Korean Job Discussion Forums

ersatzprofessor · Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2003 11:01 pm Post subject:

Good. It's settled then.

peppermint · Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2003 11:25 pm Post subject:

not enough Cancon (Canadian Content for non Canuckistanis)

desultude · Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2003 11:33 pm Post subject:

McSnack · Joined: 09 Feb 2003

Now that the nomenclature is settled (I wrote "Amerasian" since that's what a "mixed-blood" adult told me she preferred to be called. One of her parents was American but she did say that it was a continental, not national, thing. I don't care about the nationality of the non-Korean parent) , I'd also be curious to hear if anybody has had any experiences teaching Amerasian/your-adjective-of-choice students. I've heard that it's not so much peers that can make life hard but Korean teachers even moreso. "Everybody, this Sun-joo. She's different than all you of becuase she doesn't have pure Korean blood." BTW - the Korean perjorative for Ameraisan is "twi-gim" as in fried. Nice, huh?

Corporal · Joined: 25 Jan 2003

So are you truly concerned for the welfare of our children, or do you just want to hear some shocking or titillating stories of racism? Rolling Eyes

Sounds a bit like the latter to me.

little mixed girl · Joined: 11 Jun 2003 Location: shin hyesung's bed~

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waterbaby · Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Location: Baking Gord a Cheescake pie

komtengi · Joined: 30 Sep 2003 Location: Slummin it up in Haebangchon

I always thought eurasian was the term..... Embarassed

ersatzprofessor · Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2003 8:01 am Post subject:

little mixed girl,

Thanks for the links. And for the advice.

My older son had a little problem at first. He lived in Canada from the age of one to three so when he came here he couldn't speak Korean. And so, out of frustration, at first he would bite other children. But I tell you he picked it up in an amazing hurry and now at the age of 5 he's fluent in both. It's amazing really - he virtually never gets confused and knows immediatly what language new words are in merely from sound. How we do it - well he does it I guess - I mean what we do to try and help him- is that I avoid speaking Korean altogether at home and as far as he's concerned I am an absolute dunce when it comes to Korean (which is not that far from the truth, actually) . This way he is forced to interact with me in only English, and that, plus a little exta teaching and a lot of stories, seems to keep his English humming along just fine.

What's also interesting is that he is also very cognizant of the culture differences as well. When my father came to visit he acted like a little Canadian boy, while at my wife's parents he is Korean. How does he handle it? He says "I am Korean and Canadian" and so far does not see any conflict at all.

The kindergarten has presented no problems at all since the rather rocky beginning I mentioned. He's in a rather large kindergarten and is the only foreign child. But if there's been any problem, its that the ladies seem to dote on him a bit and let him get away with things, and that the practicum students want to play with him too much (He complained about that to me the other day , "They wanted to play with me but I wanted to study!"). Generally though they treat him the same as the other kids. The children seem simply curious that he has a different kind of father rather than judgemental - at that age they do not seem to have acquired this vice yet. Even small children can be ruthless in attacking difference, but so far they do not seem to have noticed it as a relevant one. He has a lot of friends who often come over to play. The parents of the other children are pretty cool too - I haven't seen any one trying to get their kids to "suck English" off him, or anything like that. One nice little side benefit is that in my apartment complex I am no longer the "wegook saram", but my boy's father, and the children are amazingly polite compared to what I had been used to.

What will the future bring? I'm not sure yet. Korea never stands still, and I have noticed a lot of attitudes changing in the six years since I first came here. I am still concerned about him at grade school and rather hesitant to send him to a public one. Where he is now all the kids know him and have for awhile, but in a larger school they may be a lot more potential for problems - especially with older children. There's always international schools I guess - but they're not cheap and how can he form stable friendships when expats are always coming and going? I guess we'll see what the future brings- we have another year yet to make a definite decision on that one. As for myself, I'd sure be curious to hear from parents with older children and what their experiences have been with education and social acceptance from other children and teachers.

Mr. Pink · Joined: 21 Oct 2003 Location: China

ersatzprofessor,

I have a quick question for you.

When you were in Canada, what was your wife speaking to your child? The reason I ask, is my wife ONLY speaks Korean to our child, and she insists, that is how it is going to be forever, since she isn't the "native" English speaker in the family. On the same note, I speak only English to our child. She is too young yet to start speaking, but we are trying to develop the habit.

Also another question, have you visited Canada since coming back to Korea? And if so, how did you son adapt?

I think your post is what the OP was looking for, however I know myself and a few others on this board have babies that aren't quite in the 18month stage yet, so that is probably why there aren't many responses like yours.

Again, thanks for such a good reply, most enjoyed response read so far today.

Ody · Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Location: over here

here are titles of three previous threads related to this topic that i have posted on. if you do a search, you should be able to get links to them.

people with kids � where do your little ones go to school?

do people touch your kids?

child rearing issues in mixed families

our son is 6 (korean age). we came here 1.5 years ago. he spoke virtually no korean at the time. now he's fluent and quickly advancing in his reading and writing. this month we will enter a lottery for his entrance into a korean private school where we hope he can start the first grade.

since his identity as an american was firmly established when we got here, he takes great pride in his birth country. he really looks like an american too (the mix produced a child resembling many of the cuban kids i grew up with in miami, fl).

as time goes by, new challenges arise. these are influenced (not dominated) by his mixed heritage. a recent change in his life is taekwando 5x's a week. he totally loves it and we've noticed an improvement in his behavior that we surmise is a result of his close contact with children 1 to 3 years older than he. he's also begun piano lessons taught in Korean and he seems to enjoy this as well.

it's all good so far.

i will have our second child here in korea soon, and i admit to worrying a little over the circumstances this time. i'm not so sure this one will carry the pride of being half american that our first possesses since she will lack his experience living there and being surrounded by korean AND middle eastern, indian, black, hispanic, as well as white children.

Ody · Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Location: over here

The Den · Joined: 26 Jan 2003

I have a 2 year old daughter(she will be 3 in February) She was born in canada and we arrived here for a one year visit last July. We will be going home at the end of July 2004. Her grandmother has been spending a lot of time with her and she speaks at least as much Korean as she does English. That is good news to me. Although we make our permanent home in Canada it is important to my wife and I that she knows her mother's culture as much as possible. We have noticed that she is very social and likes to play with other children her own age. We have considered enrolling her in some kind of playschool but we have been reluctant to do so. At the moment we occasionally go to playgrounds and we watch her play with other kids. I feel it would benefit her Korean language skills a great deal if she were exposed to other kids her own age or maybe a little older. Her English is still developing rapidly as I do not speak Korean to her. Her grandmother spends the most time with her though.

little mixed girl · Joined: 11 Jun 2003 Location: shin hyesung's bed~

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helly · Joined: 01 Apr 2003 Location: WORLDWIDE

My son is only 11 months so no talking yet. I speak English to him and read out loud a lot so he gets used to the sounds. My wife speaks Korean to him. We both mix a bit because that's how we speak to each other but for the most part: Daddy = English, Oh-ma = Korean. Grandparents and other family = Korean exclusively. We'll try to keep doing the same when we return to the US next month, with only the Grandparents and other family changing.

I know another family with a mixed son who attends a Korean pre-school. He seems to get along very well as the only "different" student.

Just this morning, I saw a boy about 7 years old walking through the subway. Completely white but wearing a backpack from his Korean school with his name written in Hangul. Brief chat with him: He was born here in Korea, both parents are English teachers, he attends Korean school, speaks fluent English and Korean. COOL!