Korean Job Discussion Forums

[seoulsteve]

My school's vice principal is obsessing about making my students memorize stories this year. This seems like a horrible idea, but I'm not totally sure, since I know memorizing passages has helped me a lot with speaking Korean.

What's your take on the role of memorization in learning English?

[Ya-ta Boy]

While certain things, like spelling and set phrases and idioms, need to be memorized, not much else does.

Are you SURE the vice principal means 'memorization' when he says it? Absolutely sure? 99.3% of all Koreans misuse 'memorize'. They usually just mean 'to study', 'to remember'. Korean education does emphasize memorization far more than ours does, but it is not to the degree that it sounds like when students and vice principals are talking.

[andrewchon]

Make them memorize. That'll help with the Speech competitions later in the year. You'll look good and the school will be happy.

[tokkibunni8]

My students can print off a page of crap from online and memorize it word to word without understanding any crap they just recited.