Korean Job Discussion Forums

[earthbound14]

I'm a officially docking points for any student who pisses me off by using the word cutey in a sentence...no matter how perfect the rest of the sentence.

Breaking students of bad habits taught to them by Korean teachers who don't really know how to speak English and repeat verbatim some odd shite that seems to be handed down the line in text books from the big brains of the country is now part of my curriculum.

No more - cuteys
No more - 3rd grade highschool
No more - I will ski this weekend
No more - I have much money

Damn it...no more.

I never thought I'd ever write a post about the word cutey. My students just won't stop using it no matter how many times I tell them it's wrong.

[Straphanger]

[joshuahirtle27]

[Smee]

Right on. Go after "sweety" too. Hell, I'm still dealing with "I'm fine, thank you, and you!"

You know, they're not going to break out of their bad habits unless they want to. Not with the kind of reinforcement they get all around them.

[Ukon]

Elementary kids only do three things

Play pc games, visit grandparents, and play soccer....thats it...this is actually true most of the time

[Jammer113]

cutey

But I like this word! They just need to understand that it's a noun and not an adjective. You can also teach them cutie-pie. "My girlfriend is a cutie-pie." They'll be happy to learn some slang.

3rd grade highschool

Maybe teach them 3rd year high school. Easily understandable, and as their supposed goal is world communication, there are many countries that don't call 3rd year high school students "junior" or "11th grade".

I will ski this weekend

What's wrong with this? It's a perfect sentence. While I would personally say "I'm going skiing this weekend," using the present progressive for a definite plan is rather complicated to teach in high school. "Ski" and "go skiing" are theoretically interchangable, although I prefer "go skiing". Where's the problem?

I have much money

While I don't like this sentence, I think it is grammatically correct. Much is used to describe amounts of non-count nouns, isn't it? (I would need to double check my grammar book to be sure..) I personally say "I have a lot of money." But then, I also say "I have a lot of coins." "I have many coins" is really weird for me. The difference between "much" and "many" is very important for their college English exam, I'm sure. Please encourage its usage.



I guess my main point is that you're being awful harsh on your students. Please ask yourself what your goal is for language teaching. If you are strictly teaching style and focusing on academic writing in the USA (or wherever you're from) , go ahead and dock them. Otherwise, why are you trying to discourage your students from branching out from wrote memorization of their text book? They KNOW you can't punish them if they write something that was written in their text book. Do you want them doing that instead?

[Smee]

Those are good points, but I think what the OP is saying, and what I always mutter to myself, is that it sucks they're making the same Konglishy mistakes over and over and over and over, in spite of our instructions, because they heard these things on TV or from the K-English teacher, thus making them "right."

[RACETRAITOR]

[earthbound14]

[earthbound14]

[mayorgc]

yah, i've heard the "i was a cutey girl" one too many times. i just told them to say "cute" from now on.

and the "i have much money" sentence. I've been told that it's gramatically incorrect. there's also the sentence "i want much money". to me, it just sounds incredibly awkward

[Jammer113]

[Jeff's Cigarettes]

It's Konglish, nothing wrong w/ the use of it. I use it myself.

[LostinKSpace]

In everyday English, we normally use much / many only in questions and negative clauses.

Example:
How much money have you got?
Carla does not have many friends.

In positive clauses with so, as or too, we also use much / many.

Example:
Carla has so many friends.
She has as many friends as Sue.
Kevin has too much money.

In all other positive clauses, however, we prefer expressions like a lot of / lots of.

Example:
Carla has a lot of / lots of friends.
Kevin has a lot of / lots of money.

As for the I will ski at the weekend, it is fine, the will could be used for emphasis, although for planned action going to or a present continuous would be more appropriate, we could also use a Present Simple : I ski at weekends", habitual activity.

I wish my kids were capable of such sentences, and I agree with the OP that students do need to be shown the correct form, because if you don't show them who will ?

[Straphanger]