Gwangju Foreign School

Infobox School
name = Kwangju Foreign School


motto = Character and Knowledge
established = 1996
type = Private
affiliation =
district =
grades =
president = Robert Holley
principal = Joseph R. Lynn
head of school =
dean =
faculty = 18
staff = 6
students = 130
enrollment =
athletics =
conference =
colors =
mascot =
free_label =
free_text =
free_label2 =
free_text2 =
location = 633-1 Yangsan-dong, Buk-gu
Gwangju
coordinates =
country = ROK
homepage = [http://www.kwangjuforeignschool.org www.kwangjuforeignschool.org]

The Gwangju Foreign School is an International school in the city of Gwangju, Chollanambdo, Korea.

tudent body

Gwangju is sometimes written as Kwangju, depending on what part of the world you are from.

The school is located approximately at Latitude 35.17462 N and Longitude 126.88361E or 370 kilometers (230 miles) southwest of Seoul.

Many of the students are Korean nationals who have lived in English speaking countries and who have also attained a certain proficiency in the English language. Korean law requires that students wanting to attend international schools must have proof of residence (a passport) in an an English speaking country for at least five years. There are a a few non Korean expatrate children attending the school, many of whom have parents working at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology(GIST).

The school also has an ESL programme for students with poor or no English skills. Some of the core subjects are taught as ESL subjects until such a time that the student can make the transition to the regular classes. There are a good number of students in the schools ESL programes, and their English ability improves quite dramatically. The programe is essentially an immersion type programe, and this forces the students to learn the language very quickly.

There are approximately 150 students at present attending the school, and they are pre-school, elementary school, middle school and high school students.

The school is one of two private schools owned by Mr Robert Holley. [ [http://yu.ac.kr/~yno1/html/269/269_20.html ¢Æ Opinion ¢Æ ] ] [ [http://wanawatu1.blogspot.com Mytime ] ] It is located in Yangsandong, Buk Gu an industrial suburb of Gwangju. The school occupies a two building campus, sharing an old, noisy and dilapidated neighborhood with a lot of traffic, a few furniture stores, apartment buildings, a gas station and a butcher shop. The Na Dong apartments in the rear of the school are the homes of the school's teaching staff. The campus buildings are not new, and were formerly office buildings for public services. A public driveway passes between the two school buildings to the teachers apartrments and another set of apartments. Often traffic on the driveway has to be slowed down, because the occupants of the other apartments have little regard for the students walking between classes.

The school participates in sports with other International schools in the area. It competes in basketball and soccer with International schools in Pusan, Daejeon, and Pohang.The sports teams usually do well in competitions, as there are some very enthusiastic teachers willing to help out with coaching. Like most schools, lunch hour is basketball, soccer, and volleyball hour for both the boys and the girls.

The school has a science fair, that all students must participate in every year. They make science projects, and are judged on the better points of the project. The winners attend a regional competition in other foreign schools, the same schools that compete in the sports. Participating in the competition are the other private international schools in Kyungsannamdo. Students must submit a project of sorts, because participation improves a students application process for a U.S. college or university. Preparation for the science fair is a challenging time or the students, but an excellent learning experience.

Students attend international schools because the classes are taught in English, and to gain acceptance into universities in the U.S. The course curriculum is therefore identical to that of U.S highschools, and counselling services in the schools provide the students with direction as to the appropriate activities to be involved in and the preparation necessary for the special entrance exams for non native English speakers.

Often parents in Korea send their students to International schools to learn English only and then send them to Korean public schools for their highschool years, or send them abroad to continue in a regular western highschool. One parent usually accompanies a child when he or she studies abroad. The sending of children abroad with one parent to improve their education has been responsible for the term "wild goose industry". [ [http://www.hothousemedia.com/ltm/ltmbackissues/dec02web/dec02news.htm News December 2002, English language epidemic in Korea, MEI~Relsa website gets a facelift, Acquisitions and mergers in the marketplace, Historic enlargement of EU likely to happen, ETS launches English test for business in China ] ]

The teaching staff at Korean International private schools are on what are called E-7 visas as opposed to the E-2 visas that are issued to English teachers at Institutes(Hogwons) or Public schools. The issuance of E-7 visas now requires that applicants have upwards of 5 years of relevant experience. Immigration has come down hard on Korean International private schools as a kneejerk reaction to Christopher Paul Neil having worked at such an institution.(This particular institution in fact)

References

External links

* [http://www.kwangjuforeignschool.org The official website]