Sunday, April 09, 2006

Le Retour / 귀가

This makes me a little worried about heading back to the UK...

영국에 돌아가는 것에 대해 이 것이 다소 걱정시킨데.

Britain? C'est un slave ship - Matthew Campbell

영국은 노예선 - 매슈 캠벌

TIRED of being everyone’s punchbag, the French have hit back at their favourite enemy, “les rosbifs”. A book [by Philippe Auclair] published in Paris has depicted Tony Blair’s Britain as a land of paupers, “fat cats” and mindless consumers.

누구의 농담거리가 되는 것이 넌덜머리나서 프랑스 사람들이 자기 가장좋은 적인 "로스트 비프들"(영국 사람들)에 반격했다. 파리에서 출판한 책은 토니 블레어의 영국을 극빈자들와 부자들 그리고 의식없는 소비자들로 묘사하고 있다.

This slave ship, he goes on, is “awash with money” but 13m people are living below decks in poverty. While 10m adults have no insurance, no savings and not enough clothes for winter, he claims that “2m homes are without sufficient heating” and that 25,000 old people died in their homes of cold in the winter of 2004. None of it stops “les fat cats” from enjoying their six-figure bonuses.

이 노예선은 "돈이 넘치"지만 사람 1300만명 주갑판 밑에서 가난하게 살고 있다고 한다. 1000만명의 성인은 보험이 없고 예금이 없고 겨울옷이 충분치 않으면서 "200만 집이 부족한 난방이 있"고 2004년 겨울에 노인 2만5천명 집에서 추워 죽었다고 주장했다. 아무리 해도 부자들이 여섯 자리수의 보너스를 받는다.

After privatisation, the British railway system is more fit for “cattle on the way to the abattoir than for humans” and Blair’s “third way” has brought the National Health Service to its knees.

민영화 후에는, 영국의 철도 네트워크가 "인간보다 도살장으로 가는 소에 맞는다"고 블레어의
"제삼의 길"이 국민건강봉사법을 굴복시켰다.

Education, too, is a failure: “A frightening proportion of Britain’s adolescents leave all forms of education at 16. Many can barely read or write.”

교육도 실패다. "깜짝 놀라게 하는 비율의 영국 청소년이 16살에 교육을 그만둔다. 많은 이 청소년이 읽거나 쓰지 거의 못한다."


...

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Unfortunate Names

It's kind of ironic that even while page after front page of the Korea Times reveals new corruption scandals, there's a new section of the paper trying to convince us of the "Changing Corporate Culture" in Korea.

The thing that amused me almost equally was the man being questioned in connection with the latest Hyundai-Kia slush fund scandal, "identified only by his family name, Kwak." My god, no wonder they're having problems, who would have a Kwak work for them? ;p

Which brings me to the poor sod below. The best comment I've seen read: "He was winning until the crowd started chanting his name."

And as a final note, I should like to pay homage to the unforgettably monikered former Korean foreign minister, Lee Bum Suk.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Readying for the World Cup / 월드컵 준비하기

Surname Dearth Brings New Clothes for Taeguk Warriors [slightly edited]

The relative scarcity of surnames in Korea will lead to a change in the way national football squad will be identified on their jerseys. Thus the Manchester United striker currently sporting a shirt that reads J S PARK will instead be identified as JISUNG.

"There are many players in the country with the same last name, and distinguishing among them can be difficult," the Korean Football Association said Tuesday. The current system "also makes it difficult to increase the international recognition of the players' names, so we've decided to change it." In the case of the team that played Angola on March 1, the names Kim and Lee accounted for 12 out of 23 players. Three players - Kim Do-hun, Kim Doo-hyun and Kim Dong-hyun - are all identified as D H KIM.

The new jerseys will first be donned in friendlies at the end of May and later be seen at the World Cup in Germany.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

World Baseball Classic

Congrats to Japan on a well-played game against Cuba to win the WBC.

Passions (and national pride) in Korea flared briefly - feeling like a watered down version of the 2002 (Football) World Cup. Team Korea beat the Japanese twice and even the Americans to get through - just like the World Cup - to the semi-finals. Excellent effort guys!

Friday, March 03, 2006

Ways to Demonstrate Respect at Work and in Class

There's an interesting article at about.com from Susan M. Heathfield. She talks about the importance of treating everyone at work with respect, from the point of view of a good manager. I'd argue that these go equally for teachers in a class. Here are a few of her ideas:

Treat people with courtesy, politeness, and kindness.

