The Postech Live-in English Program (PLEP) is a five-week intensive English-language course designed to boost students' confidence levels and communicative skills in English. The PLEP is provided in support of the students' attainment of a score of 550 on the TOEFL, a recently mandated graduation requirement.

The program is offered to any student for five weeks, with classes and extra-curricular activities on Monday through Saturday during each summer and winter session. Students reside in the dormitory along with native English speaking college students from North America during the program, and communicate only in English both in and outside of classes.

The program provides classes with POSTECH faculty primarily in pronunciation, listening, speaking, and writing English. Students study grammar, TOEFL testing-taking skills, pronounciation, and vocabulary development. Class sizes are approximately 14.

In addition, students are divided into smaller groups of six or seven students each, and led by native-speaking student group leaders in extracurricular activities, including sports, language games, skits, discussion groups, field trips and culture projects. Group leaders augment classroom instruction and facilitate discussion under the leadership of POSTECH faculty.

Student progress is measured by the Institutional TOEFL test at the begining and at the end of the program. In past programs, TOEFL scores have risen an average of 20 points from the beginning of PLEP to the end. While confidence levels cannot be easily measured, 90% of past PLEP students have reported a significant increase in their ability to understand and speak English.

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Log on to the Internet using Netscape and go to http://www.pacificnet.net/~sperling/ Then, go to the link that says "Student Email Connection". Write an introduction of yourself and add it to the email addresses you find, following instructions on the netpage. Be sure to write the message first on your Internet Worksheet, and correct grammar and spelling. Give your Worksheet to a group leader or teacher when you've finished.

If you would like to spend more time on the Internet, check the following links:

http://www.englishtown.com/english/penpal/penpal2.html - another place to find penpals
http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/quizzes/ -- valuable practice, but not interactive.
http://deil.lang.uiuc.edu/ -- Excellent site full of all kinds of things--not just grammar! Follow "holidays" link, for example.
http://deil.lang.uiuc.edu/exchange/ -- This is part of the link above, but it's so important I thought I'd separate it. Take a look because you'll be submitting some of your writing to this cyberspace magazine.
http://www.u-net.com/eflweb/ -- This is site with a variety of information about English education and research and links to other resources to help you. Published in Britain
http://testwise.com/ -- A website about TOEFL

For doing research on the web:

http://www.moon.com/trans_cultural/index.html - An interesting little book about cultural matters in Asia. It was written quite a while ago, but still presents interesting questions useful to people interested in Asian culture--even natives!

http://www.postech.ac.kr/~ljb/ -- This is an English 102 site which contains essays about different themes written by Postech and other students. This has links to a site about music. You can see how the Web works by giving you more information from a little.

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I will remember PLEP because of the strange but interesting games that Paul taught us in the class, and I think it was very useful to help me have confidence when I talk with Addrien, Ramona, and Paul. I hope I can feel the increased ability in speaking English at the interview tomorrow. ^^; -- Pil Won Kim

The best thing about PLEP is that it gave self-confidence of using English and motive about studying English to me. It was great experience that I had never had in POSTECH. -- Jun Ho Kim

The best thing about PLEP is that confidence is improved. Before PLEP, I had some fears to foreigners. But, now I can talk with them natually. I think that this program was very good for me.. --Hoyoung Choi

I will remember PLEP because it gave me many presents. The best present os the confidence that I can speak English. I learned many things about American people, culture and game. Furthermore, PLEP gave many chances to travel. All things about PLEP will be good memories to me.--Ha Su Cheol

I will remember PLEP because every plep staff was beautiful and handsome. What I learned about English in PLEP is the word " aligator " and what I gained except English in PLEP are new experiences, friendship and confidence. I'm sure that the sweet memory of PLEP will last to the end of my life... --Ju Ho Kim

I will remember PLEP because it is the first class for me to talk something to each other in English. All plepians studied hard with their short English with their group leaders and teachers. It was very interesting and shocking to me. So I can't forget all plepians AND leaders AND teachers permanently...--Kim Won Kyu

Two days have already passed since the end of Plep. I think Plep was very interesting and beneficial to me. So, I felt that time flies like an arrow. I could not only increase my confidence about English but also make friends with others. I thought of important issues by student presentation and topic discussion. In addition, I could increase my skills of Toefl test by Toefl class. And Vedio class motivated me to study English-listening harder. Anyway, I was very satisfied with this program. If I would have made a more effort , it could have been more helpful....--Jeong Hyun Ho

Hello to all 1998 Winter PLEPers! I had a great time working wth all of you! I was amazed at how much your English improved! I wish that I could say the same about my Korean! :) You all did a really good job in everything you did, especially the EC projects. WOW! Remember learning and practicing English is something that will always be useful for you so keep on! Drop me a line or e-mail me anytime... or better yet come and visit in Canada! See you later alligator! --Ramona Parent :) :) P.S. I love English...English is good for me...

I remember that the PLEP gave me a lot of confidence about English. My English is very poor, however I was able to speak in English. And I hurt my ancle during the sport class. Therefore I can remember this PLEP... Park Kyong Su

The plep program was a very good experience for me.. I'll remember the PLEP because I met so many good people.. I have good experiences with teachers,group leaders and postecians.When I see them , I always think of the PLEP. --Lee Ji Hee

I can't say anything except this. It's really GREAT. I love PLEP WINTER '98!--Shin Yun Chul (Bebe)

What I will remember about PLEP is your faces. In the beginning, when you were all in class on time and awake, but a little awkward with English; in the middle, when you were working very hard to learn and learn and learn; and at the end, when you were a little tired, but very friendly and comfortable with English. --Laurie Baker

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Mail inquiries to ljb@postech.ac.kr