So as you probably know, I'm taking a Korean class. I had a test on Monday, and so on Monday I needed some help with my homework as I didn't really understand what was going on. The Korean English teachers were busy, so I took my book upstairs after school to get my third graders to help me. It was really cute - a whole group of my boys took it upon themselves to check my homework and assure me that "Korean is so easy!" One of my boys actually borrowed my pen and circled all the right answers, x'ed the wrong ones, and then wrote "great" on one of my pages. They kept arguing with each other over what was best and how to best explain it, which was funny. I ended up getting a 14/15 on my test, so today I saw those boys and told them I got a good grade, and they told me I was a good student.
The stuff we just learned is the kind of thing I can write but will probably never be able to say in conversation. We learned how to say "therefore/in order to/because." I can't give it a direct translation. With every new Korean thing I learn I feel more sympathy towards my students and any Korean who tries to learn English. Also, I feel sympathy for myself because the two languages are just so incompatible. For example, my students were correcting a sentence, and they told me that it goes reason-place-verb. For example:
English
I'm going to the hospital because I'm sick.
Korean
Sick therefore hospital to the go.
Also, the word therefore changes spelling depending on which verb you use. This is why I will never be able to speak it... I can't change the verbs around fast enough in my head. Though on the upside, you actually attach words together which gives you clues as to which part of speech it is, i.e.
Sicktherefore hospitaltothe go.
So sick and therefore are combined and hospital to the is combined, so then you definitely know it's the object, and the verb is always at the end so you always know where it is. Handy, right?
Unfortunately, today some of my students were awful. Second grade low level boys. It's funny to look into the psyche of a 15 year old... everything is "unfair" to them. It's even worse though because we can't communicate well. I had warned the students a long time ago that if they're late to my class three times, they have to come in during lunch and do homework. I've been enforcing it too, and several students from this particular class have already have to do it. It was funny because two boys that had to do this punishment were two of the few who were on time, and they were like, "Teacher! Students, lunchtime, homework?"
Anyway, four of my boys showed up late because apparently they were looking for their books. I didn't think this was a good excuse, so I marked them late and they had to stand in the back (standard Korean punishment). And boy did they act horribly. So after class I had them come to the front so I could write down their names and tell them about their homework, and one of them started bellowing in that awful whiny voice that kids have, and I can only assume he was going on about how I wasn't listening to him. The Korean English teacher came over to help, and she said he was complaining that he wasn't late because someone had stolen his book and he was looking for it and it wasn't fair that he had to do homework, and so I told her to tell him that he'd been late two times already and I doubted his book had been stolen every time. I tell you, he had the worst belligerent attitude I've seen yet. I've got a girl just like him as well. It's annoying because when they get that bad, I just want them out of my sight and have nothing to do with them, but of course I have to hunt them down because they will "forget" to come in during lunchtime, then they give me their snotty looks when I come get them. It drives me extra bonkers because they like to pretend it's because they don't understand me, but in my opinion, that's not an excuse. Every word I use to explain the homework situation is a word I know in Korean, so I'll say the English word and wait for them to supply the Korean, so I know that they know. It gave me a headache is what I'm saying.
On the plus side, I'm going to the Lady Gaga concert this Friday!
Also, in that same class with the bad students, one of my boys came up to my desk before class to ask, "Miss Tay-lay-sa, how are you?" "I'm great, Subeom. How are you?" "I'm fine, thank you!" Miss Tay-lay-sa! How cute.
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