Encourage coworkers to express opinions and ideas.

Listen to what others have to say before expressing your viewpoint.

Never speak over, butt in, or cut off another person.

Use people’s ideas to change or improve work. Let employees know you used their idea, or, better yet, encourage the person with the idea to implement the idea.

Never insult people, name call, disparage or put down people or their ideas.

Do not nit-pick, constantly criticize over little things, belittle, judge, demean or patronize. A series of seemingly trivial actions, added up over time, constitutes bullying.

Praise much more frequently than you criticize. Encourage praise and recognition from employee to employee as well as from the supervisor.

The golden rule does apply at work, or, as professional speaker Leslie Charles, says, “Implement the platinum rule: treat others as they wish to be
treated.”

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Controversial Two

As a follow-up to my earlier post on discussing/debating controversial topics - here - I'd like to add just a few more possible topics to the list.

"Money has eyes." - Korean saying
[ie. trying hard to make money is a waste of time; money chooses you]

"He who has money can eat ice cream in hell." - Lebanese proverb

"Success is spending less time in the office." - Anon.

The majority is usually wrong.

If changing one's appearance by plastic surgery is looked down on, changing it with make-up, fashionable clothes, hairstyles and jewelry should be too.

A teacher can't teach a subject; a teacher can only help the learners learn for themselves.

"If you're not with me, you're against me." - George Walker Bush

If you kill a person, you should be killed.

Terrorism is a legitimate method of political struggle.

Cliché-free Similes

LOVE the similes game! Learners try to explain these.

Her silence was like a card game.
Her smile was like the sea/ a rocking chair.
Her need for revenge was like a train.
Her anger was like a museum.
Her sense of timing was like a shadow.
Her self-esteem was like a bell.
Her kindness was like a tree.
Her passion was like a toolshed.
Her laughter was like the jungle.


(Variation. 2 piles: 1 human trait, 1 interesting noun. Learners pick them at random and try to explain the meaning.)

Convincing Others

Students take a 'convince' card and have to persuade their partner (who plays the role of the person named on the card) to do the action on the card.

Convince your president to give you a million dollars.
Convince a good friend to swallow a goldfish.
Convince your grandmother to shave her head.
Convince a senior citizen to join a dance troupe.
Convince your brother to grow a beard.
Convince your teacher to buy you an elephant.
Convince a millionaire to wear a pink tutu.
...

The language they use to do this might involve anything from begging (Pleeeeease do it! Pretty Please!) to negotiating with conditionals (If you do it, I'll give you 20 dollars. How about it?) to threats (You'd better do it. Or else I'll... / Unless you do, I'll...) to advice (You should do this: it'll be a great benefit to your health!) to whatever else might spring into a creative human mind.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Quick Idea - Grouping

When putting learners into pairs or groups for an activity, don't just put them with the same partner they're always with. You can be more creative than that, I'm sure!

Try to find learners who have something visible (or otherwise known to the teacher) in common when creating pairs or groups. For example, 'the purple eyeshadow team', 'the white shirt team', 'the tied-back hair team', 'the grungy clothing team', 'the Japanese learners' team'.

It's something I've been doing for a few months now. Though (deceptively) simple, it provides an obvious starting point for conversation and mutual interest between the people you've grouped together. Try it yourselves.

EFL - all articles

vocabulary building

Anatomy 101 , Anatomy 102

Phrasal Verbs , Funky Phrasals

Long Day's Journey

Blame/Criticise, Lecture/Class

self-expression

Metaphorically Speaking

Cliche-free Similes

Conversation Starters ; Conversation Starters Two

pronunciation

Crisp Otter -- consonant clusters

linking / 영어 발음 도움 1

rhythm / 영어 발음 도움 2

intonation and stress / 영어 발음 도움3

listening

British Accents / 영국어 발음 듣기

Online Radio listings


writing

Shaking her pen defiantly,...

Piff!



teaching

Ice-breakers

language anxiety- the learning environment

From Linguistics to Language

varieties of English

Grouping Learners

discussion

controversial ; controversial two

other

Hot or hotter? - comparitives

Six Thinking Hats - creativity lesson

Convincing Others

Two Jokes

TOEIC

Anti-TOEIC rant

Analysis

For TOEIC the bell tolls