu with students from Yeungjin College's Japanese IT department, experiencing Korean culture and having meaningful exchanges between Korean and Japanese youth.

Okada Asumi (岡田明純, 19, Ube College of Technology), who said this was her second visit to Daegu, said, “My English speaking has improved a lot. Also, last weekend, I made great memories visiting cafes, restaurants, and shopping malls in Daegu’s Dongseong-ro with Yeungjin students.”

Until 2019, before the outbreak of COVID-19, many Japanese students visited this English village, but the pandemic closed the skies, and visits stopped completely for three years.

Yeungjin College, which operates Daegu·Gyeongbuk English Village, visited Japan during the winter break in the post-COVID era to discuss and expand exchanges between Korean and Japanese educational institutions and signed an MOU, paving the way for Japanese students to revisit.

Ryu Yong-hee, director of Daegu·Gyeongbuk English Village, said, “Our English village has signed an educational cooperation agreement with Auburn University in the United States and operates various English experience programs. In particular, about 50 excellent native English-speaking teachers provide practical situational experiences here at the English village so that students can directly experience real local situations without going abroad. We are doing our best to operate and support these experience programs.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.