June 20, 2007 == MEDIA ADVISORY
Summary: Calvin will welcome 30 students from Korea for a month in West Michigan, including study at Calvin, trips to Chicago and D.C. and a Whitecaps game.
Full story see http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2006-07/english-study.htm
For the third consecutive year, Calvin College will welcome a group of Korean students eager to refine their English language skills and to experience American culture. From July 5 through August 6, the English Study Program, under new director Julie Veeneman, will host around 30 students from two Christian universities located in South Korea.
The students will spend their time at Calvin refining their language skills in spoken English.
"These students have studied English for most of their high school and elementary school careers," Veeneman says. "They need to turn what is written on a page into understanding spoken English and producing it."
She notes that the program originates from a Korean government initiative encouraging the development of fluent spoken English. The Korean students will taking a college level class in both speech and writing. They will also pick up a lot of English during their downtime, Veeneman says.
The students will live in Calvin's Kalsbeek-Huizenga residence hall, along with resident assistant tutor hosts, who will help out with homework and adjustments to American life.
This is the first year the program, which originated in Calvin's English department, is operating under the aegis of the office of Pre-College Programs.
"The English Study Program will provide a great opportunity for our office to extend its reach to pre-college-age youth through English as a second language programming," says Pre-College Programs director Rhae Ann Booker, who plans to expand the existing program.
A 1975 Calvin graduate, Veeneman returns to her alma mater from a career spent in Latin America working for the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee. Thirty years ago, when freshly graduated from Calvin, Veeneman worked with some of the first Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian refugees fleeing the fall of Saigon.
Contact Veeneman at 616-526-6749
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Received on Wed Jun 20 11:04:45 2007
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