(Repeat content from my other jewelry and Etsy blog, because it's actually relevant to the stuff here, too.)
Because I'm too lazy to do any fashion self-portraiture, and because I'm already in my PJs, here's a Polyvore collection of what I wore today. This is an outfit I probably wear once a week, at least. (I packed pretty light coming over to Korea, so I repeat my outfits a lot.)
The shape of the watch face and the mechanics of the cuff.
The t-shirt is the same shade of yellow.
What's different:
My glasses aren't sunglasses, of course, but Polyvore doesn't seem to understand the sheer cuteness of regular glasses so there you have it. They're also greener in the frames.
The cardigan I have is far more drab green than bright forest green.
My trousers are ankle-length. They also have an elastic waistband, without buttons or fasteners.
My shoes aren't Pumas.
My bolo tie is a piece of unakite my boss' husband set for me, but again—difficult to find bolo ties on Polyvore! The color family is close, though.
Instead of the adorable peanut butter and jelly hug graphic, my t-shirt (a discount find at BangBang) has a brown print of a camera and some random Engrishee text.
I think I might make this kind of post a regular deal. What people wear is interesting, right? I think it is, at least. Also I like the challenge of trying to match items on Polyvore to the items in my wardrobe.
To download this and other clips off of YouTube, I recommend, as always, the YouTube Downloader HD program. For other videos I've used and the skeletal lesson/activity plans I've built around them, check out the Multimedia Monday tag.
David Armand is one of the funniest comedians I've seen in a while. He's done a whole bunch of "interpretative dances," and while they're all hilarious, unfortunately only this one is unequivocally appropriate for a young class. (The others either have references to sex, genitalia, or both.) Any time I have a chance to show something in class that I like watching? Everyone wins.
You can print out the lyrics before, if you want—that's probably helpful for lower-level classes. With more advanced students, you could easily make this a game. It'll take a bit of advanced planning, though. Write "I'm never gonna dance again" on the board, cue the video up to the chorus (with sound), and hit play. In this video, it's at about 40 seconds in. It helps if you point along to the words: once I did that, my kids sussed out right away what Armand was trying to convey.
Then, back to the beginning, and kill the sound. Maybe watch it twice. Have the students write what they think the lyrics are based on Armand's mime routine, and then pass out the lyrics so they can see how close they got it. (I admit, I haven't done this part yet, as I don't really have the time for it in my advanced classes. But I've got it ready, just in case I ever do.) If you have the time, you can play the video one more time with the lyrics so they can try to match the mimes to the real words—have students circle the words at parts where they didn't understand the mime, and so forth. Considering how damn popular George Michael's Last Christmas is in Korea, I'm sure Korean students will take to Careless Whispers fairly readily.
I read other K-blogs here and there, but a lot of times I cannot be arsed because the writing is twee as fuck, or there's little to no actual content involved. Sometimes both.
This particular article at least avoids being twee but I think Mr. Boothe really missed out on a chance to start an actual discussion or at least impart some useful knowledge by just dropping the term "외dar" out there without any context. Okay, we should improve our 외dar, but how? What should ping? What has pinged yours? Because otherwise it's just like high school all over again: avoiding the weird kids just because they're weird. (More on that in a second...maybe.)
I do agree that there are foreigners over here who immediately (or even after a time) ping on my 외dar as "whoa, this guy is bad news, stay away," yet they fail to really register with other people (usually Koreans but other foreigners as well) as a bad idea. Is it just different cultural norms? Is it, as Michael suggests, Koreans trying extra hard to be inclusive? Is it because foreigners act differently around other foreigners than they do around Koreans? It's probably all three.
Thinking back to the few "weirdos"/unsavory types I've met in Korea, I've come up with things that I believe should ping on your 외dar.
I should preface this by saying I tend to prefer avoid douchebags and just generally immature people, not necessarily people who are just "weird." I'm awkward as fuck most times (or at least I feel like I am) so I like hanging out with weird people because they probably won't notice or give a shit if I'm awkward. Which means I should rephrase: these are things that ping on my 외dar. Your mileage may vary.
Danger, Will Robinson!: The Checklist
An obsession with finding a Korean girl/boyfriend.
Related to the above, saying, "Korean girls/women..." or "Korean guys/men..." a lot.
Spending an inordinate amount of time in Itaewon.
Likewise, spending an inordinate amount of time in Hongdae.
Probably Apgujeong, too, but I haven't run into this personally.
Wide-eyed, naive wonderment at the marvel that is South Korea that lasts for more than their first two months.
Any other traits in foreigners that raise your eyebrows?
I have two rounds of presentations within the next month. The first I just finished up today, with the students in my Winter Intensives course. It was pretty hands-off and I just ate Pringles and judged their performances. Second only to sitting on a couch while slave labor fanned me and fed me fruit.
For the record, finding this image was way more difficult than I expected it to be.
I have another round at the end of February with my regular course advanced students, and with this group I'm helping them a bit along the way (mostly with correcting the English in their PowerPoint presentations). This whole week, I've been bombarded with .pptx files and stilted English malapropisms. What's really fascinating about this particular round is that both groups were given free rein over the topics. In no particular order, here's what I've heard or will hear about:
Korean TV programs (Running Man and 2 Day 1 Night)
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (This from an intensive student who spent all of January studying this movie, I suspect he didn't really make anything else in time and he/his mom/his teacher threw this together in a panic.)
The girl who presented on her family, Hanna, made an old-school poster instead of a ho-hum PowerPoint, with photos and everything. She has a great little personality, as evidenced by this selection:
"My second aunt majored in voice at University, but I don't think she is a very good singer. She has two children. The daughter is in seventh grade. She is very good at English speaking. She likes watching basketball game. The son is in fourth grade. When he was younger, he was very cute, but now I think he is a little bit ugly. He likes soccer, baseball, and basketball."
