Korean Job Discussion Forums

[I'm no Picasso]

I'm a newbie, so I have a few questions about teaching a cultural class about Western winter holidays.

First and foremost, how prevalent is the candy cane here? Do they have them at Christmas time/would I be able to find them easily in stores?

Secondly, I'm teaching fairly low level students. I would really love to get into Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and the like, but I'm afraid new cultural concepts + English = total confusion and a complete bomb of a class. Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations about teaching Western holidays besides Christmas?

And lastly, maybe this is a little PC uptight, but I'm nervous about doing some activities in the case that some of my students are not Christian. If I could find a way to introduce the other winter holidays, it wouldn't be an issue, because it's just another part of the culture I would be teaching. But I feel a little crappy when I think about only doing Christmas and then doing a "What do you want for Christmas?" exercise, when some of my students are Christian, and some are not.

Also, I'm dying to do something that isn't a worksheet in class. Problem is, I teach middle school boys and a lot of the games and other activities I can think of or that are around online and in books would make them just roll their eyes. Does anyone have any ideas for something more active than a worksheet, holiday related, focused on pronunciation/speaking and not something you would have balked at when you were fourteen?

Thanks in advance.

[Big Mac]

I've seen candy canes in Costco, but not really anywhere else.

Why even bother teaching Korean kids about anything other than Korean culture? They're rarely interested.

I would also bet that they will be even less interested in things like Kwanzaa or Hanukkha. They seem to think that North American culture is the only foreigner culture (which they have little interest in beyond the stereotypical things they have already heard about). All the other stuff would be way beyond their narrow way of thinking. Kwanzaa especially...all they're probably going to talk about are dirty people, which is what they think African people are.

[wylies99]

OP, you can teach about Christmas and other religious holidays without getting into trouble. Koreans aren't going to make a big deal about it. Now, try it in Canada or the US and you'd be in trouble.

[BS.Dos.]

Explain the virgin birth, that should kill an hour or two.

[bogey666]

[Cerriowen]

Christians and non=christians celebrate christmas a gift-giving time. So asking "What do you want for Christmas" isn't taboo.

I'm doing two lessons on christmas.

PM Me if you want, and I'll send them to you.

[nomad-ish]

my 1st and 2nd graders (MS) are getting half a class of a ppt lesson on christmas traditions, santa, etc., followed by a short christmas video. my 3rd graders, who've already finished exams and have pretty much checked out, will be getting a christmas movie for a couple classes with a discussion/question review at the end about it.

[antoniothegreat]

I have found that if you are just lecturing on culture, it can be quite boring. the students that like you will listen to be polite, but they dont care.

songs for the season are usually good. if you are willing to sing. one of the favorites of my kids are jingle bell rock. start with a fill in the missing line worksheet for the lyrics, play it a few times, then let them sing it, you can also go over the lyrics and explain hard words.

holiday games are great. depending on how generous you are and the group you have, this can be fun.
one idea is something like pin the tail on the donkey. you can draw it all up and laminate it, or even draw a donkey behind on the board and give them a board marker. make other kids give the blindfolded kid directions, only in english. to keep it from being to easy, spin the blindfolded kid first, and give them a time limit, make it quick so others dont get bored and it is not soo simple.

[sojourner1]

I find they're not interested in such things like Westerners are. I find they don't like Christmas songs such as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, because they find it boring as a result of not understanding what it embodies. I know in the cities, they do more as they're more westernized than in the rural areas, but I had middle school hagwon students last year in the city whine in English that they were Korean, not English speaking Americans and they didn't want to sing American Christmas songs. What a whiney excuse they came up with.

You could actually do nothing for all holidays, but regular lessons, regular routine, and it would fly like a charm, in fact, be more harmonious, because they usually feel you're forcing something on them and end up hostile and misbehaving when you push them to do something non-Korean, because they do know the basic stories and ideas of Christmas, but don't enjoy that part; just the flashy bling part. And then tell them on the last day before Christmas to have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you next year.

Maybe the Christmas music and theme is a bit out dated from their perspective as it is old 1950's style material so they do find that boring.

[gazz]

Quote:
'First and foremost, how prevalent is the candy cane here? Do they have them at Christmas time/would I be able to find them easily in stores?'

That's sort of sick isn't it?

Hitting children with sticks at any time is questionable, but hitting them at Christmas and with of all things candy................

[sojourner1]

I seen candy canes at Homeplus in Changwon last year, but nowhere else. No, that was not a figment of my imagination nor am I sojujourner.

[MSU Fan]

I'm thinking of just having a short presentation on Christmas and showing a picture of crazed adults stampeding all because of HDs that are 30% off. Singing simple Christmas songs would be best. I asked one of my teachers what songs students knew and she sung in Korean "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer." Another good idea might be to record the students singing the Korean version and send it home to your folks as a video e-card. If all else fails, play a Christmas video. There should be tons of them in Yongsan and other places. My mom had the foresight to buy a Christmas DVD of "A Christmas Story."

Korea is definitely way behind other countries as far as Christmas is concerned. There's barely any songs, decorations, or anything. All of the commercialization I used to hate I'm now starting to miss. Then again, most people have been Christians for way less than 100 years. The Boston area didn't even celebrate Xmas for centuries because the Puritans were so strict with the holiday. Sorry for the history lesson, I'm full of useless facts.

I'm starting to go a little overboard trying to celebrate it here and even bought a santa suit for a big Christmas party. I have instructions on where to buy a santa suit below. I've gotten a small, fake tree with decorations from head to toe for only 25k and have downloaded tons of songs. I must be really homesick or crazy, but I love Christmas.

I was able to get a cheap santa suit in Namdaemun. It was about 35k won, but didn't have boots, bells (santa bells), and it did look a little cheap. However, it took a long, long time to find it. When you get out of the subway entrance in Hoehyeon, go towards the Namdaemun entrance, veer to the right when there is a fork in the path, and there is a Christmas shop totally glitzed out on the right.

[HyundaiGenisis]

I would stick to just talking about Chirstmas if your students are lower level. I find that they retain much more information if you stick to something that they are familar with such as Christmas.

As for the lesson, I first begin with teaching a Chirstmas carol... I used Rudolph the red nose reindeer... its fairly short and simple for low level students. I then taught the students new Chrismas words without religious connotations such as eggnog, wreath, tinsel etc... after the students were familar with the terms I had them do a word scramble and word search.

To make it a little fun for the students I then showed the first few minutes of Arthur's Perfect Christmas... most Koreans are familar with this American Cartoon. I found it good because in the first few minutes of the show alot of Christmas items appear. PM for the worksheets/links if you are interested.

[valkerie]

[maingman]

Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 12:45 am Post subject:

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Explain the virgin birth, that should kill an hour or two.



what...?