As you may or may not know I teach English here is South Korea. On occassion my students will tell me something that is so mind boggling, or rediculous, that I can’t help but to laugh. Today was one of those days.
My first class of the day is made up entirely of first and second grade boys. They are out of control and usually provide some interesting commentary on life in general. Today when my student, Brian came into the room, he proclaimed, and I quote, “Mr. Dunn…I’m MacGuyver!” I was dumbfounded! I asked him, “Who?!” To which he responded “I’m MacGuyver!” He then proceeded to confirm this by explaining in Korean that he can turn a light switch into a lock picking device, and make a flame thrower out of a pen, a lighter, and some chewing gum. Though this statement is out of control, it makes a little more sense, since MacGuyver reruns are on cable television here, but still I didn’t think MacGuyver was the kind of show that would appeal to 7 year old Korean boys…then again my sister was obsessed with MacGuyver when she was in kindergarten.
But Brian’s proclaimation got me thinking about some of the other insane things my students have told me. Once in a blue moon, the things they tell me are educational. At one point, one of my student’s zipper was down. The other boys in the class proclaimed, “남대문 열었어!” (Namdaemun yeorreosso! / The Great South Gate is open!). Thus teaching me the Korean version of “Is your zipper afraid of heights? / XYZ!”
However, more often then not, their proclimations leave me shrugging or laughing. It was not long ago some of my students were reading something that mentioned “tusks.” They were not familiar with this word, so I explained that tusks were like horns (they knew horns) coming out of one’s mouth, and drew a warthog with some killer tusks. One of my students then decided to try out the word tusks in a sentence and proclaimed, “Japanese people have tusks.” After my trip to Japan I had to fight back my laughter, and agree with this assessment. The interesting thing about this instance, was the student who said this was a 32 year old woman I tutor…
On a scrapbook message board where I hang out, someone posted David Letterman’s top ten ways to tell someone their zipper is open. I wanted to mention that in Korea they say “The Great South Gate is open,” but first I googled it, just out of curiosity. I have to tell you that yours is the only site that came up. You should be proud.
Comment by Helena — February 24, 2006 @ 16:22 pm
I am indeed proud!
Comment by Wyatt — February 24, 2006 @ 16:49 pm