Konglish of the Week

CRUNKY
Nude

Graduation!

My 6 year-old students graduated last Thursday, so this week I get a fresh batch of kids that know zero English. The kids put on a musical performance of Snow White at the ceremony. Here are a couple clips:

I finally made it to Bauhaus Dog Cafe

30+ dogs roam around and on your table at Bauhaus in Hongdae.

Kimchibilly

Last summer I posted a video of an unidentified band I saw at a park in Hongdae. Over the weekend I heard them again, and this time found out their name: Rock Tigers. They consider themselves pioneers of Korean rockabilly and they put on a fun show.

Saehae bok manhi badeuseyo

Please receive many blessings in the new year.

Tomorrow is Seollal, lunar new year, and to celebrate at the school all the kids wore hanbok and performed a traditional bow to the teachers. Sebae is the ritual of children bowing to their older relatives, saying the above words, and receiving money. At school the students bowed to the teachers and the director gave them each 1,000 won ($0.80). Note the kids that tried taking the money with one hand.

3.0 earthquake hit Seoul last night

The tremor lasted for 3 seconds. I just thought my neighbors were really getting in to it upstairs.

ESL Journal Entries: BFF Edition

Friendship by Tom

My friendship is so-so.
I like boy friends, but I don't have
girl friend,
beacous I don't like girls,
but some time I don't like all friends
I am sad or mad.

At the tender age of nine Tom knows everyone disappoints.

I'd watch that

I read Dead Until Dark, the first of the Sookie Stackhouse series on which the HBO series, True Blood, is based, and yeah, it is total crap, but easily-absorbing subway reading. I wouldn't recommend it, but it did have one advantage over the TV program. Elvis makes a brief appearance in the story as a mentally retarded vampire.

Sookie's undead love interest explained to her that when the King was brought to the morgue, a staff member who happened to be vampire and a fan, sensed some a spark of life and changed him into a vampire. With all the drugs in his system, it was a botched job making him a low-functioning bloodsucker.

Why did True Blood leave out this cameo? Why isn't there a show featuring all overdosed celebrities as retarded vampires?

More on South Korea's population problem

This is from last week, but I am just posting it now.

Women's groups and Korean government on cause of the low birth rate

The government plans to crack down on illegal abortions to solve the birth rate problem, and some groups are campaigning to get statements from female college students swearing that they will have children.

Women's groups are arguing the birth rate is low because of an unfriendly work environment for mothers.

She added: "Nowadays 90 percent of female high school students go to university and many with access to good education want to pursue a career, but it is very difficult for married women to take maternity leave and continue to work as the labour market and workplace conditions are not favourable."

Unless the problem of married women in the labour market is solved, she said, "the phenomenon of low birth rate will continue unhindered."

Also, much of the family income goes to educating children so many parents can't afford an additional child, and having more than one often indicates wealth. My Korean friend told me he wanted at least five children, and initially I thought he just really liked kids. The more we talked about it I realized he wanted a lot of children to publicly demonstrate his financial status.

Santa... presents...

On the last day of school before the holidays I asked the kids why they liked Christmas. Here are some of the (predictable) responses.




In this last one the first girls says, "I don't know," and runs away. The boy in the background says "Power Rangers!" and does some fighting postures. Jacklyn thought I asked what she wanted for Christmas so she says "Hello Kitty computer" while jumping up and down. The clapping girl has just washed her hands and is flinging water on me. All in all, a fairly typical 16 seconds in my life.

ESL Journal Entries: Christmas Edition

Santa Claus by Elly

Santa Claus True? False?
I think Santa is true
My father think Santa is
true
My mother think Santa
is true My baby
sister think Santa
is true
My father say Santa
is ugly

Only two days till winter vacation

Apologies for the lack of posts, but I have been busy/lazy/apathetic/uninspired/disinclined and without a consistent internet connection. I'll be back to regular posting whenever I feel like getting back to it, but in the meantime here is what went down today.

The students were writing essays about extreme weather and drawing illustrations to go with them. One student asked me to correct his essay so he could rewrite it. I read:

Crazy tsunami. Tsunami is cool and awesome. I don't wish for a tsunami coming to Korea or Turkey. I wish for a tsunami to coming to Canada, USA, China and Japan. I saw this movie [Korean title].

I edited the writing, not the nationalism. I then looked up to see the student seated next to me had labeled his unflattering drawing of Zolaman's mother caught in a blizzard, "Kaylin Teacher," and she/I was topless.

"What are you doing?"

"Um.. I draw the those two."

"Erase that right now."

"OK, Teacher."

The Anne of Green Gables Question

I asked a class (albeit in much simpler English): "Which would you rather be if you had the choice-- divinely beautiful, dazzlingly clever or angelically good?"

Their answers were boring. A few chose to be smart so they could make a lot of money, but the majority chose to be good because "then Kaylin Teacher is happy." Suck-ups.

Name that song