Phonics in Korean English teaching

I don’t know what kids in America are learning these days in the way of phonics. In the early 1990s, “Hooked on Phonics” came around, but I never used it, and I honestly don’t know what they teach exactly. I remember learning things like “long A”, “short A”, “long E”, “short E”, etc. We had a set of symbols, and it worked for us. Here they teach the phonetic symbols that I’ve only ever seen in a dictionary, and never known how to pronounce.

Imagine my dismay when I was told in early November to teach 3 phonics books to 3 students in the same class at 3 different levels. I tried to explain that this isn’t what I was ever taught in America; that our phonics were different. I was told to just “teach pronunciation”. I found that funny considering that I couldn’t pronounce them myself. My students have taught me Korean phonics since then, and now I can relay that to other kids. Not a great way to make your country English proficient, if you ask me.

While I’m grateful for the chance to “try out” teaching, and to get a paycheck here when I couldn’t get a job in my own country, hiring inexperienced native speakers is just not a good plan.

English Names in Korea

When kids go to English school, they are given or choose an English name to be called when they are there. But sometimes they are quite unusual, or are pronounced differently than they would be based on native English pronunciation rules. For instance:

Different pronunciation and/or spelling:

Lany, pronounced like Laney
Jany = Janey
Phillip= Pillup (they have trouble with the ‘F’ sound)
Jinny= Jeanie or Genie
Linze= Lindsay or Lindsey.
Zena= Gina, with a hard G, almost like Cheena. (Took me a long time to say this one correctly!)

Unusual:

Bella. Thank you, Twilight series.

Walter. My great-uncle was called Walter. While itsuited him, I have a hard time seeing a 10-year-old Korean boy 4 generations later being called Walter.

Fred. My grandfather was Fred. See above.

Very unusual:

Fanny=boy (I told his teacher that a ‘Fanny’ in the U.S. is either a 90-year-old great-grandmother, or a behind. I decided not to have her tell him, because he would only be embarrassed.)

June=boy (It was Jun, but that’s not how they pronounced it, so we added an ‘e’. Now he’s a middle-aged woman.)

Rooney=boy (He came up with this one on his own, but I’m not sure where he got it from. It’s not a name I’ve ever heard.)

Landy=boy (He came up with this one, but I don’t know where…)


And of course, in a class where there's a Jerry, there's always a Tom, too. ;)

Adventures in Food: Moist Mocha Cake at Paris Baguette

So super yummy. The consistency is like eating a silky, soft, and squishy sponge, but it takes like coffee. It’s light and delicious.



(Also available in strawberry *ick* and cheesecake.)

Shopping with Jaz in the underground shops

I mean, why not?

This bear was terrifying.


This will give you a better sense of scale.






A giant nutcracker? Why not? It's only March!

Dinner at Dijon with Jaz

Jaz and I decided to splurge on dinner and go to Dijon, an expensive French restaurant. It was delightful. The food was good and the atmosphere was lovely. Highly recommended.

Goodbye Jasmin!

I was sad to say goodbye to one of my new friends in Korea. A sad reality in Korea is that foreign teachers are accepted better if they are white. Jasmin is of Indian ancestry, although from South Africa, and her experience here wasn't great. Her first job fired her because they said the parents didn't like her not being white. Her second job let her go for the same reason. At least she had a good time with other foreigners while she was here.

Dinner.






Spiderpig!


Gogo Party!






Dancing with Amanda.

Adventures in Food: Halls Cough Drops

One of my students keeps handing me Halls cough drops and saying “lemon candy.” Poor thing. She thinks they’re yummy enough to eat when you aren’t desperate. :)

Phone Numbers in Korea

The phone system here is odd to me, and very confusing. For example, you must always dial the area code if you are making a call from a cell phone, but only must do so from a land line if you are calling a different area code, or a cell phone.

Home phone numbers are either 7 or 8 digits, preceded by a 3-digit area code. In the old system, all home numbers were 7 digits, but have recently been changed over to 8-digit numbers. People who were assigned a 7-digit number many years ago can keep that number until they choose to upgrade, or change their residence.

Two examples of land-line numbers:
(053) 785-9191
(053) 7878-9191
**053 is the Daegu area.

Cell phones all have a 3-digit area code plus an 8-digit number. The area code for all cell phones in this area is 010 (maybe all of Korea too, I don’t know about other areas). You actually have to dial zero-one-zero, which I found odd when I arrived, as I think of zero as a place-holder, not really a number. Here it’s a number, and must be dialed.

So, here’s a cell phone example:
(010) 5557-5806

From my land-line at work, there’s also an additional step. After I dial the 3-digit area code, and the 7 or 8 digit number, I must press “Send”, like I would on a cell phone. If you don’t, you get horrible beeping, or it will automatically try to add the 053 area code before the numbers you dialed. It took a long time to get used to dialing this many numbers.

Tongue Twisters #2

1.
The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick.

2.
Whether the weather is cold,
Whether the weather is hot,
We’ll weather the weather,
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not.

3.
Truly rural.

Topics: Punctuality in Korea

Before journeying here, I was told that punctuality was extremely important to Koreans. “You must never be late!” they said. I took this to heart. But I took it to mean that everyone is expected to be on time. This is not the case. What they meant- what they forgot to add to that warning- was that “a foreigner’s punctuality is very important to Koreans.” They don’t care one bit about whether the Korean teachers are on time.

I was late twice in my first month; once because I got lost, and once because I was crying uncontrollably at the thought of going to that place again, and decided it was better to be late and composed, than a sobbing mess when I arrived. (It didn’t work, as I started crying again after I got there.) I was severely reprimanded, treated like a pariah all day, and tons of work was added to my day.

I haven’t been late since. However, every day I arrive to work 5-10 minutes early, only to have to wait in the cold for 10 minutes or more until the Korean teachers (with the keys) finally show up. (I am not trusted with a key.)

Every day, the others come between 5-15 minutes late. The teacher at the academy next door hates to see me standing in the unheated hallway, so she insists that I come into her school to wait. It’s the warmest I am all day. (See: Heating, and Other Things I Miss at Work) And she always makes me a cup of delicious tea while I wait. Maybe I should work there. ;)