▲ Photo Ko Seoyoung & Heo Yeonjae

[This article was written by ‘a junior journalist’ and is published as an NIE (newspaper in education) resource for English education.]

Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) held the 2014 international space camp at Jeju Aerospace Museum from July 22 to July 25. Middle school students from six countries participated — Korea, Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Bangladesh — and only English was used throughout.

Students introduced themselves on the first day of camp and chose the main 1)topic for 2)debate. On the second day the debates were held and mission games were also completed in the museum. On the third day they presented their debates to the group, and also held a cultural experience program and walked on the Jeju Olle trails. Finally, on the fourth day, an awards ceremony was held.

Janita Luanpoknacocachai, a 14-year-old student from Thailand, said “A)It was a shame that we didn’t have enough time to give our opinions during the group debate. But, the museum was really interesting to go around and explore with friends. This was a good opportunity to B)pick up some knowledge about such a specific science and it was also a nice cultural experience.”

The debate topic was space development through Asian cooperation. The students C)shared their thoughts about how their lives might be different were all 3)artificial 4)satellites to disappear and they also discussed D)the function of artificial satellites in Asian Pacific 5)cooperation. The groups then presented their projects and held a E)question and answer session.

Yamada Masahiro and Ku Miyashita, 14-year-old students from Japan, said “This camp was interesting. The most interesting program in this camp was making a water rocket because I like making models such as this rocket and Lego blocks. This program was done through English only, so I had difficulty expressing myself. But, I enjoyed the camp and communicating with students from other Asian countries. I want to participate in this camp again, if possible.”

The students seemed to enjoy both the camp and communicating with students from other countries. From this point of view, this project was very successful and it would be nice to hold the camp again in the future.

* Vocabulary 단어
1) topic 화제, 주제
2) debate 토론
3) artificial 인공의, 인위적인
4) satellite (인공) 위성
5) cooperation 협력, 조합

* Expressions 표현
A) It was a shame that… 아쉬웠다
B) pick up some knowledge 약간의 지식을 얻다.
C) shared their thoughts 그들의 생각을 나눴다.
D) the function of artificial satellites in… 인공위성의 기능
E) question and answer session 질의응답시간

* Discussion points 토론 주제
1. How have satellites benefitted your life most?
인공위성이 당신의 인생에 어떻게 가장 큰 영향을 미쳤는가?
2. Why is Asian cooperation important in this area?
이 분야에서 아시아 조합이 왜 중요한가?
3. In the future, how will we use satellites differently?
우리는 미래에 지금과는 다르게 (인공)위성을 어떻게 사용할 것인가?