For Immediate Release
January 27, 2009

International Education Programs partners with Korean English education leader Winglish Ltd. to train teachers

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – UCR Extension's International Education Programs (IEP) and Winglish Ltd., one of South Korea's English education leaders, have partnered to create a UCR Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Certificate program in Seoul specifically designed for teachers in South Korea.

The program, developed by International Education Programs, will be delivered through Winglish Ltd. to Korean educators who are teaching English at the K-12 level. The Korean government recently mandated English training for all its K-12 teachers.

"Through the UCR TESOL Certificate program, Korean teachers will be able to access a quality North American teacher training program from a world-ranked university," said IEP Director Bronwyn Jenkins-Deas.

The new Winglish TESOL Center is located in the Gangnam district of Seoul, which is also home to IEP's second Korean-based school, The Gangnam-University of California Riverside International Education Center.

UCR Extension's Interim Dean Sharon Duffy and IEP Director Jenkins-Deas traveled to South Korea this month to meet Winglish CEO Meongshin Lee and to attend the grand opening of the Winglish TESOL Center. In addition, IEP's TESOL Instructor Bonnie Insull spent five days training the two teachers that will be working in the new center. The full program begins in March.

UCR Extension is the continuing education division of the University of California, Riverside. Extension offers more than 1,800 courses and certificate programs in a variety of academic programs, including agriculture and landscape, arts and humanities, business and management, education, teacher's credentialing, English, environmental management, geospatial analysis and technology, health services and behavioral sciences, information technology, languages, law and public policy, Native American studies, natural sciences, forensic investigations and public safety, and yoga.

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