韓國大興“跆拳道式英語”

Learning a foreign language often involves a lot of boring meMorization and verb conjugation, except in South Korea where flying punches and killer kicks are part of the curriculum.

More than 40 academies nationwide teach what is known as "Taeglish," where Korean children are trained in Taekwondo by English-speaking instructors who say the martial art gives the students confidence in the language.

South Koreans spend billions of dollars a year on English instruction for their children. The language is seen as a must for entry into a good university and a good job.

"After English is combined with Taekwondo practice, children can have fun learning the language and do it in high spirits," said Kim Sung-han, the founder of Taeglish.

Taeglish, a combination of the words Taekwondo and English, was introduced in March 2007 as an activity offered by a department store for children. In about a year, academies had spread throughout the country.

Taeglish students are far more energetic in the classroom than their peers who study through traditional methods but their language skills are often not as good as their peers.

學外語常常需要進行大量枯燥的記憶以及掌握動詞的各種變位，但在韓國，拳打腳踢也成了外語課程的一部分。

目前，韓國已有40多所院校教授所謂的“跆拳道式英語”（Taeglish）。在這些地方，教練們用英語向學生教授跆拳道，他們認爲跆拳道能增強學生學習外語的信心。

韓國人每年在孩子學英語上的投入達到數十億美元。在韓國，英語好被視爲進入好大學和找份好工作的必要條件。

“跆拳道式英語”的創始人金宋漢說：“將英語與練跆拳道結合起來後，學生們能夠開心並且精神飽滿地去學習英語。”

“Taeglish”（跆拳道式英語）是Taekwondo（跆拳道）和English（英語）兩個詞的合成。這一方法於去年三月推出，當時是一家百貨商店爲孩子們組織的一項活動。而在之後的約一年中，教授“跆式英語”的院校已遍佈全國。

與用傳統方法學英語的學生相比，接受“跆式英語”訓練的學生在課堂上要活躍得多，但他們的語言技能往往不如前者。