Korean Job Discussion Forums

[captain kirk]

Making a vocab list and I asked, 'What's this?', pointing at a picture of a forked stick with a rubber sling. 'Seh chong!', everyone says (grade five), 'bird gun!'.

Who has a 'seh chong' (slingshot), put your hands up!?'. Everyone, and half the class are girls. 'YOU have a slingshot?', I ask one girl, my voice sounding startled. 'My brother's', she says.

'What did you hit with the slingshot?' (boys answer). 'A bird'. 'What kind of bird?'. 'Kahmagi (crow)'. 'You killed a crow?', I make a throat slashing gesture finger across my throat to get 'kill' across, maybe he doesn't know it. 'Where did you hit it?'. 'Mow-rhee' (head).

'Wow, anyone else kill a bird?'

One boy killed a 'gahchi' (magpie), hit it in the 'moh uhm' (body). Another hit a sparrow in the head, killing it. They all used stones, one used a BIG stone (everyone laughs).

I ask the girls (who have/had slingshots), 'What did you hit?'. They don't answer, the boys answer for the girls, 'dang' (ground). Maybe the girls killed birds, but it wouldn't be girly to say.

These country kids have talked about other stuff country, but I'll leave that to you, what your kids said.

[contrarian]

I am the only foreign teacher in a co-ed high school in a country town, Boeun. I suspect that at least 2/3rds of the kids actually live one farms.

These kids are polite, and even willing to talk (glory be!). They have a quite appealing naivete' about them. After 6 years teaching uni (I'm too old to get another uni job) it's even sort of fun.

These kids have at least as English skills as the my freshmen students did.

[spliff]

Nice kids and very friendly, too. Not like the spoiled brats in Kangnam (but they're alright as well)...

[Yu_Bum_suk]

On the whole my rural kids have been fantastic to teach. There are some exceptions, but most are just little sweethearts. Yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine who taught at a hagwon here and now teaches at a hagwan in Cheonon, and she found the kids there way ruder.

Also while my school does have some excellent students it also has plenty who simply aren't very bright and have been taught by pretty useless Korean English teachers, making communication rather difficult.

[JD1982]

Kids from suburbs are great!

[cornie_man]

Gotta say, the country kids certainly have lower levels of English but what they lack in that department, they make up in character. I've never seem a group of city kids working in the rice fields on Sunday. For that matter, nor have I seen a city kid wrestle a snake into a bucket on the school driveway. Bless.

[spliff]

[mrsquirrel]

Ace

Great kids.

Any student that eats a herbal tea bag for a bet is sound by me

(Princess this is not the start of a feminazi rant or anything similar)

The twins (both with a lazy eye) regularly stop and say hello and examine my shopping basket whilst in the local supermarket. They speak sod all English but are really decent kids.

Overall I like them. Liked my Thai country kids as well.