Response to Ngugi

Nowadays learning language especially effects to the political, economical and social in English. In general life we communicate to others by using “Borrowed word” even we are not sure whether it is real English or Konglish including pronunciation. It is not easy to live without computers which show in English and Korean for new generations. I feel that the English language might carry two different perspectives such as inside Trojan House and inside Santa Clause’s bag. It is depended on which side I am looking at hexahedron.

At this moment, I just look through the one of viewpoints in education which I agree to Ngugi’s experiences. It influences Korean culture and real-life. When I taught elderly people students in English at Hanam welfare center, most of them they could speak in Japanese, and they were proud of speaking Japanese who educated in Korea even though they had bad experiences and memories. At that time rich people and nobility people could contact to the government and educate at one of public schools. Before Japanese tried to take over Korea, there was “National isolation policy” by DawonGoon in Chosun dynasty. It influenced to Korean economy and country situation.

 The Japanese came in 1875 to test the Koreans’ defenses, and engaged in minor military encounters on Kanghwa-do. Returning the next year in force, they compelled Korea to sign the unequal Kangwa Treaty, it first modern trade agreement with a foreign nation, opening the ports of Inch’on, Pusan, and Wonsan. (Early edition of Hendrik Hamel;s book, the first accout of a European in Korea)

 Home country nationalism is not everything good. There are always two sides of things, good and bad. Korea government recently emphases to push students to study in English hard and measures it by specific tests. There are also existed good and bad things. Good things are that university whom the students concern the score and companies who check the proficiency of English level, so on. Bad things are those kinds of English scores are not real proficiency of English for communication, etc.

 Immersion program is really good for students in Korea, but not for preschool kids. The reason is that English carries many things as English teachers know. Preschool students gradually build their own identity in Korea and they have to know many other things such as family relationships, science and social life, etc. If preschool students are in one of English countries, they have to study English first of course. Meantime, parents who want to send their children to immersion programs have to cost amount of money for long time. I guess that it is better to send their children whose parents only focus on in English to overseas. Then there are probably other problems happen, too. One of the problems is connection of Korean society. If that person wants to get high position of the companies or not English required positions, it is not easy to get it from the connection of Korean society. Therefore, we have to think about “How much English effects to our life?” and “How much English effects to our children?”.  

K-POP culture

Received reading

 

This film can be given a series of connotations which the audience will decode when viewing the image. This Korean pop film text is polysemic. This image is considered through a process by selecting the framing process the camera angle, the lighting effects, focus and so on.

 Technically camera angle lens are focus on the singer with the around dancers. The speed of rhythm sense is fast and easy which can be followed by anyone. The choice framing shutter is quiet moveable with soldier uniforms which imply for power of strength. The object settings, body language and clothing are pretty forceful to show us. Therefore the singer is ready to play something for audience who can be anyone like his songs or not. His singing speech is clear and languages are Korean and English. Singing with two languages is meant for Koreans or English speakers.

 

Oppositional reading

 

There are lots of things going on beyond this film. It includes lots of signals that can have effects on the viewers. One of the fans who is Alia Rachel Jones(32) talked about the singer, Rain. He introduced by himself on the internet and why he came to Korea. The reason is that he loves –POP. When he contacted one of the youtubes coincidently, he watched Rain’s singing, then he found that his first response is “Wow! What’s this?” Since that time he’s searched K-Pop and loved it. Right now he is an elementary English teacher in Korea, and goes for the K-pop concert on the weekends. There are many K-pop posters in his room and Korean actors, etc.

   The rhythm is familiar, innovative music video, K-Pop singers are good aspects, and they have good voices to sing. They put in a lot of effort in order to be successful singers. They also work hard in developing their careers. Especially, Bi Rain who sings in English and Korean can be understood. There are many fans so when others ask about fans. Why do you love K-pop? Why do you listen to K-pop music? Do you understand Korean and the words of songs? What things do you get from K-pop?

Most of the Korean fans who are not Koreans say that they don’t understand the words of songs much but K-pop makes them happy when they listen to the music. The music gives them feelings such as happiness, sweetness, sadness and so on. Most of music is energetic, passionate and enthusiastic.

