Korean Job Discussion Forums

[thekakapo]

Hi dudes!

My school is getting an English classroom. We've spent a ton of money on materials for the classroom and books, and now my teacher wants me to find cultural materials and costumes for role play: pirate costume, nurse costume, doctor costume, fairy costume, etc. I teach at an elementary school. I have about 600K to spend on this.

I asked my Korean teacher (language, not co-teacher) and she told me there were costumes at Co-Ex Mall. Nope. The information desk ladies at Co-Ex told me there were costume stores at the big stores in Dongdaemun Stadium- also not true, as I visit those fairly frequently. 2 questions:

1- where shall I go? I've been told Namdaemun Market is a good place to find strange costumey things. Any idea on specific locations? How about things like holiday decorations?

2- Is there a secret signal I can give to Koreans to indicate I'd much prefer that they admit they don't know the answer to a question rather than just make something up?

[Straphanger]

What do we need to learn about?

Things that we see every day.

So where do you get a doctor costume? Medical supply. What about a soldier? Sailor? Airman? Military surplus. A police officer? SMPA will give you a hat, just ask them. Firefighter? Get a fire hat at the fire station. To those people, it ain't a costume - it's their job. And they gotta buy their gear somewhere.

[Missihippi]

Is ordering online an option? Many sites with international shipping online.

[lsrupert]

I remember people asking about costumes back around Halloween. I did a search, and found this info:




Sadang station, ex. 14. Walk straight until you hit the hospital (2 mins), then turn left. Take first right. The store is on your right, the sign says "Halloween" in English. Its in the basement.

It's a mess, but has lots of stuff. They rent costumes and all that, too, but they're the standard stuff. You can mix and match and make your own, though. Happy hunting!

[NightSky]

yep...the website is www.halloween.co.kr. you might be better off checking it out first than going there in person. it is hard to find what you need and they don't have a lot of stuff onsite.

[yingwenlaoshi]

[michaelambling]

Am I a bad teacher, because I see absolutely no pedagogical value in dressing students up in costumes? Chalk and talk, group discussion, textbook exercises, and group conversation are really all one needs to learn a language (besides immersion, which can't be done in the classroom). Amirite?

[jkelly80]

are they paying you for time spent searching for this crap?

[thekakapo]

I'll check out that Halloween place- thanks! No, I'm not getting paid for this, but I do like being involved in the process. If my co-teacher alone was doing this, I know we'd end up having a classroom stocked only with huge read-along books with no glue sticks, markers, or anything productive.

I think that costumes and games provide an atmosphere of fun, and help get kids excited about English. Sure, it might not help them to remember "police officer" to wear a costume, but it might give them some fond memories of English class.

I'll check out that Sadang thing just as soon as I'm no longer insanely busy...

[Straphanger]