No eye pain, no major strain, Essays: only sixteen remain. Thumbed through the pile too, Looked interesting, save a few. Two comp courses is easier than three, If I had but one, I’d be madly happy. So and so on the world shall turn, I think I shall make it so next term.
Category: KOREA
Still Going…
After a short talk about the importance of considering representation and stereotypes — with examples of the aggressive, violent, murderous, raping American GI and the pedophile Japanese photographer characters coming up from student discussions in the past — I finally had my drama class students start discussing the plot and characters of the plays they’re going to write and perform, and they had a blast. We had some interesting discussions in the small groups, such as the importance of making character sets who could interact as much as possible — and thereby, have a stake in one anothers’ actions in …
More Weird Assertions
Man, when will I learn? So my writing class students have been working on compare-and-contrast essay structures — the structure of the essay, and the words used to make comparisons and show contrast. So I thought I’d get them working on a simple essay that would let them work on this a little more, and collaborate with a partner. What did I have them compare? English and their mother tongue. I made sure the Chinese students were together. I didn’t think about what else might come up. One essay, of course, was “Hangul is better than English”. The guys didn’t …
A Female Problem
So about once a semester, I have one female student who asks to be excused from a class… it’s usually a very conscientious student, and she comes to me and says that she’s not feeling very well and would like to go home, if that’s okay. As a friendly sort of professor, I usually inquire as to the student’s illness, thinking I’m being nice, and finally, after a few moments of hemming and hawing, I realize that it’s that time of the month and she is dreadfully embarrassed and not willing to tell me. This time, she and her very …
Scary Story
So I heard this somewhat scary story in Jeonju, while visiting an old friend, Shawn, there. He told me the tale of a foreign hakwon teacher guy whose ex-girlfriend’s ex-husband had been, for some reason or other, “out to get” this guy. Let me make that clearer… there was a woman who was divorced, and dated this foreign guy after the divorce. The ex-husband, for some reason, didn’t like this, and decided to really screw up the foreign guy’s life. So what happened? Well, apparently, one day during class, a postal delivery guy showed up at the hakwon. “I have …
Free Hug[s]?
The other day, Lime and I saw some young women in Seoul, near Hong Ik University, holding up a Free Hug sign. Lime told me it was a new big trend in Seoul. I see it’s not a native invention, however. That it’s not native isn’t a criticism, mind: I think anything that makes people more relaxed about public friendliness and displays of respectful affection are a good thing, in any society.
Still More Gobbledygook and Odd Inferences From The Academic Slushpiles
Ah, for my cup runneth over with gobbledygook. More absurdities from the — ooh, I’ve coined a new term! — the Academic Slush Piles: “Jewish people study economics from childhood, which is why they are all rich.” Uhhhhm. And while “… Jews are like Koreans because they were oppressed by a bigger powerful country, Jewish people think poverty is a fault of the poor, not a misfortune.” Child abuse is appearing in newspapers more than ever, which means it is happening more than ever. Because it’s really not possible that people just worry about it more, or the media is …
The Speech Contest, Semester 2
I helped adjudicate a speech contest today. It hurt. Okay, I was paid for the time, but the rate was negligible considering that what I was paid for was precious time from my life, which I cannot and will not ever ever get back. Plagiarism is very much alive and well, even in the relatively good school where I work. The other foreign prof I work with and I had been talking last semester about a crackdown on it, and some of our Korean co-workers agreed, while others didn’t think it was fair on students who, ostensibly, “don’t know better.” …
One Tiny Rant
Actually, just a question: Why is it that it’s always the nitwits writing the knee-jerk anti-Japanese generalization-crammed those-islands-are-ours-and-[all-of]-the-Japanese-are-would-be-evil-oceanic-rock-thieves-type essays that think they can get away with plagiarism and cheating? Evidence of not thinking in one area relating to not thinking in another, perhaps? Ah well. Not many more rants left… according to the progress meter, I’m 24% done as of today. By this time tomorrow night, I’m hoping for 50% or more.
I Respect
Today, a non-rant about students who’ve brightened up my week. It’s rare in my work these days that students routinely visit me in my office. Most of my office hours are spent either in class preparation, grading, or revising fiction and checking up fiction markets for the purposes of submitting my own stories to them. But there are a couple of students who’ve taken advantage of that time to come to my office, either for help with their schoolwork, or else just to chat. This is nice, I like it: it breaks up the monotony of the office hours. One …