Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Don Calliente]

LONG POST and apols for spelling mistakes....

So was talking about Spain with my co-teacher yesterday, how laid abck and beautiful the Andalucian Cities are... She said she would never visit Spain if she went on a trip to Europe...

I asked her why. She replied with utter conviction -

'It is not safe. There are too many gypsies everywhere.'

I said that was nonsense and asked her why she thought this.

'Because a Korean travel guide said so.'

I replied that I've travelled extensively in Spain and have never seen ONE gypsie outside of at a touristy flamenco show in Granada and she was in fact the dancer!

'But Koreans THINK it is true.'

Me - 'But it's NOT, I know from experience.'

'But WE think it is.'

A Korean female friend recently asked me which places I'd like to travel to this year for holiday. I said that before I leave this area of the world I'd like to visit India and Indonesia.

She seemed dumbfounded and asked me why. I replied that I was just generally interested in soaking up the atmospheres of those countries and seeing the sights...

She replied that they were 'poor' and 'dirty' countries. Then she said

'Koreans only want to to go to nice countries. We don't want to vacation to poorer countiries. We are PRIDE! Don't you understand we are a PRIDE people!'

I later said I'd had a great week in Tokyo but that it was too hectic for me. I made the anaolgy that Tokyo was like Seoul on anabolic steroids and crack cocaine. She asked me why and I explained that Tokyo is more modern, busier and the buildings and lights are bigger and brighter than Seoul.

She said No! and got angry. I said, well yes, it is, but that doesn't make Seoul a bad place... She went on to say that Korean guide books say the opposite although she has never been there. I told her I have been to both cities so know from experience. She replied again that 'Koreans don't think so!'

Now read this nonsense from my elementary text book regarding visiting friend's houses -

Americans want immediate reply when they invite someone. So the person who is invited says 'Yes I can come / I'm sorry, I wont be able to make it because.... etc... They want him or her to tell why they can't come. It is not polite if they don't let him/her know at least 2-3 weeks in advance. Koreans think it's not a big deal when they have an unexpected visitor, like the Korean saying 'We can just add a spoon to the table.' However Americans get a little upset when they have unexpected visitors because in American culture everyone sits in his own chair and eats his/her own meal.....

Makes those Americans seem somewhat rude and unwlecoming in comparison to the friendly Koreans who can 'just add a spoon to the table' huh...?

It goes on to say -

Also the invited can't bring their children if there's no mention of 'you can accompany your children in the card....'

Why do they teach such nonsense...?

Another gem in the same chapter is the song I have to teach.

The video on the dvd features 'happy, yet clownish' looking westerners standing in front of the threshold of an American house welcoming their Korean guests. The Westerners wave their arms like idiots and the lyrics go -

Don't take off your shoes
Don't take off your shoes
We don't take off our shoes in the house!
Tra la la la la
tra la la la la....

I tried explaining that there is no universal rule to whethe ror not you take off your shoes. So now all the kids probably think I am a dirty barbarian....

Nice.

I guess my countrymen (the English) used to be the same regarding the Indians and Pakistanis I suppose...

[Riddzy]

[stevieg4ever]

I just studied that same stupid chapter in the Elementary School English (6). you comment almost had me off my seat.

ARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH

I think the travelling thing differs I meet lots of people who want to travel India and, for what its worth, the guide books are pretty common imo. the spain comment is very harsh though.

on the other hand they dont seem happy that im going to malaysia in the january.

[kermo]

[nomad-ish]

my middle school text has a chapter talking about how in western countries, we (in middle school) call our teachers by their first names. among other bs scattered throughout the text.

i usually avoid talking about countries (besides my own) and where i've been or am going to. i've only got 1 co-teacher that i can have normal, unbiased conversations with when it comes to different countries and cultures

[Ilsanman]

[crusher_of_heads]

[Dome Vans]

As I find it difficult to argue with a fellow brit. I find this happens everywhere. I knew people in Cornwall, where I grew up, that thought going to Exeter would mean they need a passport and they'd probably get murdered because it was the big city. Weird small minds. You get it everywhere, not just Korea.

This kind of ignorance is funny, english people have it. Do you think Yanks who've never been abroad have much idea about the outside world other than what they absorb from the TV?

Found my teachers fairly open to hearing about cultural differences. They probably think I'm a bit weird for sitting in a boiling hot teachers room in my t-shirt while they're huddled round the stove wearing gloves, scarves and jackets. But that's the fun of it.

[Don Calliente]

[excitinghead]

In my own experience, this seems to be a particular problem of English books about the outside world authored by Koreans.

One of my jobs is preparing students for the listening section of their University Entrance test, but seeing as I only see 13 groups of 50 students each for 50 mins each a week, then there's not much ESL per se I can teach them. Instead, amongst other things, much more useful is pointing out all the projecting the Korean authors have done in the textbook, and how in the coversations Ju-tek and Min-yeong can say this in Korean in Korea, Steve and Kelly in LA wouldn't say it in a million years, in any language. If the students talked like the way the Korean authors seem to think Westerners do, within three hours of landing at LAX my students would either be mugged, dead, or sex-slaves in an underground BDSM club.

But I read Korean middle-school textbooks a lot, on thinks like History, Science, Technology and 'Home Management' and Ethics, mainly to study Korean with (if you want to see how, you can check out the link to the post in my blog below), but also to figure out where Korean adults' sometimes bizarre world view comes from. But they seem perfectly fine, at least those for 13-16 year-olds, with nothing I can see that is widly inaccurate.

I'm from New Zealand myself, and the history book for 13 year-olds I have in front of me doesn't have much on NZ, but it sure as hell has nothing about the Land of the Great White...unihabitable antarctic South Island. Just the standard stuff: city names, sizes, climate charts etc. And in my own experience, at least one person in every class and/or workplace I've been at in Korea has at least one person who's been there on vacation...although Korea isn't exactly a place where students can challenge the teacher's authority, especially one who refuses to believe someone actually from the country!

http://thegrandnarrative.wordpress.com/2007/08/01/the-korean-education-system-and-its-consequences-for-adults-part-3/

[ajgeddes]

[ajgeddes]

Obviously the OP is just an isolated case. That's why, wherever I travel, it is loaded with Koreans. Probably more than any other group. Go to SEA, they are everywhere, it's to the point where I feel I am not even on vacation.

[Justin Hale]

[Don Calliente]

[Dome Vans]