By Cho Ji-hyun

Seoul education authorities said yesterday they would increase the number of English zones from 300 to 500 by the end of this year, in a bid to strengthen English education at public schools. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said it would build 200 additional classrooms to promote an English-only speaking environment in elementary, middle and high schools.

It aims to establish at least one English zone in all public schools across Seoul by 2010.

To make this possible, the education office plans to increase the number of native English teachers from 850 last year to 1,050 this year. It will also employ 2,300 additional educational assistants to help cure the problem of youth unemployment.

In a similar effort, the Education Ministry said last November that it planned to introduce the English instructor system to improve the quality of English education at public schools.

Up to 4,000 more instructors specializing in enhancing English speaking skills are set to teach at elementary schools across the country from as early as 2010.

Instructors will be recruited either in the second half of this year or in 2010, with a goal of starting work in the next spring.

Earlier last year, the government also proposed introducing English immersion programs for schools of all levels to boost the English level of students. It also said the new program would take away some of the financial burden resulting from English private lessons.

Surveys conducted in the past have reported that English becomes a major issue that brings frustration later on in life for many Koreans.

According to a survey of 1,051 people in their 20s and 30s, conducted by online recruitment portal Saramin, 88 percent said they felt irritated because of English.

The most frustrating situation, which got 52.8 percent of the votes, was when they had to submit an English proficiency test score to apply for a job. That was followed by other reasons such as being requested to use English for business, with 26.5 percent, and going through English interviews, with 26.1 percent.

Park Jun-eon, a professor of English language and literature at Soongsil University in Seoul, said English skills can only be improved when one makes use of the language, but many people are not often gifted with that opportunity.

"The society and universities must provide the students with chances to take advantage of English. This will eventually make it easier when those students are faced with situations that require using English later in life."