Korean Job Discussion Forums

[D.D.]

I am putting together a Susan Boyle lesson and just tried it on my grade 6 class. It went well so I will teach it at middle school this week.

So far this is what I am doing.

1. Show the start of the video.
2. Introduce some facts about Scotland.
3. Explain who Simon is and that he is very mean.

Now the fun begins

4. How many people think she will be a good singer?
5. Why?

I asked these two questions and we had a vote with a show of hands. 75% voted bad but did not say why when asked.

We watched the rest of the video and had three people start to cry. Then we watched Connie Talbot's audition and an Indian guy blowing up a hot water bottle.
Class went well and students made lots of comments.

I wrote the phrase "Don't judge a book by it's cover " on the board at the end of the class.

[BS.Dos.]

[Kikomom]

Don't judge a book by it's cover, indeed. Play them this without the visual?

[bogey666]

yes, I've been showing this vid to classes for a week now - the moment after it became an Internet sensation and I teach them "don't judge a book by its cover".

I tried in one class to say this might be particularly useful in Korea, as obsessed as they are with outside appearance, but my usually useless and morose adjosshi coteacher became agitated and insisted this wasn't any "worse" in Korea than anywhere else

I've also joked in some other classes, that Susan is a reasonably accurate portrayal of most British/Scottish women you'll run across, rather than Amanda

this week I've discovered they have a version translated to Hangul, which helps a lot... Ms. Boyle is almost impossible to understand at times with that accent ,,, even for an American like me.

(I love the way Amanda says "everybody" - SOooooo..typically Brit snooty" LOL )


Simon isn't "mean", - he's just honest - a rare feature in today's politically correct world - where you'll hurt someone's "self-esteem" by mentioning the obvious fact they are fat.. or can't sing.. for e.g.

definitely NO crying in my highschool class though.

[D.D.]

In the next class I played Paul Potts audition after and many students still answered that he would be a bad singer.

I then showed them a third possible answer to the question could be that they don't know.

I asked a girl if her dinner would taste good tonight and she said yes. So we all talked about " I dont know" as an answer to a question.

[Robot_Teacher]

I played that video in my afterschool class last Friday, but the kids didn't understand or get emotional. These are low level 6th graders. Maybe this sort of thing is more appropriate for high school? I don't imagine kids find that kind of music very interesting.

[English Matt]

[gregoriomills]

[gregoriomills]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzfCVBSsvqA

Maybe the link would help, as well

[bogey666]

[bogey666]

[ekul]

Thanks for the link to the video with Korean subs, I think I'll show the video in English, talk, then for the weaker students put it on in Korean..

However, how in gods name does she sound 'snooty'? She is about as normal and down to earth as it's possible to get. I really doubt anyone from West Loathian is snooty. Please keep the opinions you form from peoples accents to yourself.

[3MB]

I like Simon, he isn't mean. Paula is mean. Seriously, think about it. Simon gives them the honesty they deserve. The kind of honesty that will make them realize that they are wasting their time, energy, money and life going after a dream that will never become a reality. That's a gift. Ive read about people who sold their engagement rings to go on an audition of Idol. There are people who think they have talent but really, really suck. They don't see it, no one wants to tell them or perhaps they dont see it either. Simon may seem cruel but at least he shows them how much they suck. Its knowledge that may save some of them a life of misery and disappointment. Then you have Paula. She showers people with false praise, she builds up their Potemkin dreams with her lies, falsehoods, saccharine garbage dressed up a caring. She lets them believe that there is a future for them where there is none. Who is more cruel? Simon only seems cruel because the people who go on he show, and the people who watch it were brought up to think they are great, fantastic, the center of the universe. Where all can be winners, and there's no such thing as a loser, a fat person, a stupid person...where we are all equal and all good...just in a special and unique way.

[bogey666]

[D.D.]

I don't usually show videos for listening purposes. I use them to spark conversation and keep the students interested. I let them listen to her for a few seconds and they said the couldn't understand her. I used that to give a brief description of what the U.K. was and explained that Scottish is quite a difficult accent.

It was interesting that we came to the point of talking about the answer "I don't know" and how students are conditioned to always act like they have an answer.

Admitting we don't know is one of the first requirements for learning.

I remember in China I had problems with closed minded university students in the rural areas.

One of the lessons we would do with them was asking them what was the best food in the world. 100 % were convinced that Chinese food was. I would write many other countries on the board. Then I would ask them who has tried Greek food, Japanese food, French food, ect.

The answers would be that a few had tried Japanese, some had tried pizza, but most had a very limited experience.

So I would ask the question again and most of them would say Chinese food was the best.

I would then write on the board " I dont know I have not tried very food from many other countries" and offer this up as an answer.

After doing some exercises like this I noticed some students started to become a bit more open minded .