Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wylies99]

Evidently someone who teaches at a high school in Ilsan gave out an assignment to Korean high school students to "interview" a "native speaker" they meet in public and record the answers.
It's 3 questions-
Where are you from?
Do you like Korea?
What do you think of me?

I was "spotted" by a group of students while waiting in Jeongbalsam station, last week, and was swarmed by a group of high school girls. I gave a couple of interviews- until the subway arrived.

If you are the teacher that gave out this assignment STOP DOING THIS.
If you know someone who gives out assigments like this, please tell them to STOP IT.

Think about the safety of your students.
You shouldn't be putting these students in social situations with complete strangers. You ESPECIALLY shouldn't have high school age girls talking to strangers. There is a safety issue to consider, for the students.
Also, there is a consideration issue. In Korea it's considered rude to talk to strangers.

Be a REAL teacher and teach your students YOURSELF. Am I teaching your students or are YOU teaching your students? If YOU don't have the time to talk to them, why push it off on random strangers?

In the future, think about these kinds of assignments and what can go wrong.

[tfunk]

I don't think a native teacher would include the question 'what do you think of me?' because of its sexual connotations.

I think it's a Korean teacher that is trying to get the students speaking English in order to improve their confidence and also to have a semi-realistic application of their knowledge outside of the classroom. It's also a bit of fun for the students.

If they're in a group, I don't see significant danger.

>>In Korea it's considered rude to talk to strangers.

They're learning about foreign cultures.

>>If YOU don't have the time to talk to them,....

Where are you getting this from?

[Tjames426]

Excuse me...

But a lot of foreigners do not want to "teach" or "talk" to kiddies outside of our Schools.

Just like a Commercial Baker does not to have a phone call from the Bakery Factory on a Saturday night while at the Movies.

I am sure a lot of Berkeley citizens would be thrilled to have a US Army Ranger so dedicated to his job that he carries a full clipped scope rifle with full gear downtown. Right???

I am sure a Scientist working on Nuclear Energy would be walking around with uranium in his briefcase on a Sunday morning going to church, right??

What makes you think Teachers want to have anything to do with kiddies outside the doors of our perspective schools???

[idiotinkorea]

yeah, these assignments are given by 50 or so yrs old, konginglish teachers.
i ALWAYS walk around with an mp3 player plug in my ears...

[ddeubel]

[losing_touch]

I am sorry, but I have to disagree with the OP on this one. Any modern teaching approach in the ESL field would emphasize the communicative approach. While Krashen may have argued that comprehensible input is all that is required for second language acquisition, it has been widely discouraged. Swain's output theory is a prime example of this. The current methodology of TBLT also refutes Krashen's input hypothesis.

It is important for students to actively practice their English in a variety of situations. Merely showing up to class with a native speaker will not give the kind of results that any actual teacher would like to see. Instead, practicing by receiving input and producing output (interactive model) is actually much preferred to the old methodologies.

By suggesting that teachers should not engage in the types of activities that are widely supported in the field of Second Language Acquisition, you are trying to turn back the hands of time. Perhaps you don't know. Perhaps you have not had any formal teacher training. Either way, you could go through a couple of books and academic journals regarding this subject and educate yourself. This might change your mind regarding this issue.

As for a soldier being on duty when he is off ... I would expect a police officer to step in when they are off should the need arise. That would be a dedicated officer. If they did not, I would be disappointed.

[jadarite]

I like how the OP assumes the person, if true, is reading this forum (and this thread). If you are that annoyed, leave the country, that won't be the only time Koreans come up to ask you questions.

[marlow]

[losing_touch]

[tfunk]

[KoreanAmbition]

Look, answering 3 questions takes hardly any time, and if you don't want to, just learn a foreign language like Russian or Spanish and throw some jibberish at them.


The 3 questions they asked have easy answers, and I've given to different answer patterns depending on your mood.

Where are you from?

a)>>> I'm from the USA.
b)>>> I'm from Africa.


What do you think of Korea?
a) >>> It's okay.
b) >>> I get sick of Koreans talking to me in public.


What do you think of me?

a) >>> You seem friendly and your English is really good.
b) >>> You are annoying the shit out of me. F^&$ off.


Each will result in a fully-completed survey, and teach the student a lot of valuable conversation techniques, while simultaneously exposing them to our wonderful foreign culture.

[marlow]

[losing_touch]

[marlow]

[tfunk]

Although I don't see anything wrong with it, I could see it becoming a potential nuisance if it becomes a popular undertaking.

Jehovah's Witnesses are bad enough.