 However, the dark side of pop culture is connected to economic and personal things which influence the younger kids and students. They are simply too eager to be a singer or actor and they don’t even have a natural composition.

When I was a young around 14 or 15 years old, I loved pop songs. At that moment, I didn’t know much about the English senses, but I liked to listen to English pop songs and music from other countries. Chinese pop songs are similar to Korean old songs which older people like to sing which is similar to emotion.

 In my opinion, the music is universal which can be connected to the person’s emotion. That’s why we understand in real life when someone to marry a person from a different country. All of my family except me lives in Canada. My uncle, aunts and my sister are married to Canadians. They are also Canadians. When they communicate in English, they communicate like music.

Critical Lesson Plan 1

Introduction

I am going to prepare for Reading lesson plan which is might be interesting for me and my students. The text is might be one of the course books for critical thinking and problem solving. I am going to provide a step-by-step approach for students to understand the procedure of designing a lesson plan.

Step 1 – Basic Information

-The title of my lesson plan : Food not bomb

-Date: April 14, 2012

-Professor: Curtis Porter

-The presenter: Michelle Kim.

Step 2 – Starting Lesson Plan

• Instructor – Michelle Kim
• Level –Intermediate
• Students – 12 students (6 female students and 6 male students) about 13years old
• Length –50 minutes, once a week for regular curriculum as a special activity in one of middle schools.
• The objects

Stage 1 –Begin with desired results:

        

        What do I want students to know, be able to do, and understand?

-          Is it possible to end hunger in the world? They understand about hunger.

     What are my learning targets?

-          They improve their knowledge, vocabulary and reading comprehension.

Stage 2 –Assess and Evaluate Assessment Evidence:

       How will I know they have accomplished the learning targets?

(performance/ask/auizzes/observatios/homework/journals/projects/writings/speeches/etc)

-          Students will show that they discuss about with this topic “Food Not Bombs”

     

      Which strategies will provide evidence of student learning?

-          Using Edward de Bono on creative thinking “Six thinking Hats” 

     

Stage 3 –Design and Implement Learning Plan:

What instructional strategies will use to help students achieve the learning targets?

-          While they discuss with this topic, the teacher negotiate and observe.

 

Which instructional strategies will help students practice, review and apply learning?

Introduce “Six thinking Hats” Make groups, illicit the ideas. Then students have to work with a partner and discuss with whole class. 

K-pop

The dark side of South Korean pop music

By Lucy Williamson BBC News, Seoul

K-Pop sensations Girls' Generation on stage in Seoul

South Korea's pop industry is big business in Asia. As K-Pop sets its sights on Europe and the US, will this force a change in the way it treats its artists?

Selling singles is no way for a pop star to make money these days. Most artists find that touring and merchandise sales are more lucrative. So when it comes to concerts, size matters.

Continue reading the main story

• Special Report: The Power of Asia
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This is why the biggest date in the Korean pop calendar - the Dream Concert, at which up to 20 bands perform - is held in Seoul's 66,800-seat World Cup Stadium.

Teenage crushes come here for a once-a-year date in a national love story, where commitment is measured in coloured balloons, and devotion is knowing all the words.
Most of the bands, like Super Junior and Wonder Girls, are household names; highly produced, sugary boy- and girl-bands with slick dance routines and catchy tunes.
But the industry also has a less glamorous side: a history of controversy and legal disputes over the way it treats its young artists, which it is still struggling to shake.

Fans of K-Pop star Rain helped him nab top spot in Time's list of influential people

K-Pop is a massive industry: global sales were worth over $30m (£18m) in 2009, and that figure is likely to have doubled last year, according to a government website.
Industry leaders are also ambitious - Korean stars are beating a path to Japan, America and Europe. This month, South Korea's biggest production company, SM Entertainment, held its first European concert in Paris, part of a year-long world tour.
In April, Korea's king of pop, Rain, was voted the most influential person of the year by readers of Time magazine. And earlier this year, boy band Big Bang reached the top 10 album chart on US iTunes.
Follow the money
Korea is excited by what this new musical export could do for its image - and its economy.
But some of K-Pop's biggest success stories were built on the back of so-called slave contracts, which tied its trainee-stars into long exclusive deals, with little control or financial reward.

