Korean Job Discussion Forums

[some waygug-in]

A rant.

Why even ask me? My director asked me to accompany him to the English book store (on Saturday). He wanted to chose some new books for the special classes we will be having during the winter "vacation".
So I went down with him, he pulled out some comic book kind of thing that was pure Konglish. I mean there is no way I am going to teach
"he was crushing on her" as proper English.

So I told him the English was really bad and we kept looking. I picked out some books and showed them to him. He and his wife both retorted "way too easy" (which I know for a fact is not true). Then they proceed to look through books that are way above the students' level.

He finally chose a children's conversation book for the 2 lower levels and a kind of magazine book for the upper class. I told him it was too hard but he wouldn't listen. I suppose this comes from the way Korean teachers teach. They instantly translate everything and since the kids understand the translation........they assume the level is OK.

Why even ask me?

[Hater Depot]

Well.. I sympathize. But "he was crushing on her" is getting to be common slang in the US. It just means he had a crush on her, probably not a strong one though.

[some waygug-in]

Are you serious? Even if you are, I still would never teach "he is crushing on her" and there is plenty of slang that I tend to shy away from unless the students are ready for it.

I can't remember the dialogue in the book exactly but the word crush was used incorectly 3 times within the short passage.

Something like;

He felt shy because he was crushing on her. He wanted to talk to his crush. The crush was talking to his friend.


It is "crushingly" obvious that this is not "slang" it is pure Konglish.
I was "crushed" by my boss's suggestion that I use it.

[Hater Depot]

It sounds a bit funny in those sentences but otherwise that is American slang today --

I have a big crush on her --> I'm totally crushing on her.

He has a crush on her. --> She's his latest crush.

I've heard plenty of American say things like this. Teaching slang isn't a big deal but that's not konglish.

[some waygug-in]

I have no problem with the sentences you wrote. I can see that they are indeed slang. The examples I gave however........

I find it very hard to believe any American would say something like

"The crush was talking to his friend".

If the book had in fact used the sentences that you wrote, I would probably have recommended it.

[joe_doufu]

I think it's okay to teach slang but you should use a "slang book" so they know what it is they're learning. I uses the "SLANGMAN" series with my middle school and adult students sometimes, for special days, not as a coursebook.

My hagwon, like yours, has no educational plan. When I studied Korean, the K-hagwon was very professional, they had a set of books they believed were the best and they had a clear progression: 2 months on book "beginner 1", 2 months on book "beginner 2", and so on. If you started in January you could check the chart to see what book you'd be on in August.

At our hagwon, on the other hand, the boss just says "lets choose new books" once every 3 months. This time because they're desperate for new students they decided to do it a few weeks early. We chose books basically at random, based on what the parents have heard is popular and on what I thought were good books on one walk-through of the bookstore.

Why the need for new books every time? Does the core English language really change so often that you can't make up a list of books and stick to it?