Korean Job Discussion Forums

ajgeddes · Joined: 28 Apr 2004 Location: Yongsan

Well, today we had our school's English speech contest, so I had to help judge it. Of course 40% of the speeches were about how great Kimchi is, but there were some others that were great. Of course, the grades I gave them were completely unlike what other teachers graded them.

The winner won because he memorized his, that has to be the reason because his speech was crap. That was the reason the other teachers gave him such high marks. I graded his as one of the worst. The subject of his speech was world travel. Here were some of his points in his speech.

There are 260,000,000 people in Tokyo.

New York is named after "Sir New York"

New York has 8 million people... the same as Korea.

B-boy style dancing came from Brazil.

France is a kingdom.

France has many great foods, such as wine.

Everyone's favourite colour in China is red.

Americans are fat.

I can't believe this kid just won.

There were other great speeches about global warming, acid rain, the environment, cultural problems that were all very well written, but those kids didn't memorize their speeches, which by the way, wasn't even part of the marking rubric.

WHAT'S THE POINT!?!

jlb · Joined: 18 Sep 2003

Yeah, memorizing crap doesn't make it any less crappy.

Ekuboko · Joined: 22 Dec 2004 Location: ex-Gyeonggi

I judged an English drama/song and dance contest last year. I didn't have the same experience as you, but other annoying things, like the "head " judge insisted that we all have exactly the same rankings.

I thought that we would be scoring on whatever factors by ourselves, then add up all the scores to determine the winner. Didn't happen that way. After the contest we had to write up our scores and comments and they made me make my placings the same as the other two Korean judges'. What a farce.

Then, we were asked by the BOE supervisor to change the winning group because the same school had won the festival's speech contest the day before (I had no idea). I refused (and won).

Guess we just have to remember that it's a Korean contest, which just happens to be spoken in English.

xtchr · Joined: 23 Nov 2004

[quote="ajgeddes"] The subject of his speech was world travel. Here were some of his points in his speech.

New York is named after "Sir New York"

quote]

Hahaha, that is brilliant Very Happy

and yes, I've had experiences where the Korean judges have completely overridden my markings to get the result they had already decided on. Why bother indeed.

spliff · Joined: 19 Jan 2004 Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand

At mine one of the top runner ups said that in America it's perfectly acceptable behavior to belch at the table and we don't have a roll of toilet paper on the table to use, as I can only guess,napkins. Hell, I thought toilet paper was employed to wipe ones azz... Shocked

duns0014 · Joined: 11 Jun 2007 Location: Ilsan

I had to do that. I had kids come to me before and ask me to check their speeches. One of them (in a korea is #1 speech) said that kimchi prevents sars, he heard it in the media. I wrote on there that it was gramatically correct, but BS. Speech day comes, he tells us that kimchi cures BS. Jesus. My vp even told me at lunch that kimchi does that. I'm not taking health advice from the country with the highest rate of stomach cancer in the world.

ajgeddes · Joined: 28 Apr 2004 Location: Yongsan

Yeah, 3 of 21 speeches were on Kimchi. All of them mentioned SARS and other magical qualities of Kimchi. I almost barfed in the middle of the speeches it was so pathetic.

butlerian · Joined: 04 Sep 2006 Location: Korea

spliff · Joined: 19 Jan 2004 Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand

I doubt it's the kimchi as the cause, more likely the soju.

Smee · Joined: 24 Dec 2004 Location: Jeollanam-do

Ha, me too. This semester they didn't have me at the school for the English song contest . . . why have an English song contest without the English teacher? Anyway, last semester I was a judge for the English speaking contest, and it was pretty ugly. First of all, the kids had memorized plays that were steeped in nonsense. Even if they had good pronunciation---which, by God, they did not---I would have had very little idea of what they were saying. It looked as if the scripts were translated piece-by-piece from a Korean text (subject-verb inversion and all). Anyway, I voted for the person who actually did a semi-decent job, but my vote was trumped by the Korean teachers on the board. I voted for a solo act, while the winners were from a group with masks and props and lots of visuals (even though I couldn't understand a word they said).

This time around I had to endure weeks of listening to "Doe, a dya, a female dya," but I wasn't asked to participate in the song contest.

My whole thing is . . . if you're going to do something, why not do it right? However, my whole thing is lost on my colleagues.

Smee · Joined: 24 Dec 2004 Location: Jeollanam-do

And, yeah, about memorization . . . I graded a lot of writing tests last year. The topic was usually "Summarize the article on ______." It was something we had covered in class and was on a topic like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, or bubblegum, or the World Cup, etc. Anyway, a large percentage of kids had just attempted to memorize the original article and replicate it in their "summary." A lot of them ended up leaving out key words or mixing up important facts or phrases. Unfortunately for them they got lower scores than the students who actually just summarized the article.

VirginIslander · Joined: 24 May 2006 Location: Busan

For the same reason the asked Little Kim to be a judge on the Who Is THE Next *beep* Cat Doll: familiar face, different race.

oneofthesarahs · Joined: 05 Nov 2006 Location: Sacheon City

We have mini in-school "speaking contests" monthly at my hagwon. The way they organize it is all of the 2:30 classes compete against each other, all of the 3:30 classes, etc. Each class memorizes a different passage (it's all stuff out of whatever book they're learning at the time). Then each class picks two-three students to compete in the "finals." I'm the sole judge of the finals. Oh, the power.

But it sometimes confuses the teachers when I choose a winner who maybe stumbled a bit on memorization. In my mind, stress and intonation far outweighs any memorization. I want it to sound like they know what they're talking about. Occasionally the Korean teachers will say, "REALLY?" when I pick the winners. So far they have never overruled me though. My school is pretty cool like that.

sniperteam6 · Joined: 08 Nov 2006 Location: Thailand, for now!

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1592326

Enjoy!! I wish I was a fly on the wall when you point this out to your co-worker.

Tjames426 · Joined: 06 Aug 2006

My school had a speech contest. Teachers from our sister schools across Korea came to watch.

First, the K students recited Dr. Suess stories, or children's poetry. The G students talked about Geographical places around the world. Most of the students did ok. Some students forgot their lines.

Two students recited their own crafted speeches. One of the two who recited was outstanding. He is one of my G1 students.

The other schools were very impressed with the student's pronunciation. I incessantly drill the students to have better yak than the "lazy" American.

___
Concerning food...

I am bothered by the "amount" of fried food here. All meat dishes seem to be deep fried. Port Cutlets, Restaurant dishes, Take out stuff. I can understand why most Korean men's skin color is darkish or reddish sicko after the age of 40.

The Kimchi does not bother me. I often go out to a Kimbob shop on a Saturday or Sunday night. I get a rice dish.