Speed Skating and Death Threats

Believe it or not, this is not a rant. If I were going to rant about anything related to the Sochi Olympics, it would be Russia’s headfirst leap back into the Middle Ages in terms of its homophobic legislation, and the disgusting way the IOC caved to the Russian state’s barbaric laws. But I’m not watching the Sochi Olympics, so it’s not so much on my radar. But the other day I had an interesting, somewhat frustrating discussion, but ultimately (maybe) helpful discussion with a student the other day about the recent twittermobbing and threatening of Scottish speed skater Elise …

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The Bloom Effect, Part 2: Tiger Mom Retcon, The Bloom Effect, “Middle 2 Syndrome”, and Resistance in Context

This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series The Bloom Effect

This post is part of a series. I suggest you start at the beginning, to get the most out of it. Part 3: Hyperschooling and the Tiger Mom Retcon Last time, I talked about the idea of “Tiger Parenting” and how it’s primarily been discussed in the context of American education and upbringing. I talked about the importance of considering education and upbringing within a social context–how parenting is contextualized by society and education, how education is contextualized by parenting and society, and so on. The implications are enormous, of course: a mainstream Korean-styled upbringing in Korea is different from …

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The Bloom Effect, Part 1: Context, Context, and More Context

This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series The Bloom Effect

This post is the promised follow-up to my earlier post titled “Two Disconcerting Trends: Korean Kids, School Systems, And Parental Appraisal.” I have split the follow-up into two parts, as 10,000 words seems too long for a single blog post. This is a sprawling essay discussing: The idea of the Tiger Mom, and some thoughts on Amy Chua’s book The importance of social context in determining the outcome of a given parenting style Hyperschooling and why it is a rasdically new thing in South Korea, and why nobody seems willing to admit it to their kids or themselves “The Bloom Effect” observed …

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TEFL RPGing Aplenty

So, a while back I posted about using an D&D-like role-playing game as part of my teaching with one of our students. (See: Youngmin and the Magic World.) I recounted the story, and promised an update, but I haven’t followed through… Not for want of RPG action, of course. Youngmin has since rhyme-battled a forest ogre the size of a high-rise, teamed up with a goblin and a dragon to beat his nemesis, then teamed up with a mysterious capoerista girl (yes, capoeira has made its way into the game) and the goblin village’s witch to take on the dragon …

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Two Disconcerting Trends: Korean Kids, School Systems, and Parental Appraisal

This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series The Bloom Effect

When we are contacted with inquiries as to our tutoring services, we always hold a preliminary “interview” before agreeing to start lessons. In fact, it’s not any kind of an organized interview: whoever is being requested as a teacher sits down with the student or students in question, and we chat for about half an hour. We sort of try to get to know one another, and along the way try to figure out of the kid is right for the way we teach, among other things. When it comes to kids, normally the parents come along, and it becomes …

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