Note well that Hanna's little cousin, Roy (the ugly one), was also in the same intensive course and was in the audience when she was giving this presentation. He took it well and just suffered from giggle fits the whole time, even when she called him ugly. I suppose insults sting less when they're not in your native language?
I'm looking forward to the Minecraft presentation especially. I'm tempted to see if I can whip up a hanok in game, screen cap it, and show it to my students in class, but really I'm too lazy to be bothered. Yiruma I'm looking forward to a lot as well, because popular Korean musicians who aren't K-pop groups always interest me.
But the best part about all of these are a little peek under the lid of my students' heads. Teaching is a lot more fun when you get to know your students as people outside what you do in the classroom. I can't wait to see what they come up with.
Shamelessly repeating an old post from my CELTA days. This time it has the benefit of hindsight: I actually did use this song in a lesson, and it worked very well—it was actually the first (and only) "Above Standard" I got on the whole course. The instructor just went bananas over it and the students liked it, too— though this wasn't the entirety of the lesson, it was the closing activity and, everyone agreed, the best part.
Before I started the song or even handed out the lyrics sheet, I put some assorted tasks from the lyrics (and some other random ones) on the board and asked the students to sort them by "what can men do well" and "what can women do well." If you have the time, it can be a fun debate.
Then I handed out the lyrics with the comparatives all blanked out. They filled those in as best they could, then we listened to the song to check answers. Most of them found it pretty easy. The second time, we listened to see which things the girl could do better and vice versa, as well as which ones neither singer talked about.
The hip thing to do among younger teachers is to break out the Daft Punk when they get to comparatives, but I think this one works much better. (Maybe use the Daft Punk for filler if the class catches on supremely quickly, but not for the bulk of the lesson.)
You can find other videos I've used (or considered using) at the Multimedia Monday tag; use the YouTube Downloader if your classroom computer is offlinebut you want to use videos from YouTube.
I'm generating material for a new textbook. If I understand my boss correctly, the franchise headquarters is considering dropping their kids' hagwons (like ours) in favor of focusing exclusively focusing on adults. The owners of this particular branch don't know if or when this will happen, but they want to have material ready just in case it does. My boss and I both agree that the movie/music/novels curriculum is much preferable to just straight-up textbook drilling, and that even if HQ drops us, we'd want to keep that curriculum style. This is why I'm writing questions for, and summarizing scenes from, Shrek.
I like Shrek a lot, I'll admit it, even if DreamWorks is monetizing the life out of it. I like it for a lot of reasons, but what's nice about Shrek compared to the other movies they've studied so far (Elf, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, Ice Age) is that it has a pretty good soundtrack, with lots of good pop songs to choose from. Yeah, even the song by Smashmouth. I'm sorry. I'm not including it here, though, because I don't think it's really a good song for EFL students (lyrics don't exactly make sense). Also, everyone hates it.
Here are some good ones that people still like, as far as I can tell.
Oh, The Proclaimers. National band of Scotland. If nothing else, I'm sure the trippin' balls music video will entertain my kids.
The version in them movie is apparently a cover by Halfcocked, and not the original Joan Jett. But since Joan Jett is the queen of rock 'n roll, I posted the original. Minor controversy here, since the refrain does have low-level profanity in it, but since my kids are studying Green Day's "Basketcase" ("I went to a whore, he said my life's a bore...") I think it's kosher enough for this particular classroom. Besides, "I don't give a _____ about ______." is a great idiomatic expression to learn. (Activity idea: have a contest to see who can come up with the funniest thing to fill in the blank: "I don't give a ________ about homework!")
So I lied, I am totally including the other Smashsmouth song from the soundtrack, which I honestly prefer to the Monkees' version. And unlike All Star, the lyrics make a bit more sense than just a bunch of almost-puns. (Thanks, Neil Diamond.) Trying to track down the version I remember from the "Jukebox" bonus feature on YouTube—the one where Eddie Murphy sings—is pretty impossible. The only one I can find has the dialog in Spanish, which is not really helpful for me. So, instead, have one of the myriad versions of the Eddie Murphy-less one matched up with a Shrek AMV.
And finally, Leonard Cohen as covered by Rufus Wainwright. (Even if John Cale's version is better.) Not sure if I'll use this one—it's a bit too mellow and melancholy to capture the attention of frenetic nine year olds. But if they could get into Cat Stevens, they might like this. Still, the other songs I listed will definitely get the higher priority.
For other videos, there's always the Multimedia Monday tag. And if you need to pull any of these videos from YouTube on to a thumb drive or hard drive or whatever, you can't go wrong with YouTube Downloader HD.
This one, unlike my other two, was much shorter. I was staying at a jjimjilbang with a friend who was leaving Seoul this past Friday night. While I was sitting in the hot tub, feeling kind of glum and melancholy about his imminent return to Busan, I suddenly felt a tapping on my shoulder.
It was one of a crowd of ajummas who had been sitting in the Really Quite Hot tub. She held an ice cube between her fingers and, in the manner of a doctor with a young patient, said simply, "Ahhhh."
Even though I knew exactly what was going on, I was still surprised to find the ice cube in my open mouth. I made a noise of surprise, mostly garbled around the ice cube that prevented me from saying a proper thank you, and the ajumma laughed and smiled and went back to her friends.
The views expressed herein are entirely my own and are in no way reflective of my employers, who shall remain nameless in the spirit of good common sense.
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