B.S.!

Yesterday, we were talking about the idea of bias in listening class. As we returned from class, I began to bring the class back to order. "OK kids, we're going to continue our discussion. Remember to take notes, and listen for signs of . . ."

Before I could finish, a girl piped up with the answer, though a mispronunciation led her to shout out "B.S.!"

I explained that this was a rather different concept, but declined to elaborate further.

Warning Signs?

This is a touchy topic, but I feel like my blog wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention it. I heard the following from a student a couple of weeks ago:

"Teacher! Sometimes I dream that the English academy is on fire. I dream this five nights a week."

Another student wrote the following sentence in his vocabulary book:

"I massacre [sic] many people in the building."

And another student wrote not one, but two vocabulary sentences about Hitler. This is paradoxical; many of the students idolize Truman for dropping the atomic bombs on Japan yet few of them seem to be able to make the connection between Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

Korea seems to lack America's "zero tolerance" policy for violent behavior from children. Many students here - particularly the boys - would have ended up in a straight jacket in the States. I used to think that is was absurd that kids who pointed their fingers ("BANG!") would get expelled. However, I am no longer so sure. The behavior and writings of Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech shooter, would hardly seem out of place here, which leads me to believe that it's better to be safe than sorry. If you forbid any type of violent speech or behavior, the normal kids will cut it out while the real psychos will rise into view.

I suppose the major difference is that in this country, no aspiring school shooters can get their hands on semi-automatic handguns and hollow point bullets. Perhaps leaders in the U.S. should focus less on shadow-puppet guns and more on the real ones.

Good Advice

Student: Teacher, I have a nosebleed.

Other Student: Don't pick your nose.

Machiavelli, Continued

So after our discussion of Machiavelli a couple of weeks ago, it appears one of my students took the lessons to heart. She actually went online and purchased an English translation of The Prince. I told her this was by far the coolest thing a student has ever done in one of my classes.

I am somewhat concerned though, as this girl is about the wittiest and most sarcastic student I've ever had, so Lord only knows what nefarious schemes Machiavelli will inspire in her . . .

All Star

I bought these shoes today at Save Zone . . . pretty much the coolest shoes I've ever owned. I like them because they take something all-American and add Asian influences . . . reminds me of myself!

TWSS

You might think that the most difficult part of teaching in Korea is getting the kids to understand complex ideas in a second language. You'd be wrong. I find that the biggest challenge is not blurting out "That's what she said!" regularly in class.

For example, today the kids were listening to a lecture where the speaker was talking rather quickly. One girl blurted out, "So hard!" while another chipped in with "So fast!"

Yesterday was even better. A girl who was listening to the same lecture said, "I thought it was going to be short, but it was very long."

April Fooling 2010

Being that it's April 1st, I figured it was time to dust off the old April Fools Impossible Vocabulary Quiz. This year I got less of a reaction; I think it's because my introductory speech was less harrowing. It should be noted that one kid actually got 7/10, an improvement from last year's top score of 3/10.

However, I am also teaching a class where we are reading Bridge to Terabithia, and I created a new quiz for this class. Their usual quizzes ask them to identify the context and the significance of some passages from the book. I took this idea and ran with it. The first page was normal, but then I inserted this second page:



The disturbing thing is that nobody seemed to notice and they actually came up with some funny answers. The fact that the main character, Jess, talks like a country hick and not like Humphrey Bogart or Abraham Lincoln probably should have given it away.