Korean Job Discussion Forums

blunder1983 · Joined: 12 Apr 2005

I mentioned in earlier threads the idea of theme lessons.

For my girls I've been having difficulty in coming up with interesting things, and thought a beauty pagent rpg might work well. The emphasis on these are to get creative thought flowing and discussions in English.

My initial idea would be assigning attributes, beauty, smarts etc. Then having rounds, where their characters would compete. So an interview round would result in high smarts getting the most points.

Finally they all judge the best character themselves and the lesson is brought to a close.

Its all very rough as I'm not sure how well it would be recieved (it would be done in a free class at a middle school).

Comments appreciated.

kermo · Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 3:32 am Post subject:

This is very very very tender ground you're treading on. I remember how sensitive I was about my looks when I was younger, and I can only imagine how much pressure is on Korean girls.

The idea isn't bad, but how about getting the kids to DRAW characters, so they don't feel like they are being judged on their own exteriors. I know you would assign beauty characteristics, but I can just hear the giggles when the homely girl draws a high number on that one. Ouch.

blunder1983 · Joined: 12 Apr 2005

Oh sorry I didnt explain properly.

The girls create a girl in the pagent, choose their country and then draw their pic. They are definately not being judged themselves! I'm still thinking it might cause offence, u did something like this at home and the politically correct people would be on ur ass big style.

peppermint · Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 3:48 am Post subject:

Definitely don't let them judge eachother, because girls that age are cruel. Either have them draw or use a few famous people or characters from dramas. You might get an interesting discussion going on the lead in My name is Kim Samsoon for example. There was a big write up on the show in the k-scene/ Seoul classifeds recently.

peppermint · Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 3:50 am Post subject:

Having seen the clarification- different nationalities. it could work, especially if you get some pics of beautiful women from those countries, but I suspect you'd run into a lot of nationalism and racial prejudice. ( I hope I'm wrong about that though, I really do)

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

I think it could work quite well - but expect a lot of racism when it comes to dark-skinned girls.

I was doing descriptions the other week using pics from fashion mags. I was getting them to describe whether X was tall/short, thin/fat, pretty/ugly, etc. And without fail, every black person came out ugly. In a few cases I was thinking, 'wtf, she's really hot!', but that's not how Koreans see them.

I'd suggest having them draw anomie characters and having an anomie beauty contest.

margaret · Joined: 14 Oct 2003

Yes, I would consider a beauty contest sexist, even with drawn characters. How about drawing characters and having them compete for many catagories--the prettiest, the ugliest, the scariest, the cutest, the funniest, etc. You could still have the interviews and it wouldn't reinforce the cultural idea that beauty is the most important thing for girls.
Margaret

magicwolfman · Joined: 01 Sep 2005

This is totally wrong and sexist. It would only further put pressure on poor Korean children to try to live up to a standard that in itself sets them up for problems and possibly psychological issues later in life.

blunder1983 · Joined: 12 Apr 2005

Thanks for the responses. I wasn't very happy with the idea, and have decided to leave it. Instead we're gonna create an Anime soap opera which ,in all honesty, I think they'd enjoy more anyway.

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

magicwolfman · Joined: 01 Sep 2005

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

magicwolfman · Joined: 01 Sep 2005

Ahh, so since it is a "fake" beauty show, than it is ok. The meaning is still there and is not a level playing field. I guess, you are one of those people who dont care about the psychological welfare of your students, by all means carry on, why dont you carry a big stick too and fall students fat and ugly.

blunder1983 · Joined: 12 Apr 2005

Well Magic, for starters I was asking on here for precisely the reasons ur mentioning. Factor into that we'd not base it solely on looks neway and have loads of things for them to compare with I dont see the validity in your main arguement.

I agree that propigating (yeah yeah sp i know) the sterotype of beauty is not gonna be a great thing but it might be an interesting thing for them to discuss anyway, with them questioning what makes a person beautiful looks or something else.

This is much like your contribution to Demonicats request for RPG players, you decided it'd soon develop into a satanistic blashempy of a thread. I think someone needs to unclench a little.

Oh and I find your insinuations that myself and Yu Bum are bad teachers quite offensive. Attempting to inject interest into lessons in whatever form should be encouraged, the students get enough dry meaningless twaddle in their everyday lives as it is.

Scott in HK · Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 7:09 pm Post subject:

Before you give up entirely on the idea...I think a small change could make it workable. In Penny Ur's "Discussions that Work" there is an exercise about a scholarship.

You could create a scholarship...tell the students what kind of students would win it....then have the students compete against each other before a panel of judges...they could do a writing task...a speaking task...or maybe a poster about themselves..

Different scholarships would require different characters...a sports scholorship...an arts one...and so one...

Blunder....on a different note...I forgot to contact you about the VCD's and will soon....and I have that ESL Book that someone talked about on a different thread....which you can borrow and read...or borrow and copy...will pm you with details