Korean Job Discussion Forums

[shantaram]

I started watching 'The King and I' with my elementary school summer camp students today. I think it is a great movie to watch for the students to develop some empathy for the foreign teacher! I put the subtitles on and got students to write notes in Korean during the film, then afterwards gave them ten minutes to translate their notes and bring them to me. So the point of watching the movie wasn't to listen to English but to appreciate the story, translate and express their thoughts in English sentences. Some of the comments were amazing for elementary school children- one of the children commented that the King had too much ambition. Another child wrote that Anna was the King's sweetheart (we hadn't got anywhere near the point in the story where that becomes obvious). There are many scenes which remind me of my experience in Korea and things people have written on this website- for example, when Anna arrives in Siam, the conditions of her contract are inexplicably changed. A hilarious scene with Siamese children looking at a map of Siam (grossly exaggerated in size) provoked some stunned responses in my class. That scene reminds me of the Samgug-era maps I saw the 4th graders were required to draw. Anyway, critiquing the film is the most interesting thing I've done with the students ever I think.