Old photos of Jeollanam-do and Gwangju.

Taken in front of the Jeollanam-do Provincial Office, 1941.


Sajik Park observatory in the foreground, Gwangju and Mudeungsan in the background.


Chosun University under construction, 1951.

For a while I've been collecting old photos of Jeollanam-do and Gwangju---politically part of South Jeolla province since 1986---and recently started to put them in one place. Finding pictures of what southwestern Korea used to look like is generally much harder than finding old photographs of Seoul, and even Pyeongyang. Some local governments, schools, and charitable organizations have fortunately documented and preserved the photographic history of the region.


English class in Suncheon under Japanese rule.


Suncheon Fortress's South Gate in the 1920s, at the present-day location of the entrance of the 중앙시장 in "Old Downtown".


Aerial view of Suncheon, 1960s.

About 200 more, and growing, on the Old Jeollanam-do Flickr gallery. Sources have been cited when possible, though a lot of these have circulated on numerous blogs throughout the years and it's hard to pin down dates, details, and credits. Frequently Naver bloggers will take old photos, put big watermarks across them, and disable right clicks, leading visitors to believe the best way to preserve local history is to make it inaccessible to everyone else.


뽕뽕다리 across Gwangjucheon, 1960.


Chonnam National University campus, 1959.


Cherry blossoms in Gwangju, 1955.

Three generations of doing the damn thing, at Gwangju's Hotel Mudeung Park lift, 1984. A neat picture by darklunacy found while looking for other stuff.

Inefficiently-used native speaker English teachers inefficient.

I would be remiss not to mention the big news among foreign English teachers in Korea: that Seoul public schools plan to phase them out.

* Gusts of Popular Feeling has a lengthy post on these recent developments and their coverage in the local Korean-language press.
* The Korea Times and JoongAng Daily have some coverage in English.
* Roboseyo has a round-up of some comments among teachers on blogs.
* I'm No Picasso has a thoughtful reply to an idiotic interview with a 24-year-old Korean that repeats a lot of the same xenophobic bias we've been reading about for years.

Really, the writing has been on the wall for years: with the hiring of Korean "lecturers" in practical English and the growth in Teaching English in English [TEE] plans, the development of the NEAT, the increased interest in Indian and robot teachers, the increase in online English classes and distance-learning, the non-renewal of public school contracts over the past few semesters, the attention to and focus on the "myth of the native speaker", and the wall-to-wall negative coverage in the local media. If anyone is surprised in 2011 it is only because there is a definite timeline for their phasing-out in place.

Unfortunately the NSET experiment in public schools was marred by poor implementation, disorganization, and disinterest, and it's no surprise that inefficiently-used native English speakers were ineffective and, well, inefficient in the classroom. Little thought went into how to use them, what the ultimate goals of their classes should be, or how to achieve those goals while working successfully with their Korean co-teachers. While papers and politicians can vomit countless anecdotes and articles about poorly-performing NSETs and "unqualified" teachers, few column inches are devoted to who has done the hiring, the rationale behind those choices, and why the goals of English education in Korea are ultimately incompatible with the strengths of thousands of young, untrained, and inexperienced foreigners.

English class in Gangjin county's St. Joseph Girls' High School, 1970.

Native speaker English teachers have been in Korean classrooms for decades, and there will presumably be places for them for years to come: young, inexperienced teachers will still find work in cram schools and English-immersion Villages, while those with experience and credentials may move to colleges, universities, teacher-training institutes like the British Council or the Jeollanam-do Educational Training Institute, or reputable hagwon.

Background reading:
* Are native speakers part of English here? Your thoughts on the 2009 GETA conference.
* A must read: account of teaching English in South Korea in the sixties. The .pdf file of a 1965 Korea Journal piece by Julian le Patourel, which details many of the same challenges NSETs continue to face 40+ years later, is available here.

Submit your Gibberlish to the Korea Tourism Organization, win prizes.

Somebody should submit this.

From CNNGO.com, via Facebook friend Rob:

Looks like Engrish.com -- the snarky website showcasing error-riddled English signs in Asia -- won't be getting as many submissions from Korea.

How awesome is this? Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) is offering to reward photographers who submit snaps of muddled signs at tourist spots.

The prize? A gift card of ₩50,000 (approximately US$45) that can be used at any vendor that accepts credit cards -- otherwise known as free money.

Although there are no hard-and-fast rules about what constitutes a "tourist spot," you can't go wrong with the usual foreigner hotspots of Myeong-dong and Itaewon.

But of course:

Although the event site is only displayed in Korean, foreigners are also welcome to participate in the event.

The short article has a few more details on the noble effort in the works, I'm sure, to get some foreign-language material cleaned up before the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Thing is, Engrish.com will probably get just as many submissions from Korea as it always has: this contest won't be looking at Gibberlish on shirts, on menus, in businesses, and in K-pop.

[T]he event does not apply to mistakes on road signs, restaurant menus and guidebooks, due to the fact that these categories are overseen by other departments and this particular event is being hosted by the Tourism Service Improvement Team at KTO. The latter will then pay to have the signs fixed.

NEAT (국가영어능력평가시험) registration time through December 12th.

From December 1st through 12th is the first registration period for the National English Language Test (국가영어능력평가시험), the English-language proficiency exam with the lofty goals of replacing the TOEFL, TOEIC, and other foreign exams in Korea. Registration is now for Level 1---the “adult”, Business English exam---and is limited to the first 4,000 applicants. The test will be held on December 17th, at 44 different sites around the country.

The test consists of four sections: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. It runs from 9:30 to 5, with three breaks.

Under the test information (시헙안내) tab on the test's website you’ll find a .pdf with some sample questions, like:

Good morning everyone, here's a piece of good news for our company. After years of talks the U.S. and Thailand have agreed on a double-taxation treaty that will put American companies already operating there on a more level playing field with our competitors. That means royalties paid by a Thai firm to a U.S. firm will be subject to a Thai withholding tax of zero to 5%, compared to a 15% tax for countries without a treaty. That means more profit for us.

Q: What change will the treaty bring?
a) more sports coverage
b) less tax on royalties
c) a 15% tax on royalties
d) less American investment

Click on the 시험안내 tab, then click 영역별 문항유형, then click the Adobe logo.