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Zed
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Shakedown Street
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 Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2004 8:28 pm Post subject: |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2004 8:57 pm Post subject: |
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A couple more;
-Marital abuse
-Marital infidelity
*BUT I must say i've talked about ALL of these subjects with my adults... I am just carefull where I step |
That last bit is key. I find that you can pretty much get away with anything so long as you approach it in a particular manner. If you walk in and say "okay, let's talk about the major spousal abuse problem in Korea", the students are probably going to get their backs up, and not unjustifiably. No one likes to hear their country dissed by a foreigner.
Here's a condensed version of the approach I find most fruitful:
TEACHER: The topic today is spousal abuse. In Canada, we sometimes read stories in the newspaper about men who beat or kill their wives. A lot of people think it's a big problem. What about Korea? Do you read about this happening over here as well?
Taking this approach, I've found adult students quite willing to discuss any number of social problems in Korea, and many of them are not at all reluctant about admitting the role played by Korean culture in the propagation of these problems. My two basic rules for discussing social problems in class:
1. If possible, frame the issue as a general problem, not a Korean one. And mention early on in the conversation that the same problems exist in your own country. This helps you avoid painting yourself as the white liberal messiah, a despised archetype the world over. If the problem is non-existent in your own culture, avoid mentioning it unless the students mention if first(I've never brought up sex-selective abortion, for example, but students have done so as part of a broader discussion on sexism).
2. Avoid, as much as possible, directly arguing with a student, no matter how ludicrous you find his or her statements. Generally, the most combative thing I say in class is "okay, why do you say that".
I think the main point of a conversation class is for the teacher to get the students talking in order to correct grammar and expand vocabulary. Whether the students leave the class any more "enlightened" than when they came in is not our concern. We're not getting paid to be the Second Coming Of Voltaire. |
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YiSunSin
Joined: 08 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2004 1:00 am Post subject: |
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I love these generalisations.
Are you talking about discussing these topics with Koreans you know really well? Or just Koreans you have met briefly?
Would you bring these topics up immediately with non-Koreans you didn't know? I'm not so sure.
I've had great discussions with people on these subjects but I think it does take longer to be on a sufficiently intimate level with a Korean to have a discussion like this and it can't appear that you are baiting them... |
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Corporal
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2004 4:54 am Post subject: |
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| YiSunSin wrote: |
| I've had great discussions with people on these subjects but I think it does take longer to be on a sufficiently intimate level with a Korean to have a discussion like this and it can't appear that you are baiting them... |
The general has a point here. |
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Khunopie
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Location: Fucking, Austria (pronounced "Fooking")
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| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2004 9:55 am Post subject: |
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| I like the one that says mom. And a flower on the shoulder is nice for girls. Oh sorry that's a TATOO subject.... |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2004 3:49 pm Post subject: Re: Taboo subjects for Koreans |
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| rapier wrote: |
2)JAPAN: some younger koreans have been there and enjoyed it, and will talk about their experiences. But most have a general dislike of and apprehension at the J-word. |
Japan is a weird subject. A lot like bringing up America for Canadian kids. You'll likely get a blow torch response.
I remember once I tried to draw Korea on the board (my Korea always looks like a . To help define it I drew a bit of China and Japan. Oh lord. The howls when I drew Japan! I only managed to get the kids to simmer down when I drew a picture of a turtle ship blasting Tokyo with a nuclear cannon.
And then one girl insisted she had to draw a dagger stabbing into the heart of North Korea.
Oddly my middle school girls all seemed to enter into a pheromone induced circle jerk when the subject of Japanese men came up. Must have something to do with the penetration of j-pop these days. |
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Swiss James
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2004 4:23 pm Post subject: |
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the guys at work went into similar spasms when talking about Japanese girls- apparently they all wear kimonos and whenever you feel like it you can just untie them and get to work.
Funnily enough, none of them had actually seen this in real life. |
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wylde
Joined: 14 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2004 4:26 pm Post subject: |
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tekking them korea is only a small country
yes.. i agree.. drawing korea to scale on the board does upset them 1 helleva lot.. i enjoy it 
i must draw a picture of australia too just so they know exactly how small this place really is..
i rub their noses in it big time... i say things like korea is only twice as big as sydney, it is only a tiny, little country..
they are high school kids and geez it gets them going.. i think if they had a gun, they would shoot me.. 
we have a 1 meter x 70 cm world map in every classroom here and when they start to kick and scream about the size being wrong, i just walk over to the map and place the end of my pinkie over korea and it disappears.. hahahahahahaha
it's at that point that they can actually see i am right with the size thing and settle down and unwillingly agree
why am i such a bastard?
well it comes from them laughing when i correct their konglish and then have them tell me i'm wrong.. i draw a world globe with the little dot that is korea on the board and explain that outta the whole world, this is the only place that uses this pronunciation..
try telling them 'chuppa chup'... they start to laugh and try with all their heart to explain that i'm wrong and it is actually 'choopa choop'. |
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theatrelily
Joined: 03 Jun 2004
Location: Haeundae-gu, Busan
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| Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 1:59 am Post subject: |
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Last year during the whole SARS situation my conversation kids kept telling me how kimchi fights SARS (which is why there were very few SARS cases in Korea)....
I called them on it and my director got angry with me and demanded that I go back to my students and tell them that they were right in the first place....
...also got in trouble for telling my kids that people with piercings don't automatically have AIDS...
...thought this one was especially ridiculous because I have a tongue piercing...is it better that the kids think I have AIDS???? |
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lovalova
Joined: 30 Jun 2004
Location: Wherever the girls are
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| Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 2:07 am Post subject: |
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| ...also got in trouble for telling my kids that people with piercings don't automatically have AIDS... |
hahahahahaha these kinds are so lost in their parents ignorance hehehehe. What in the hell did make them think that piercing=AIDS.
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| ...thought this one was especially ridiculous because I have a tongue piercing |
Make sure you don��t kiss any of them on the cheek, they might run screaming thinking they just got AIDS. |
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theatrelily
Joined: 03 Jun 2004
Location: Haeundae-gu, Busan
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| Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 3:36 am Post subject: |
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teehee...actually, after they said it I coughed and touched the shoulder of one of my students and said "really? ahahaha...now you have AIDS"...
The class started laughing and I think they started to get an idea of how ridiculous it sounded... |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 4:43 am Post subject: |
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| Talking about who really is responsible for the economic crash of '97-'98 seems to me to be the biggest taboo. |
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