Banana in the room

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Dear Blog Readers,

I was dealt a harsh viewing figures blow to my blogs as a result of last week’s photo-less blog with no less than half the usual number of views. Clearly the photos have roped in the illiterate crowd so Laura and I have decided to pack this week’s blog full of photos of our apartment. I've also added some random photos into last week's blog to learn from the error of my ways.

Marking the exams has brought along a rollercoaster of emotions from crying at the number of completely blank exam papers to jubilation when somebody answers with, “I am an introvert so I enjoy reading books and playing computer games.” I’ve also noticed a worrying trend in the results. There are a large number of students who score very low marks and a large number of students who score very high marks. This makes the average grade not very representative of the actual standard of English that the students are portraying.

More worrying still is whether the students who are scoring high marks are doing so because they genuinely enjoy learning English or whether they have been forced to go to private academies to improve their English. This makes the few students who are actually attaining an average grade in a very vulnerable position since they are at a tipping point whether to fall by the wayside or invest in more time, money and education to get close to the high achievers. I doubt this problem really occurs at home because the lack of private academies (thankfully) means that the average student is just that, average. They are achieving average grades with an ability level similar to the majority of their friends which is how it should be.

This week’s comedy gold is brought to you by the student’s answers in their writing exam:

What does your partner look like?
My partner looks like a frog. He has big eyes and he is fat.

Write about your future.
I’m pregnant.

What are you planning to do this weekend?
Is there anything in particular that you’d like for dinner?

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Dead.

What is your personality?
I am outgoing and fanny.

How old are you?
I’m forty years old.

There were some great answers. The students are brutally honest about their or their partner’s appearance with, “I’m short and fat.” being a very common answer. One student wrote absolutely nothing…except at the bottom of the exam, he scrawled, “Drag me to hell.” I guess he doesn’t like English. Bizarrely, a large number of students just rewrote the question instead of answering it. I did the speaking test with Grade 3. One student had a Kermit The Frog t-shirt on, I said, “I like your t-shirt!” He looked at me confused and said, “Shit?”

Mr Oh was invigilating the writing exams with me. One student forgot his pen so Mr Oh types the student’s parent’s phone number into his mobile and phones them in front of the class to ask why their son hadn’t got a pen. The student was mortified, understandably…but he hasn’t forgotten his pen since. Half way through the silent exam, Mr Oh is looking in the mirror and says across the classroom, “Simon. I have a problem. I have too many grey hairs. What should I do?” The man is well past legendary status by now. I told him to get Just For Men. He said it would hurt his hair.

Laura’s brushing up on her French at the moment. I’ve no objection to this at all except her method is to watch the French versions of Harry Potter. This has combined a story which was already incomprehensible even more indecipherable. I commented that the dubbed acting is better than the original voices but this was quickly shot down by Laura. There is the odd comedic moment,

“blah blah blah…j’ai oublié mon poulet…blah blah blah…ou est le jardin?...blah blah blah…oui, c’est près de l’église…blah blah blah…GRYFFINDORRR!!!”

I will end the blog being typically British and talking about the weather. It is ridiculous. After a week of beautiful weather (hot, dry and a nice breeze), we were warned of the impending ‘rainy season’. I thought that this was typical Korean exaggeration (remember the ‘huge traffic jams for Chuseok’ malarkey?). However, as predicted, the heavens opened on Wednesday and a season’s worth of rain began to fall. It was non-stop torrential downpours for four days straight. It also highlighted an interesting aspect of Korean’s fashion style. It seems that Koreans dress for the season rather than the actual weather. For example, a week ago, in the heat of the day, the Koreans would be dressed from head to toe with long sleeved tops, trousers and woolly hats. It then starts chucking it down with rain and they come out in shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops!

Tink and Laura

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Photos

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Comments

[Dom]

Classic use of the banana. If only it was a blow up one so you could plant him in your photos. And the 'drag me to hell' comment is almost on par with 'on a donkey'. Genious!

[DAD]

banana in your bed
I do hope he had his pajamas on