Korean Job Discussion Forums

[UncleAlex]

This morning, after having completed a lesson ten minutes earlier because
of the efficiency of my students, I decided to show a Yahoo Music Video to
kill the remaining time. I tend to show music videos at the end of a lesson
so that the students won't slow things down by misbehaving:They look for-
ward to these clips. Well, as usual, I picked a student and asked him what
Western band he likes. He told me,"U2." (That's my favorite band.) So I
unwittily selected a music video that has a quick bathtub scene where a fully
clothed man is in the tub kissing a mermaid. (The song is Electrical Storm,
an extremely sexually charged song in its tone and pitch.) Half way through
the video, my co-teacher quietly asked me to turn it off, because she felt that the
content was inappropriate for a "Korean High School". Fortunately, the song was
just about to end, so the students failed to notice anything amiss. I quickly
complied to her request (or demand) and promised not to show anything so implicitly
sexual again. And I thought that was the end of it until my supervisor told me that
my co-teacher complained to her that I was "morally corrupting" the pupils.
It won't be long I suppose until all the teachers at my school and those
of neighboring schools hear about this "weygook" who has a morally corrupt
influence on Korean children. Meanwhile, I have discovered that when I show
Western music videos my high students behave in a mature manner
- not like 10 year olds back home in a school yard.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

If you stand right by the class computer you can quickly bring up another window if something seedy like that comes up, and then it looks like you at least tried. I always censor the teen mags and manga comic books I lend to my students. It's ridiculous, to be sure; but given Koreans' tendency to view anything waygook as morally corrupt from the beginning it doesn't hurt.

Of course half the MS students (at least the girls) are up til midnight watching OCN, but I'd better not hand out a Cosmogirl with a 'college stud guide' featuring guys in their underwear.

[laogaiguk]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[laogaiguk]

[ddeubel]

[UncleAlex]

Indeed, even back home in Ontario, where I had taught before I came to
Korea, I had to be mindful of what kind of material I presented to my students:
especially in English class where I used music and film. It would be arrogant
of me to ignore or take for granted the cultural or moral sensibilities of my
students or colleagues, apart from having to worry about Board censorship.
I deeply regret what happened today because I offended my co-teacher. The bathtub
scene must have been quite a cultural shock to my colleague. Yet the scene
was presented in a very artistic and romantically innocent way. My co-teacher
failed to find the scene "obscene" but felt that it was "inappropriate" to be shown at
school. I left it at that, wondering how something unobscene could be inappropriate.
Perhaps love and romance should be kept behind closed doors where it would
offer no distractions in an academic environment or incite morally irresponsible
thoughts among the more deviant inclined youth. If so, why is it that Korean
teachers at my school sometimes show Western movies in their classrooms?
I'm talking about films that contain much violence, deviant behaviour, and sexually
implicit content.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[ilovebdt]

Hi

I totally understand where both you and your co teacher are coming from.

Although, you can see all sorts of porno, couples going off to love motels to have sex etc public schools are very conservative establishments.

Here at my school they give classes on Ethics (?). Which is all about how to behave and what is acceptable and what isn't.

I would just chalk it up to experience and maybe preview some suitable filler videos and have them on standby.

Ilovebdt

[Ya-ta Boy]

This is a tricky area. I don't watch Korean videos to know what is acceptable, but it might be a good idea. I've never seen the video you mentioned, so have no idea about it.

I do know that as of 1994 kissing was not common here. My first Korean friend said he didn't kiss his fiance until after she accepted his proposal. From that, I conclude that kissing is much more highly charged sexually than we think of it. Koreans could never play spin the bottle in middle school.

I think the only safe thing to do is to select some videos and have them pre-viewed. That's about all you can do to protect yourself.

[Hater Depot]

Driving yourself and your fiance off of a cliff into a river to suffer an icy death in the middle of winter, however, is perfectly fine. Also being separated at birth from your twin brother and growing up into the FBI agent who guns him down in a gangland battle.

etc etc. But kissing a mermaid = no, I guess. It's a funny world.

[ddeubel]

[UncleAlex]

I agree with Ya-ta-boy that it's wise, if not professional, to view a music video
before showing it to a class. On the surface Korean society is a sexually repressed
one. It is only the very bold and young who dare to kiss or even hold hands
in public: sights I seldom see unless I'm in the Hongdae area in Seoul. Having said that, what appeared
on the screen today would not have sent shock waves through a Canadian
high school. A fully clothed man sharing a bathtub with a mermaid, who needs water to
survive while out of her element, is not X-rated material. The scene symbolizes
a central theme found in many of Bono's lyrics: that despite our differences
we can still learn how to love one another. Underneath that graphic image
in the video lies a deep moral and spiritual message. However, I shall be a
little more careful when selecting music videos in the future, since I am teaching
in a public school within a very superficial society which has a hard time penetrating
beneath the surface of things.

[jaganath69]

Had a similar experience here, except I was working for the Korean airforce teaching their cadets. I had an FHM magazine, lent to me by a coworker in a pile of books and I showed the cover to the class and flipantly said "this is my new girlfriend". 99% of the cadets laughed at the impossibility of my sad, fat behind dating a bikini-clad vixen gracing the cover of an international lads' mag. However, there was one girl in the class, a devout christian who complained to my superiors. Next thing I knew I was hauled up infront of a Leuitenant Colonel who was accusing me of showing "sexually explicit" material to students. I had to cut my losses and appologise, but c'mon, give me a friggin break! Lucky I was in Korea and not elsewhere? My fat erse.

[Homer]

Perhaps its just me but showing music videos during class time seems like a bad idea...

Unless you include some sort of activity related to English (i.e. theme of the video...)

If you want to show clips...why not clips from sitcoms and then have them comment on it...

Music videos might be seen as a waste of time by your school (even if you show them with good intentions)...