On Power Plant Tours

For a reason that I may expound on later...I was forced to go on a power plant tour.  The sign over the tour facility read "Energy World".  Wow, exciting...

On Asses

I was looking out the window of my apartment.  This is what I saw...

On Good Things in Korea (Music)

You may being asking what is the best music in Korea (You also may not being asking, but then you are on my blog and so I obviously lead the discussion).  So, here are my favorites from various coherently (at least in my mind) organized  awards:

Best Song:


"I Am the Best" by 2ne1

Why?

It is catchy and the whole independent dirty girl thing doesn't happen often enough here.

Best Teaching Song:


"I Don't Care" by 2ne1

Why?

It is really easy to remember (i.e. it is catchy again) and, when my students are being whining little brats, I can say, "I don't ca-a-a-are."

Best Girl Group:


2ne1


Okay, so I am partial to 2ne1.

Best Use of Harmonica in a K-Pop Song:


"Lalala" by SG Wannabe

Best Song to Make Your Students Dance to If They Are Annoying:

"Sorry, Sorry" by Super Junior

Why?

Because they have to apologize somehow and every Korean student knows this dance, but not as well as they think...

Best Song to Make Students Sing or Dance to if You Really Want to Humiliate Them:


"The Three Bears Song" by I don't know (not the real name...I just really don't know)

Why?

Because humiliating students is sometimes very important and I know this song well enough to know if they are trying to bullshit me...

Lastly...


Best Use of Star Wars/Taps/2001 Style Music in a National Pledge

Note: This is not the anthem.  It is just the pledge of allegiance...Korean style.

Did You Know? (3)

Did you know that I recently found out that the word that is consistently translated as raccoon in Korean is actually referring to a raccoon dog which is a completely different animal (though, admittedly similar in appearance)?

    

Did you know that Koreans use scissors as a common utensil with dinner (quite useful)?



Did you know that the Korean language has a "P" (ㅍ) and a "B" (ㅂ) sound, but they are used differently at different places in the syllable?

Did you know because of this Korean English students sometimes say, "I like to eat crap" (crab)?

    Note: the other appropriate picture...not provided.

On Training 2

In one of the training classes today, we were talking about dealing with multi-leveled students in class.  At the very end of class:

Guy 1:  `Why doesn`t the education office just level the classes into appropriate levels?` 

I think this is a reasonable question.

Blond-haired 년 (an impolite term for a `girl`):  `Research has shown that if you tell a teacher that these are low level students then the teacher will treat those students like dumb asses even if they are really a mixed class.`

Me: `I taught at a private afterschool academy before public school and we leveled students.  They turned into quite decent English speakers.`

Blond-haired 년 (pointing her finger at me and face contorted with anger): `You`re why my students sleep in class!!!`

Wow!  Issues?  I didn`t know the question of whether or not to level classes was such a sensitive issue.

On Good Things in Korea (Food)

Sometimes, I feel like my posts are normally very negative toward Korea (i.e. my students are crazy or stupid, or someone made some stupid English language mistake, etc.)

But, those are not the only things going on in Korea.  So, here is a list of positive things about Korea.

Koreans make some kick-ass food.

Here are some examples (in no particular order):
1)  Live (well freshly-killed) Octopus Tentacles

You need to grab these things with your chopsticks (kind of difficult because they use their suckers to really hold on to the plate) and dip them in sesame seed oil.  Delicious!  Note: some people eat the whole octopus (i.e. not freshly killed (i.e. not killed (i.e. alive))), but I haven't done that.

2) Beon-daegi (Silkworm Pupa (maybe larva (it is hard to tell)))

The above kind is the street vendor version.  It smells like pee to me.  But, the kind served in sashimi restaurants is delicious.  It tastes and looks a little bit like a nut.  I almost made James puke after letting him eat them for 10 minutes before finally telling him what they were.  His gagging was hilarious.  I wish I had taken a picture.


3) Kimchi

This quintessential Korean food is Chinese cabbage mixed with salt, spicy pepper flakes, garlic, fermented (i.e. old shrimp), and sometimes other things depending on the recipe.  There are other types of Kimchi.  But, this type especially is aged well which promotes great bacteria for your stomach.  If you are health conscious, you should keep some in your refrigerator, but not too much because it can stink up your whole house.

4) Pat-bing-su

I mentioned this one in a recent post, but I will show it again because it is one of my summer favorites.

팥 (Pat) in Korean is just a sweet red bean that is used in a variety of Korean desserts.  The idea of eating beans for dessert takes a little bit to get used to.  But, the taste is fantastic.  And, it is cold which is very nice.

5)  Meat (Galbi, Bulgogi, Bossam)

          

Koreans do a very good job with meat.  However, they are reluctant to use it as the main part of the meal.  But, I do whatever I want and play the stupid foreigner card because it's meat and it's delicious.

6) Ssamjang

                                    

Ssamjang is a soy bean-based paste mixed with peppers, sesame seed oil, onions, garlic, green onions, and possible other things.  It comes in not spicy to very spicy varieties.  It is the best meat or vegetable condiment of all time.  I might consider putting it on a hamburger as the sauce.  It is delicious.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my meandering through one category of good things in Korea.  I am sure I will add some more in the future.