Dong Bang Shin Ki took their contract fight to court

Two years ago, one of its most successful groups, Dong Bang Shin Ki, took its management company to court, on the grounds that their 13-year-contract was too long, too restrictive, and gave them almost none of the profits from their success.
The court came down on their side, and the ruling prompted the Fair Trade Commission to issue a "model contract" to try to improve the deal artists got from their management companies.
Industry insiders say the rising success of K-Pop abroad, and experience with foreign music companies, has also helped push for change.
"Until now, there hasn't been much of a culture of hard negotiation in Asia, especially if you're new to the industry," says Sang-hyuk Im, an entertainment lawyer who represents both music companies and artists.
Attitudes are changing, he says, but there are some things that even new contracts and new attitudes cannot fix.

Rainbow's singers put in the hours

Rainbow is a seven-member girl-band, each singer named after a different colour. If any group could lead to a pot of gold, you would think they would.
But Rainbow - currently in a seven-year contract with their management company, DSP - say that, despite working long hours for almost two years, their parents were "heartbroken" at how little they were getting paid.
A director for DSP says they do share profits with the group, but admits that after the company recoups its costs, there is sometimes little left for the performers.
K-Pop is expensive to produce. The groups are highly manufactured, and can require a team of managers, choreographers and wardrobe assistants, as well as years of singing lessons, dance training, accommodation and living expenses.
The bill can add up to several hundred thousand dollars. Depending on the group, some estimates say it is more like a million.
Musical exports
But music sales in South Korea alone do not recoup that investment. For all their passion, home-grown fans are not paying enough for K-Pop.
The CD industry is stagnant, and digital music sites are seen as vastly underpriced, with some charging just a few cents a song.

Girl band 4minute on tour in the Philippines

Bernie Cho, head of music distribution label DFSB Kollective, says online music sellers have dropped their prices too low in a bid to compete with pirated music sites.
"But how do you slice a fraction of a penny, and give that to the artist? You can't do it," he says.
With downward pressure on music prices at home, "many top artists make more money from one week in Japan than they do in one year in Korea", Mr Cho says.
Company representatives say concerts and advertising bring in far more than music sales. "Overseas markets have been good to us," says one spokesman. South Korean musicians need to perform on home turf, but "Japan is where all the money is".
As acts start to make money overseas, he says this "broken business model" - underpricing - is creeping into their activities abroad.
A former policy director at South Korea's main artists' union, Moon Jae-gap, believes the industry will go through a major upheaval. "Because at the moment, it's not sustainable," he says.
Until that happens, he says, artists will continue to have difficulty making a living.
South Korea's government is keen to promote its new international identity, one many hope could rival Japan's cool cultural image.
The only question is whether the industry ends up more famous for its music, or for its problems.

Hyunjung Shin & Graham Crookes said that non-Western countries have been questioned on cultural grounds in English teaching for the possibility of curricular innovation. Therefore, they apply to critical pedagogy as one of the major tradition of education in discussions of curriculum theory and practice. (Auerbach &Wallerstein. 1987)

 One of the major is connected to the classroom practice, curriculum, materials, student-teacher interactions and style in the second/foreign language area, The other one is connected to the work of the critical pedagogue as academic, as critic of curriculum and educational policy in general, as an author and public intellectual. (McLaren, 1998, Giroux, 1983, Pennycook, 2001)

 As critical pedagogy is not “single-strategy pedagogies of empowerment, emancipation or liberation”(Luke & Gore, 1992), different cultures value different way of communication and have different understandings of goal teaching and learning grounds. (Coleman, 1989)  

 From the paper reports that she focused on establishing critical dialogue between students and teachers providing the examples and experience in order to give students critical discussion of topics. There are many her goals and teaching methods for students.

I agree that most of her goals and the process of approach in the classroom, because they are closely related to my real life and it occurred in Korea which I have experienced. One of the goals is focused on “current Korean culture” lesson and student-centered which are based on the students’ own interests, going beyond common communicative activities as introducing famous places. Their goal was not to reach an agreement on what the current Korean culture was but was to foster students’ exploratory thinking and critical perspective on culture in general. She tried to develop argument that the students can use brainstorming, making questions and respond each other’s ideas.

