Night Study in Korea

Vocabulary:
crucial -- of top importance
strain -- pressure
to droop -- to fall downwards
to scribble -- to write carelessly
obsession -- too-strong a focus
to outlaw -- to ban
zeal -- strong desire
slogan -- phrase expression an aim
divisive -- cause argument
to be entrenched - to hold a fixed position
fanatical -- obsession of a fan (see above)
prosperity -- increasing standard of living

Night Study Becoming Par for Course in S. Korea

Reading and Grammar:

Directions: Each of the ten sentences below contains one error.  Identify and correct the error.

1) A 17-year-old boy drifts into sleep, his head droops into the open textbook in front of him.

2) Around him are sit other teenage South Koreans struggling to stay awake as a tutor scribbles English vocabulary on a blackboard.

3) An almost like-cult devotion to learning has been among the driving forces behind South Korea's rapid economic development ...

4) But concern is growing that the obsession with education has spinned out of control, putting children under stress and families under pressure to pay expensive tuition.

5) The teachings of Confucius, the ancient Chinese philosopher which stressed the importance of scholarship, influence many East Asian societies.

6) In South Korea, the zeal to learning is reinforced by a belief that knowledge is crucial for the bid to catch up with richer countries such as Japan and stay ahead in China. (Sentence contains three similar errors)

7) A slogan on the wall in Yang's English class reading: "Accomplish your dreams."

8) But dream come at a price: His hagwon* fees are $280 a week.

9) Lee Hang Soo, vice president of Yang's hagwon, says the school provides aid to child from poor families.

10) But he acknowledges which South Korea's education system is divisive.

 

*Korean Institute

  Check Your Answers

1) droops should be drooping

2) are sit should be sit

3)  like-cult should be cult-like

4)  spinned should be spun

5)  which should be who or that

6)  to should be for; for should be to; for should be to

7) reading should be reads

8) dream should be dreams

9)  child should be children

10) which should be that