Thoughts about session 6

I really enjoyed this session. I had no idea that Korea was so developed and even more modern than New York. I told my students the next day that it was National Teacher Day in Korea and the teachers get money from the students! I don't know if everyone forgot or what but I did not receive a wad of money hidden in a Godiva chocolate box 🙁

What a surprise to have the discussion about Korea. Unfortunately, I read for the scheduled meeting but found Ms Jung-Kim to be very informative. The lecture on present day Korea was very interesting and certainly presented in a positive light. From my Korean friends I understand that Seoul can be an oppressive place to visit, weather, traffic, smog, etc. With North Korea in the news lately it was interesting to learn more about the peninsula.

I selfishly did the same thing. I mentioned to my students on Wednesday that Tuesday had been Korea's national Teacher Day. Sure enough, come Friday, I received a sweet, new, USC Trojans cap from one of my Korean students. Now, thanks to this class, I am not only totally benefiting in my own classroom, but now I am already prepared for the 2010 USC football season;-) This class is awesome!

The most interesting component of this class was the fact that Korea is extremely modernized. I would like to visit South Korea myself one day to see how technologically advance this country is. Usually, people would talk about Japan or China or another Asian country--it is as if South Korea has been overshadowed by the other Asian countries. I was curious to know a little bit more about North Korea too--but it is too bad we didn't go over it too much. Hopefully, we will next time.

IN addition, I have always been fascinated with S Korea's educational atmosphere. Do they really study that much? Wow!!! I actually applied to teach in Korea before and was offered a job but decided not to go, but from what I was told, they would study from 8-4ish and take a ride to tutoring school until 10. As a teacher, I have to teach from 8-5 everyday--sometimes I'd have to stay later.

Since I am Vietnamese, I thought the article on Vietnamese bride was interesting. I had no idea this was going on. I told my mom about this when I got home and she was also shocked. Even though Vietnam has grown economically, there are still people who are in need of these kinds of "exchanges."

It has been five years since I last visited Vietnam; I was on a mission trip to teach students in Vietnam. Things have changed drastically--culturally and economically. One memory that I have that was striking was when I was at the airport shuttle, I saw a group of "Korean" girls. I later realized that they were not Korean at all, but were Vietnamese who dressed and acted like Korean girls. Even their Vietnamese tone changed so it sounded more Korean. I know for a fact that Korean pop culture is blazing across Asia and has a huge influence on neighboring countries like Vietnam and China. As much as I love the Korean culture (my best friend is Korean), I'm disappointed that some Asian countries are losing their identify because they are too obsessive imitating others. It's a little sad.

Of the three nations we are covering during our seminar, Korea is the one nation I know the least about. I always assumed that the nation of Korea as an entity (both North and South) was a relatively new phenomenon. I erroneously believd it to have always been either part of the Chinese empires and the Japanese....That it had only lost its sovereignty in the twentieth century was an eye opener. I think I was left with more questions about Korea than I ever had before and yet I can't seem to put them to words. The one thing that I know for sure is that it is a place that I would love to see for my self.
I'm trying to think about how I may cover some of these ideas in the brief mention of Korea in the 11th grade standards; it's only mention is "Korean War."

I have really enjoyed learning more about Korea. I think it is really interesting to consider how big they especially because everytime we look at a map in a classroom we see China and Russia two disproportionately large countries. I feel as though I learned so much in the itme I was there last week. I really enjoyed learning about the strength of their women. I particularly liked the image of the woman yelling at the police officers. Also as I teach my students certain content it is great to be able to add details, for exapmle the large clay pots that stored food and were burried, would be interesting to my students. To contrast these to the images of current technology would be very useful.

I appreciate the insight I was given into the pressure and stress of schools and education. I look forward to learning more about the current relationship between North and South.

North Korea is fascinating to me. It is so closed and isolated from the rest of the world. I loved the picture in the beginning of our studies that shows just how "dark" North Korea is. I have seen it before and after listening to the professor about how technologically advanced South Korea is, I'm wondering how the two will manage when reunification happens. Like always my mind drifted to comparisons and I couldn't help start thinking of the movie; "Goodbye Lenin" which looks at the reunification of Germany,specifically Berlin, if not mistaken.
That will be an event that will have me glued to the set and other media outlets. I remember the stories about the difficulties of the East trying to catch up to the West, and the resentment of the West with these new "foreigners" competing for jobs and the like.
The technological superiority of the society in East Asia is daunting.