New Dialogue from Korean Students:
Student: "Teacher, where are you from?"
Me: "America."
Student: "Ohhhh teacher, do you know Jae Bum???"
Finally "I'm fine. How are you?" is out the window, however this new line of questioning has started some problems on its own.
The History:
Soo way back in September there was a HUGE controversy here in the K-pop land. One of the members of a group known as 2PM quit due to some 'scandalous' comments he had made on his myspace page.
Jae Bum, former leader of 2PM and who is Korean American had come over to Korea to star in a K-Pop band a few years ago. He was suffering from some culture shock and wrote some not so nice things that he posted on his website. Well somebody found out about and started harassing him. He couldn't take it anymore, so he quit the group. Needless to say when he quit he quickly left Korea to head back to his home country of USA.
Now this isn't supposed to be a history lesson on Jae Bum, but rather a funny story about the aftermath...
The Beginning:
Student: "Teacher, you from America? You know Jae Bum?"
Me: (this happens to be the 400th time I've been asked this question since September) "Yes I know of Jae Bum."
Student: (all excited) "Teacher REALLY!!! You know Jae Bum?"
Me: "Do you really think I know Jae Bum?"
Student: "TEACHER KNOWS JAE BUM!!!"
Me: "No I don't know Jae Bum. I. Don't. Know. Jae Bum!"
Unfortunately the lines of communication were closed after I answered yes to the first question because said student only heard that I know Jae Bum and nothing I could have said afterwards mattered. AT ALL. She was just too excited that I answered yes. In hindsight, I shouldn't have played along, but well I did.
So a week later, Ed posts something on facebook to the tune of "I didn't know that my wife is famous and knows Jae Bum."
Yes, that's right. Said student above clearly did not hear me say that I don't know Jae Bum and went around telling people. And it got back to Ed. Which means that it has now gone all over Yeosu that I know Jae Bum.
Ed said his students were crushed to find out that I didn't actually know Jae Bum. CRUSHED. I haven't seen said student to let her know (again) that I was joking, but hope to run into her soon.
The Lesson
Student: "Teacher, where are you from?"
Me: "America."
Student: "Ohhhh teacher, do you know Jae Bum???"
Finally "I'm fine. How are you?" is out the window, however this new line of questioning has started some problems on its own.
The History:
Soo way back in September there was a HUGE controversy here in the K-pop land. One of the members of a group known as 2PM quit due to some 'scandalous' comments he had made on his myspace page.
Jae Bum, former leader of 2PM and who is Korean American had come over to Korea to star in a K-Pop band a few years ago. He was suffering from some culture shock and wrote some not so nice things that he posted on his website. Well somebody found out about and started harassing him. He couldn't take it anymore, so he quit the group. Needless to say when he quit he quickly left Korea to head back to his home country of USA.
Now this isn't supposed to be a history lesson on Jae Bum, but rather a funny story about the aftermath...
The Beginning:
Student: "Teacher, you from America? You know Jae Bum?"
Me: (this happens to be the 400th time I've been asked this question since September) "Yes I know of Jae Bum."
Student: (all excited) "Teacher REALLY!!! You know Jae Bum?"
Me: "Do you really think I know Jae Bum?"
Student: "TEACHER KNOWS JAE BUM!!!"
Me: "No I don't know Jae Bum. I. Don't. Know. Jae Bum!"
Unfortunately the lines of communication were closed after I answered yes to the first question because said student only heard that I know Jae Bum and nothing I could have said afterwards mattered. AT ALL. She was just too excited that I answered yes. In hindsight, I shouldn't have played along, but well I did.
So a week later, Ed posts something on facebook to the tune of "I didn't know that my wife is famous and knows Jae Bum."
Yes, that's right. Said student above clearly did not hear me say that I don't know Jae Bum and went around telling people. And it got back to Ed. Which means that it has now gone all over Yeosu that I know Jae Bum.
Ed said his students were crushed to find out that I didn't actually know Jae Bum. CRUSHED. I haven't seen said student to let her know (again) that I was joking, but hope to run into her soon.
The Lesson
So the lesson of this story is to reiterate to all of you teachers out there: Don't use sarcasm. Actually it should be better to say: NO SARCASM EVER. ESL students generally don't get it. And if you are talking about K-Pop, forget it. They really wont get it.
Yet on the other hand, if you are in Yeosu and hear a rumor that there is an English teacher here who knows a Korean Pop Star, its me. Shhhhhh I also have his cell phone number.....
No comments:
Post a Comment