The leaves are changing, the weather is slowly starting to cool off and I've reached the halfway point in my first semester of teaching at Gyeongsang National University. While I hope my students have learned a lot from me, I can say with certainty that I have learned a plenty from them. In fact, I've learned enough to put together a list for your entertainment.
Things I've learned as an ESL teacher at the university:
1. Human flesh tastes good- I'm sure you are thinking this must have been one of those big language miscommunications, but my students are at the highest English level in our program, so I'm not so sure. Here's how this came up: I'm not sure what the topic was, but one of my students, for some reason, asked me what it is called when you eat "person meat." I told her it was cannibalism, and then the girl sitting next to her said, "oh yes, this tastes very good." We both looked at her, a bit bewildered, and I asked, "how do you know this?" She seemed to suddenly understand the implications of what she had said and, with a bit of panic in her voice, replied, "oh no, my friend told me!" Hmmm.
2. Korean couples celebrate 100-day anniversaries- Every 100 days they must celebrate being together by going out and doing something very sappy. The girls love it and the guys wish they were in American where this is not commonplace.
3. Their English classes never taught them, growing up, that the e's on the end of words such as "exchange" and "marriage"are silent- I was used to this when teaching elementary students, but I didn't expect it from my high-level college students. They say these words as though the "e" on the end is actually a "y" or "ie," for example, marriagie and exchangie. When I heard them doing this in conversation, I gave them an impromptu lesson on the topic, and they were all very surprised and slightly embarrassed that they had never been taught that before.
4. When you're not sure of a word, make it up- I have a student (our designated class captain) who is very sociable and doesn't let his lack of English language knowledge get in his way. He doesn't hesitate to answer my questions, but tends to use lots of words that really don't exist. The other day, the students were telling me about how he kept saying "digree" and that none of them could understand him. Turns out, he meant "disagree" and was just saying what seemed to make the most sense as the opposite of "agree." Needless to say, he is a very entertaining student.
5. If you are sick and don't have insurance, just use someone else's- I was sick for about 3 weeks straight and am just recovering. During this time, one of my students kept telling me to go to the hospital (as they do that for even the most minimal colds, scrapes, etc) and I kept saying that I couldn't because I didn't have insurance through the university yet. One day, he came into class and told me I need to go in to the hospital and get treatment using his insurance. He said he would give me his information and I would just have to go in and use his name instead of mine. He also said he had called his doctor and everything was arranged. I appreciate his concern, but I couldn't see myself walking in and introducing myself (obviously a foreigner) with a Korean male name. I thanked him but said I would be fine.
6. Telling your teacher that he/she is looking good or bad is perfectly fine- I never have to wonder whether I look presentable or not because my students are sure to inform me. I have on student, in particular, who never fails to let me know whether I am looking good or bad. Last week I walked in, feeling fine, and was greeted with "oh, are you sick? you look sick. your cheeks are very red." Thanks. Then yesterday I walked in and the same student greeted me with "oh, looking good!" Thanks, (more sincerely) again. They definitely don't hold anything back.
7. Following the theme of not holding anything back, presentations about bodily functions are also perfectly fine and apparently not embarrassing- I have a presentations class during which I ask my students to prepare and give mini presentations to the class. The topic of one such presentation was "my weekend." One student (female) stood up and proceeded to tell the whole class that her weekend was not very enjoyable because she had eaten some bad food, gotten sick, and was stuck at home with diarrhea all weekend. I don't know about you, but I would never have admitted that to an entire class of peers in college.
8. Coming to class drunk is...ok?- This week is the GNU festival. Students from the university work together with others in their major field of study and put together tents on campus where they can sell food and alcohol in order to raise money for their major. The area is filled with tents, all blasting music, and tons of people walking from tent to tent enjoying the festivities. It's an eventful festival complete with games, student dance-offs, food and lots of alcohol. That is normal. What I found to be not-so-normal was when I had a student walk into class, slam his head down on the desk and announce that he was drunk. My co-worker and I are convinced that between classes, the students go outside and pound a bottle of soju (Korea's popular, cheap alcohol), seeing as every time we get in the elevator to go back to class, it smells of soju.
I'm sure I will have plenty more to add as the semester goes on but for now, enjoy what is here!
No comments:
Post a Comment