Did you know? (2)

Did you know that this letter, `ㄹ`, sounds like a combination between `r` and `l`?
Did you know that because Korean lacks a definitive difference between `r` and `l` there are many strange things you can hear Korean students say?
Did you know that Koreans love to eat lice (rice)?
Did you know that in the U.S. and Korea this year is erection (election) year?
Did you know that in Seoul you can see the famous Han Liver (River)?

On Asking a Native Speaker

Here is a cropped picture from a Korean Air ad announcing the introduction of direct flights to Nairobi, Kenya.  If you haven't heard about it, the problematic part is about going to Kenya to "enjoy...the indigenous people full of primitive energy".


*groan*


Aljazeera does a good job, here, of summarizing the debate via twitter about the ad.


I want to say that it was just a simple translation error.  However, my Korean isn't high enough to tackle that issue.  Though, some comments on Aljazeera do point to a translation error.  But even if it is a simple translation error...just ASK a native speaker.


But, speaking of just needing to ask a native speaker.  We have this guy from late last year...

According to reports, the couple had told the angry guy, "니가 여기 앉아".  Basically, you can sit here.  However, the first word, 니가, sounds like "nee-ga".  It just means "you".  However, I have heard that word before and there is not a lot of difference between the sound of "nee-ga" and nigger.  But, even if you actually one hundred percent heard the same pronunciation of a curse word, when the primary language is not the language you know, then stop and...ASK a native speaker.

Did you know?

Did you know that the word for year and the word for bitch are the same in Korean?
Did you know that one of the words for 18 and the f-word equivalent sound almost exactly the same in Korean?
Did you know that said f-word equivalent sounds like the English word `civil` to Koreans because they have no `v` sound in their language?
Did you know that this blog post is finished because I don`t want to write anymore on my handphone (the Korean for cell phone)?
One more...did you that I am starting to forget which words are Konglish and which words are proper English?

Yes, Kimchi

Today, I was doing a conversation test with one of my classes.

One boy was sitting in front of me.

I asked him, "What does Choi Hong-man look like?"
 This is Choi Hong-man.
                                                   He is a giant Korean MMA fighter (He's like 7'1".)

Now, we had given them the questions a week ago so that they would have time to prepare.  And, I was planning to follow up the given question with an unknown question to really test their unprepared ability.  The follow-up question was this, "Do you want to meet Choi Hong-man?  Why do you want to or not want to meet him?"

So, back to the boy.  I asked him, "What does Choi Hong-man look like?"

The Boy: "Yes, Kimchi."

Me: "뭐야 (What the...)!!

And, now for something not completely different.  Choi Hong-man vs. Jose Canseco.  Yes, THAT Jose Canseco...

One more time...뭐야!

And, one more thing...if you meet a Korean person who has Choi for a family name, the name is pronounced "Chae".  It does not rhyme with Troy like the announcer did in the video.  It was a terrible Romanization that someone did a long time ago.  So, if you want to impress your Korean friends, say "Chae" instead of trying to pronounce it the way it looks like in "Choi".

On Guessing

First, a little background...

A lot of EFL students have few chances to actually ask questions in class.  Teachers are usually the ones who ask questions (which is not just a EFL problem, but whatever...).

So, anyways, I like to have a guessing game in class every once in a while to encourage the production of actual questions.  Normally, questions come across as "Teacher happy?"

The basic format of the guessing game is quite easy.  I have a picture hidden on a PPT slide.  I know what the picture is, while students don't.  They can ask any question they want (though, if they ask "how do you spell it?", I tell them I don't remember.  And, if they ask "what is it?", I answer "it is not a smart ass" :(...).  I answer the question and the first team that can say the phrase, "It is _____", gets a point.

Now that the background is out of the way...during one particular game, the teams were really competitive.  Each and every question was really important.

Here is how one question went...

Student 1:  "What color is it?"

Me:  "It's white."


Student 2:  "What shape is it?"

Me:  "Sometimes, it is a circle.  Sometimes, it is a crescent shape."  (My co-teacher explained that one in Korean.)
                     

Student:  "Where can you see it?"

Me:  "It's in space."


Now, nearly everyone in the room knew what the answer was.  Before getting to the answer, though, I should say two more rules for all of my classes.  I keep a checklist of everyone who has spoken meaningfully (given an answer or asked a good question).  And, any student that has not spoken can raise their hand and I will always call on them first (I call them "new face" in class).  New faces can be a powerful weapon in a close game.  And, since the "new faces" are generally low level students, I always let the other students in the class feed answers to anyone on their team (or on another team if they want or they are too stupid to keep their mouth shut).

Nearly every student in class:  "Moon!"

As always, I scan the room to look for new faces.

So, a really quiet low-level new face on Team 1 is wearing a big grin.  His hand pops up.  He is the last new face for his team.

The nine other students on his team:  "Moon!  Moon!  Moon!"

The boy puffs up his chest.  He is ready to hit his homerun.

New face (big smile):  "Door!"

Me (mentally):  "Doh!"

Team 1: *groan*



"Moon" (문) just happens to be the word for door in Korean.