Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kaypea]

I use "Let's go to the movies" and "let's go to a movie" interchangeably, although I can acknowledge that if you're using robot English, there is a difference: "the movies" could mean any movie in particular (or may even seem like an absurd statement), whereas "a movie" is a particular movie.

Today is the first midterm exam day at my middle school.

There's some silly question that depends on the students choosing "let's go to a movie", wheras if they choose "let's go to the movies" it's wrong. I've stated my position-- these phrases are interchangable-- and some of the students seem to agree with me. However, the other English teachers insist there's a difference. (Teachers also teach phrases like, "Do you like a dog?") I wonder how they will settle this controversy?

Anybody else have tales of midterm absurdity?

[sulperman]

I've had a few today. Mostly things where a kid is marked wrong for writing a perfectly good answer that is not the one the teacher had in mind. It may be just as good, it may even be better, but if you don't somehow divine the exact answer the teacher who made the test was envisioning, YOU ARE WRONG.

[oldtrafford]

Korean teachers can't ever give me a lesson on the indefinite and definite articles. Just agree tell her/him that they're right, and proceed as usual. Wouldn't even bother worrying about it. There's a massive difference between spoken and written English that clearly Korean adults don't get. Just for the record I don't see anything wrong with either of them and you've clearly communicated the point, and I'm not even from North America. Ask them why you're wrong, where is there linguistic evidence.

Oh, and 'do you like a dog' is wrong. This is basic English whereby we pluralize when we talk in general about such things. Using the definite article 'the' when be being specific about one dog is ok. but you'd probably replace that with a pronoun. And you work in a public school, these people shouldn't have jobs!!

[oldtrafford]

here is there linguistic evidence.

sorry that should be 'their' not there!!

[Chris.Quigley]

I give credit to one of my co-workers.

He did something similar on one of his exams. (Putting two possible correct answers). The other NET and I argued on behalf of students who came and showed us the question after the exam. We came to the conclusion that both answers were interchangeable as well.

It took a lot of humility, but my co-teacher actually went to the principal and admitted he made a mistake by putting two correct answers on the exam. Students were given a bonus mark on the exam if they chose the other answer.

It's stupid that a mistake on an exam is such an issue of shame... But, at least my co-teacher had the balls to admit his mistake.

Edit: Admitting such a mistake to the principal is huge... it takes a lot of paper work to fix and your reputation takes a major hit...

[Kaypea]

I'm not even sure what the debate is exactly about the "movies" thing, because they had the discussion in Korean. One teacher (a young teacher) asked my opinion, she took my word for it and passed it on to the other (older) teachers, and I do believe they poo-pooed it... but my Korean is only a TOPIK level 2, so I couldn't jump in there and try and convince them. ^^

But, I don't care.

Plus, some of the teachers are pretty cool and are being careful to allow variations on expected answers to the written questions, and even running the variations past me for NET approval ^^ Makes me feel good.

"Yes. 'They stayed home' is an acceptable, even if the answer should be 'They stayed at home'." I feel good.

[Kaypea]

[Kaypea]

Ugh. Is this day over yet? I just accidentally gave advice that makes me look like a total tard.

Coteacher shows me something she wrote on a piece of paper:

I think you tired.
I'm sure you tired.

For some reason, I didn't think she was asking about the usage of "you". I thought it was her shorthand, and she was just asking if these phrases were acceptable variations of "You must be tired" (the target answer). You know what I mean? I thought OBVIOUSLY the "you" bit was so obviously wrong that it couldn't have possibly be in question.

She thought I okayed the "you" part... She caught that mistake herself later, but she's confused why I okayed it. It's hard to explain that I didn't actually think she was asking about it. I'm sure I look idiotic. It's like the time I wrote "Your welcome" on the board by mistake.

This day is driving me nuts. I suck at this job sometimes.

[schwa]

Our exams get put to our middle school girls tomorrow.

In my school (& throughout my district as far as I know) the NET is expected to vet every question with a fine-tooth comb in search of grammar errors, typos, unnatural usages, confusing elements, or worst of all, ambiguous "wrong" answers that students could successfully argue are also correct. They can & do argue fine points, often with the backing of native speaker hagwon teachers. That really is a big headache for the school.

None of the Korean english teachers I work with resent my editing or suggestions. I think we all see the test as a collaborative exercise & the goal is a clean & fair question paper.

Schools that dont consult us or ignore our input deserve the flak they get.

[tatertot]

In my opinion, the sentences are functionally the same. However, they aren't actually the same as regards to the object of the sentence.

Let's go to a movie.
-vs-
Let's go to the movies. -> Let's go to (the theater where) the movies (are shown).

So both are basically saying, "Let's go see a movie." but they are conveying it in different ways. I think that "Let's go to the movies." is a bit more of a colloquialism than the other phrase. To us they sound identical, but perhaps the second sentence isn't technically correct.

I am usually wrong, though.

[Illysook]

Next testing season, that teacher will run his test questions by the NET before the students take the exam.

[nathanrutledge]

I've gotten the same stuff every midterm and final test time I've been here. My route is to pull out my trusty copy of "Practical English Usage" and find the answer. I do this even if I know the answer, so that they cannot argue or debate the issue even more. We've all been there, and we'll all be there again in a few months for the finals... Keep your chin up!