Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sadguy]

i just want to say the dudes at mr. kebab impress me with their korean.

[tomato]

Lately there was a thread about a government crackdown on illegally operated English kindergartens.
I hope that they're not after the one which recently hired me, because I want to stay there for a looooong time.
It's part of a nationwide chain. They wouldn't try going after a nationwide chain, would they?

I'm getting the better end of the deal, because I hear Korean more than I speak English.
The kindergarten isn't an English school in much more than the nominal sense.
(Of course, I feel a certain concern for the parents, who might not be getting what they expected.
But I prayed to God to "grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change"--especially when it's an injustice in my favor.)

The director holds assemblies in which she speaks to all of the childen in Korean.
I sit there and practice my listening skills.
When they stand and sing the Korean national anthem, I stand and sing with them.

I practice my speaking skills also.
I speak to some of the teachers in Korean not only because I'm allowed to, but because I have to. It's the only language we have in common.

Today, there was a quiet picture book session.
A three-year-old child chose a Korean picture book from the rack and asked me to read it to him.
I read it to him while the director and teachers watched in admiration.

In the assemblies, the children sing 나는 유치원에 갑니다.
I soon learned all the words.
That impressed the teachers, who then asked me to play the guitar and lead the children in the song in the next assembly.

The teachers gave me a couple of more Korean songs which they asked me not only to learn, but to translate into English.
(I can count on the fingers of one hand all the times that a Korean ever asked me to perform any task which involved knowledge of the Korean language.)

By next Monday, I'll print out copies of the songs in both languages, immaculately typeset in Finale 2010.
On the other side, I'll print a personal letter, immaculately typed in Hangul 2000.
I'm going to have those folks spoiled so rotten they won't even THINK of ditching me for a 22-year-old blonde.