So I decided what I am yesterday. I am a Sunday Korean. You all know the phrase "Sunday Christian," right? Someone who goes to church and takes religion seriously one day of the week, but sins like CRAZY for the other six days (especially Saturday night, I bet)? Well that has become, unfortunately, my attitude about learning Korean.
I have a new language exchange partner who takes our work together VERY seriously, which is great. He simultaneously wants to PERFECT his English while helping me to accomplish my goals with Korean (which, by the way, are quite modest). So we spend two hours every Sunday engaged in fairly intensive language study, the likes of which I haven't known since Mr. Chandler's B-period AP French 4 class.
The problem is that for the other six days of the week, part of my job is to actively police my classroom, reprimanding any student who speaks Korean, or "Konglish," or really even speaks with a heavy Korean accent. For example:
Student: Teach-uh? Can I please-uh go to bathroom?
Teacher Chris: *with mock incomprehension* Teach-UH? What is teach-UH?
Student: TeachER, please-uh!
Teacher Chris: Please-UH?? What is please-UHH??
So I spend 6 hours every day, and three hours on Saturdays, enforcing a strict-English only policy. It makes me feel like an evil colonial governor, but that's what I get for reading all those books in post-colonial literature for Lit Crit class.
Meanwhile, I would really like to cultivate my skill at speaking the language my children would like to desperately to use during class time. I'm sure I could learn quite a bit if I didn't have to be such a Nazi about enforcing English only. Every now and then I've let a word or two in Korean slip out, and this actually completely disrupts the classroom atmosphere. Students immediately stand up and point to me, with glee on their faces. "TEACH-UH YOU SPEAKED KOREAN! TEACH-UH YOU BROKE THE LULES!" It's a sight to see.
Mentioning Christianity brings something else to mind. The churches here in Korea all have their steeples decorated with bright red/pink neon crosses. That's right; you can identify a place of holy refuge from quite far away, even in the darkest of sinful nights, by the neon pink cross, shining like a very flamboyant beacon from heaven above.
Hee hee. I giggled while reading your entry! It's so true...I'll admit that I learned so much more Korean when I wasn't teaching in an English only hagwon. You know what is a fun way to feel like you are working on your Korean after work? Go to www.mysoju.com and watch the latest Korean dramas/soaps with English subtitles. It helps your listening and you'll pick up high frequency words and things that you learned in your language exchange. That and it will give you more to talk about with your students (in English!) during free discussion times.
ReplyDeleteAwesome idea Alex, thank you! I don't know how much I'll enjoy the soaps for their CONTENT, but they'll probably be funny if nothing else. And I remember picking up more than a few Japanese words when I was into anime.
ReplyDeleteBravo to you for making the effort even one day a week! Question: How do your efforts to learn Korean compare to other English teachers? Just curious...
ReplyDeleteHm, not sure. I don't know about any kind of "average," but I know SOME teachers who are very, very into learning Korean, making friends with Koreans, etc. Basically, going for the whole immersion thing. On the other hand, I know A LOT of teachers who, like me, know a handful of basic phrases that are useful for getting by. I like to think I'm making more of an effort than most of the foreigners here, but maybe that's just what I would like to believe. :-)
ReplyDeleteMmm... anime.
ReplyDelete*blink* What?
NAN-DAI-YO, MEAGHAN-KUN??
ReplyDelete*feels the knife stuck in his back*
...dosh...
...dosh...day?