Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Insidejohnmalkovich]

In our storybook, "The Knight at Dawn" from the Magic Tree House series, there was the phrase, "Jack pushed the door shut."

The children did not understand the phrase. They are medium level, whatever that means to you. They spent two years in kindergarten and two in the afternoon classes of this private English school.

I told a child, "Shut the door." The class was not sure what I meant. I said, "What does shut mean?" The children were aghast.

I found out from them that they had been taught that "Shut up" was a "bad word," something like "f*ck *ff" I guess. I had to explain that it simply meant close your mouth, and it was rude and mean, but that it was not a swear word.

It simply struck me, because I had thought that explaining "shut the door" would be easy and immediately clear once I mentioned the parallel phrase "shut up," but instead I spent five minutes uncluttering the children's minds.

On the other hand, Korean children blithely say "Oh, my God!" without considering the rudeness thereof.

[Dodgy Al]

Part of the reason native English teachers are here is to clear up misconceptions such as this. 'Shut up' is a common one, which I believe will fade over time. I think you were right to spend time 'uncluttering the children's minds'. It's been a while since I taught Magic Treehouse, but I distinctly remember there being many opportunities for this. Stay positive - if we don't take that responsiblity, no-one will.

[cruisemonkey]

I fail to see why "Oh my God!" is rude...?

When students use "shut up" with each other, I explain it is rude and give examples in Korean... the kids usually look like this - .

[Straphanger]

It means close. That's all. Close.

ip-da-da as they say to each other, is more complete - close your mouth!

[T-J]

[blackjack]