Slapdashery.
Not having a pen isn't what pisses me off. Not having a pen and using it as an excuse for not doing the work is what pisses me off. When I walk around the room and see that you haven't touched the page in front of you for 15 minutes and you shrug and say "No pen", that's when the nice, entertaining foreign teacher goes into a rage blackout. And this is going to continue to happen every class until I remember to ask if everyone has a pen right at the beginning and, if they don't, send them out of the room.
To date, this pen thing is the only thing that makes me lose my cool. Maybe it's because it's like they're rejecting all work, period, no matter how quick or easy it is, rather than refusing to do something that's too hard or too boring. These girls don't even give learning a chance. They've obviously decided that there's nothing worth learning at school, so just switch off your brain and hope you don't get punished today.
As usual, that rant went on longer than it should have, violating the supposed theme of today's post. So here we go to get back on track:
Koreans should never... ever... try to learn a romance language. A student was trying to demonstrate to me her knowledge of French. Do you know what "au revoir" becomes in Korean?
Ohh heu ba heu.
That is the official, romanized pronunciation of "au revoir." It's in the textbook. There are no R's or V's in Korean. Let's try another one: "Tu es libre?"
Tui e li beu heu?
I don't understand why "tu" becomes "tui" because that sound EXISTS in Korean. The only explanation is that it's part of a government conspiracy to make Koreans sound like total morons in all Western countries to discourage emigration.
(Changeover)
The process of cultural adjustment is sinusoidal, and I think I'm experiencing the first lowpoint of my stay here. The cheerful front I put up at home is increasingly harder and more tiring, my motivation to learn Korean, not to mention my Korean itself, is dwindling, and work is not only monotonous, but often discouraging, as my recent reports about my lesson this week should have shown. Getting out more or having more fun doesn't fix this disposition; I need a mental break from Korea.
[Meanwhile...]
"Baby Got Back" is incredibly popular in this country. Whereas you might hold a fondness for it that necessitates a knowing chuckle when you hear it unexpectedly at a college party, 45 year old Korean women have it as their cellphone ringtone simultaneously with rebellious, dew-ragged teens blasting it from the interiors of their riced-out Hyundais (now that's got to be redundant). There's absolutely no question as to whether they understand any of the words or not. They don't. I don't think they could even grasp the concept if they did. Talking to a Korean about "junk in the trunk" would be like trying to describe color to a blind guy. They simply have no point of reference.
To date, this pen thing is the only thing that makes me lose my cool. Maybe it's because it's like they're rejecting all work, period, no matter how quick or easy it is, rather than refusing to do something that's too hard or too boring. These girls don't even give learning a chance. They've obviously decided that there's nothing worth learning at school, so just switch off your brain and hope you don't get punished today.
As usual, that rant went on longer than it should have, violating the supposed theme of today's post. So here we go to get back on track:
Koreans should never... ever... try to learn a romance language. A student was trying to demonstrate to me her knowledge of French. Do you know what "au revoir" becomes in Korean?
Ohh heu ba heu.
That is the official, romanized pronunciation of "au revoir." It's in the textbook. There are no R's or V's in Korean. Let's try another one: "Tu es libre?"
Tui e li beu heu?
I don't understand why "tu" becomes "tui" because that sound EXISTS in Korean. The only explanation is that it's part of a government conspiracy to make Koreans sound like total morons in all Western countries to discourage emigration.
(Changeover)
The process of cultural adjustment is sinusoidal, and I think I'm experiencing the first lowpoint of my stay here. The cheerful front I put up at home is increasingly harder and more tiring, my motivation to learn Korean, not to mention my Korean itself, is dwindling, and work is not only monotonous, but often discouraging, as my recent reports about my lesson this week should have shown. Getting out more or having more fun doesn't fix this disposition; I need a mental break from Korea.
[Meanwhile...]
"Baby Got Back" is incredibly popular in this country. Whereas you might hold a fondness for it that necessitates a knowing chuckle when you hear it unexpectedly at a college party, 45 year old Korean women have it as their cellphone ringtone simultaneously with rebellious, dew-ragged teens blasting it from the interiors of their riced-out Hyundais (now that's got to be redundant). There's absolutely no question as to whether they understand any of the words or not. They don't. I don't think they could even grasp the concept if they did. Talking to a Korean about "junk in the trunk" would be like trying to describe color to a blind guy. They simply have no point of reference.
posted by Uzura at 12:05 AM
1 Comments:
Jon! I love reading your blog. I'm sorry that Korea is not floating your proverbial boat right now, but I promise that it's worth it to the rest of us to read what you write about it! Haha, I sound sooo selfless right there.
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