Do some people really have no opinion?

Yesterday in my last class of the day I asked the innocuous question, "What do you think about people who are not from Korea?" I wasn't asking a loaded question and would have accepted almost any answer like, "They are rich," "They are ugly," "They are big." All I wanted was the girl to say something because I wanted the class to have a decent pace.

After five minutes the girl still hadn't said anything even though she understood what I had asked. For some of my students asking them a question they didn't expect is the worst thing you can do because it means they actually have to give you an opinion and show imagination. Perhaps I should have moved onto the next question but I wanted this girl to answer because she really needs to practice her speaking and as the class only has four students it gives her a great chance to communicate with me.

After a while I asked another student to ask her the same question in Korean and she came out with "I don't think about." This was after I had wrote on the board the number of people who live in Korea, both North and South and also the fact that there are over six billion other people on the planet who are not Korean. I also mentioned that there are over two hundred countries that are not Korea, such as America, China and England. I didn't make fun of her or raise my voice and I tried to encourage her to come out with something.

I realise the question was a broad one but was hoping this would give her the scope to come out with an answer - or at least lie to me with a good sentence! It really frustrates me when my students show such a lack of imagination because Koreans are not like this. They really aren't. They have opinions and thoughts like everyone else and are creative, industrious and innovative people. I refuse to believe that she does not have an opinion on people outside of Korea. If I had said, "What do you think about people from Japan?" I would have at least got an answer even if it would have been the one her family have told her to think.

Hitting the bottle

Just back from a trip to the local supermarket. I'm armed with a beer and a bottle of wine. Not the cheap stuff tonight though. Do I have enough alcohol? I think not but we'll see where it takes me. I'm not drowning my sorrows but I need a drink after my last class. I haven't been so frustrated with some students in a long time. My last class is my highest level consisting of supposedly my best students. Apart from three or four, that couldn't be further from the truth. I enjoy being their teacher but not teaching them.

Recently, well over half of my curriculum changed. The reading classes switched to writing. We've been told that Koreans don't do much writing, creatively, especially regarding English. This would explain the difficult transition we're having. For my last class of the week there are three students who are patently in over their head. One in particular just cannot do it. The work is difficult enough without spending most of my time helping him with work he cannot do. I am frustrated both with them and myself. Clearly I need to improve some of my teaching for this class. By the way this Japanese beer tastes great, roll on my four days in Tokyo.

Do Koreans study geography?

Today one of my class topics is about trips, travelling and holidays. As I write the same questions (though with higher grammar) that I feel like I have been asking forever I ask myself, do these kids actually study geography OR care about non-Korean geography? I know the answer is no for the second one (for many many kids). Whenever I play a game in class I try to encorporate an element of geography in the hope that they will appreciate that other countries barring Korea, Japan, America and Canada exist. They may know the name of other places but know little about them or care even less.

One of my major gripes about some of my students has been their lack of imagination. For some but not all, the cruelest thing you can ask one of them is to think for themselves and be creative. Today I will be hit with the usual "I don't know" when I ask about vacation destinations or "Korea. I'm Korean". It's enough to make me lose my temper, but I won't. Though I may bang my head against a wall.

Putting it bluntly most of my student's have an appalling lack of knowledge of geography and the world. It's not a new observation but I've been thinking about it over the last few weeks and been shaking my head. Sometimes I wonder what they actually learn at school. Whatever it is, it is limiting and doing them both a disservice and an injustice.

For the younger students I can understand that they lack information and knowledge of the world but there's no excuse for the older ones. When I was their age I studied geography for five years at Secondary school. I also studied History at the same time. Both gave me an appreciation and a basic understanding that the world is bigger than my own country and that their are many interesting people and cultures across the world.

How many times have my students asked me where I am from when it is obvious I don't come from North America or Australia? The only thing my students know about England is footballer Park Ji Sung or just football. Why are Korean students so abysmal in general at geography? Do they actually study this in class? These are the seeds sown by years and years of a policy of isolation and rejection of other cultures.

This month one of Korea's superstars, Kim Yu-Na is going for gold in the Winter Olympics in Canada, yet precious few know much about that country. If I showed these kids a map, then I think three things would happen. 1) They wouldn't know many countries there. 2) They would find Korea, of course. 3) They would complain that Korea is too small. And not, that other countries are bigger and have bigger populations. Geography is important.