-       Which methods are impossible (or very difficult) in my teaching setting? Why?

As my classmates all know recently I teach in Korean and in English both teaching area. These kinds of things are required that many different cultural strategies pedagogies. When I teach English for Korean mature students once a week, I have to think about the size of class, sex, ages , limited time and curriculum which has already made from the Ministry of Education or scheduled. For small size of class, I can give students specific topic and let them talk and discuss about topic. Even large size of the class where there are about 40 students, I try sometimes in order to develop students’ speech in English. A few students ask me to not doing 1 minute speech for introduction in front of the class because of the anthrophobia. They said they scared of standing in front of the class and not familiar to talk about their ideas with one topic in English. Nowadays, it is gradually getting better, but there are still not familiar for them. In my work place, they didn’t get high score through “SooNung” which is for the big exam in order to enter one of the universities. They rarely have self-esteem and independent. However I have to be careful for doing that way, because of majority of students’ characteristics and used to stereotype culture. Most of students are very kind and respect teachers well which involves Confucian inheritances in Korea.

For the foreigner students who learn Korean there are two different types of students. One of type students are Western culture students who are used to discussion and class activities in informal atmosphere. Teachers and students learn together feel free to study and no gaps between teachers and students which I love to do it and the reason for studying English.

I have tried teaching in Korean for few weeks similar to Asian culture students. Then they all of them students said that they felt like “Human robots”.  Since that time I try to do Western style of teaching and method.

For Asian culture students who have similar culture and are from China, Mongolia and etc, I do same as Korean style for teaching, method and techniques.  

From my experience, teachers should consider for teaching methods and process of development students.  In addition, Korean education adapts Western culture in institution, schools and many work places. The globalization which effects Korean education makes people open mind and ready to accept Western culture in Korea. 

critical thinking

I read about the article “Editorial-Korea’s Proofreading Woes”. This article is an interesting article about English Education outside. I would like to try to respond 4 questions.

1.     Who is the intended audience about this article?

There are many different of audiences. Simply it is for readers. For the first paragraph, audiences are readers, educators and advertisement as focused on the coffee-shop. For the second paragraph, the writer talked about the businesses people who run the small businesses in English. This means that for the advertising companies for the clothing shop outside. For the fifth paragraph, this article for the clothing manufactures stylish branded. Therefore, all of this article for the readers who connect to English educators, businesses people and advertisement people.

2.     Who is speaking?

Elliot Patton who is a writer of this article is speaking about his opinion and his experience.

3.     Who is spoken about?

The writer is talking about one of the coffee shop who wrote letters on the window, Namdaemun Market who sell T-shirts, two major universities, stylish brand establishments which is like MyungDong, mon-and-pop restaurants (family restaurant) who run, major corporations which is the big company in Korea, government institutes who run, museum who made, slogans who made, menu writers, graphic designers and well-educated native speakers. All the people who connect to the English advertisements, menu writer, graphic designers and English educators are spoken and mentioned about misspelling and nonsense of English writing.

4.     What is the basis of this person knowledge?

The writer has been experience in Korea as an English educator. He tried to make corrections which are made errors in the website of a major government office, but it doesn’t change it. This kind of situation often is happened in Korea. English educators care so much about misspelling and errors. However, government officers who work for the governments, business people who sell the products or menu writers who sell the food don’t care much about wrong English spellings. The government officers who have steady employments think that those kind things are not their jobs. Business people who care only the selling of the products even they are not sure about the spellings also they don’t care about English spellings. Even though the menu writers find those errors, how they could change it. There are certain steps. First of all, they have to throw away error products, menu plates and T-shirts. Then they have to make new one which means they spend a lot of money. Another thing is some people have fun habit for Marketing. In Korea some people make fun letters for T-shirts, hats and bags, etc.

English educators can see easily those wrong errors, but general citizens are not. In my opinion, it is not easy to correct the errors. The reason is that many products are connected to the economy, political and classes in the office. Therefore, when someone create the English products and translate, those people should be made correct and make sure about them.