Korean Job Discussion Forums

taejonguy · Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Location: Daejeon, Korea

Okay, here is the deal...

I will be teaching 8 hours (8 one hour classes) of "Cross-cultural English" and I am at a loss as to what sources to use. I was told "Ugly Korean, Ugly American" may be useful but I am unsure where to go from there...Any ideas as to sources or even ideas on what to include? The classes are made up of middle and high school English teachers so they will probably be an intermediate level (more or less!). Class size will be 9 and I will go through three groups. Class discussion is to make up about 1/2 of each hour.

Thanks for any usefull ideas!

oneiros · Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Location: Villa Straylight

I've never taught this kind of class, (I won't, generally, teach adults), but I've noticed that when my co-workers ask about cultural aspects of the language, its usually in reference to something they've seen on American tv. And about ninety percent of the time, that American tv show seems to be "Friends".

If I had complete curriculum control, I might try making it a "Cross Cultural English through Western Media" class. You could spend 10-20 minutes watching a media segment, go over some of the new expressions/cultural situations, and spend the rest of the class in discussion over the viewed segment.

Michelle · Joined: 18 May 2003

If you're students are high level, adults, and Ugly Korean Ugly American seems too juvenile, try Culturally Speaking. It's very interesting and full, but at the end of the day I did feel like a cultural imperialist. Try going in with the attitude of also being open to learning new things about them. The student group I was with was great when I taught this so it was a blast, but they have to be into it.