Korean student talks about civil war

[Anonymous]

It is funny but Lee is not a Korean name, but a reworking of a Korean surname. I do a unit every year on Research skills, and I have students research their full name as the culminating task. This brings up how immigration has changed the cultural expressions of various groups. I often have a Korean student explain their name, Family name, generational name and personal name. I explain how Peace Corp volunteers were given Korean names when they went to Korea. Wikipedia tells us:
"Lee is the typical romanization of the common South Korean surname I (Hangul 이) and North Koreansurname Ri (리). It is the second-most-common surname in Korea, behind only Kim."

Furthermore, The name is derived from the common Chinese surname Li 李 and is written identically to the Chinese name in Hanja characters. This is a list of notable people with the Korean name Lee, also transliterated as Yi, Yie, Rhee and Rhie."

Students general love these types of morsel, and once they get a taste, it may propel them to deeper thinking and research.

[Anonymous]

Ok.. Great info...

[Anonymous]

I think a good eye-opener into other cultures for students would be to compare the Korean Civil War with American Civil War. I think for adults and students alike it would give all of us more of a world view on the causes of internal strife and how that strife is sometimes resolved. I think it would also be a god opportunity for students to start thinking outside of their classroom and taking more of a world view. Again, I wish I could fit this into my literature class.

[Anonymous]

Interesting a student mistook General Lee for a Korean person. I believe it was mentioned, but the surname Lee is actually pronounced as just an E with the long E vowel in Korean. It's interesting to look at how surnames of non-English languages are translated into English. For example, my last name is 'Choi'. In Korean, the letters that make up my name are phonetically most close to 'Ch" 'Oh' and 'E' (long E vowel). In Korean these letters together are pronounced "Chwae", however the literal translation becomes Choi (pronounced Choy). Also interesting is the way surnames are changed and compromised for the same of westernizing and assimilating.

[Anonymous]

That's a pretty funny story. I wonder what the students think about African-Americans who also carry that last name. That might bring some real confusion

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

While talking about the civil war, I mentioned General Lee and General Grant..A student raised his hand and asked me "Is General Lee was Korean.. Before I responded.He says..."My family is Korean and Lee is a Korean name" "My dad is from North Korea and my mom is from South Korea" "He must have been Korean right??" LOL Happened just before winter break...

[Author]

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