RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

Does anyone remember people saying, "Please understand, this is our culture" over minor things back where they came from?

I have literally never heard this phrase from a Korean person. I feel like I'm being left out of an inside joke. How many times have you guys heard it? I've heard "cock", when someone tries to say "coke". I've heard that countless times and each time it brings a chuckle out of me.

I've actually tried to get a Korean to say it. Not as in "Hey, can you say this for me?", that would be too easy. Instead, I have actively manufactured situations to bring out that statement organically. "WTF! Why do Koreans do this!? It makes no sense!" But alas, nothing. My quest continues

Does anyone remember people saying, "Please understand, this is our culture" over minor things back where they came from?

I have literally never heard this phrase from a Korean person. I feel like I'm being left out of an inside joke. How many times have you guys heard it? I've heard "cock", when someone tries to say "coke". I've heard that countless times and each time it brings a chuckle out of me.

I've actually tried to get a Korean to say it. Not as in "Hey, can you say this for me?", that would be too easy. Instead, I have actively manufactured situations to bring out that statement organically. "WTF! Why do Koreans do this!? It makes no sense!" But alas, nothing. My quest continues

I've heard it from one guy in particular about once or twice a month for the last few years. Then the odd person randomly.

Does anyone remember people saying, "Please understand, this is our culture" over minor things back where they came from?

I have literally never heard this phrase from a Korean person. I feel like I'm being left out of an inside joke. How many times have you guys heard it? I've heard "cock", when someone tries to say "coke". I've heard that countless times and each time it brings a chuckle out of me.

I've actually tried to get a Korean to say it. Not as in "Hey, can you say this for me?", that would be too easy. Instead, I have actively manufactured situations to bring out that statement organically. "WTF! Why do Koreans do this!? It makes no sense!" But alas, nothing. My quest continues

I've heard it from one guy in particular about once or twice a month for the last few years. Then the odd person randomly.

Closest I've heard is "Please understand." 

Back home people are less polite and the most similar thing I can think of is, "Well, this is how we do things here." Usually with some 'tude.

Does anyone remember people saying, "Please understand, this is our culture" over minor things back where they came from?

I have literally never heard this phrase from a Korean person. I feel like I'm being left out of an inside joke. How many times have you guys heard it? I've heard "cock", when someone tries to say "coke". I've heard that countless times and each time it brings a chuckle out of me.

I've actually tried to get a Korean to say it. Not as in "Hey, can you say this for me?", that would be too easy. Instead, I have actively manufactured situations to bring out that statement organically. "WTF! Why do Koreans do this!? It makes no sense!" But alas, nothing. My quest continues

I've heard it from one guy in particular about once or twice a month for the last few years. Then the odd person randomly.

Closest I've heard is "Please understand." 

Back home people are less polite and the most similar thing I can think of is, "Well, this is how we do things here." Usually with some 'tude.

Me too, never.

I guess you only hear it if you do something that isn't understanding.

It says something about the people who hear it often i guess!

ya'll have seriously never heard it? i've even read it in news articles. not that exact thing but close. something like "korea is unique because of blah blah blah," or "this issue is caused by the unique blah blah blah of korea". or when they report on crimes and what the perpetrator gave as an excuse, the perpetrators usually make some reference to some unique or special situation of theirs to excuse their crime.

ya'll have seriously never heard it? i've even read it in news articles. not that exact thing but close. something like "korea is unique because of blah blah blah," or "this issue is caused by the unique blah blah blah of korea". or when they report on crimes and what the perpetrator gave as an excuse, the perpetrators usually make some reference to some unique or special situation of theirs to excuse their crime.

Often when you call them out on something.

Intelligent people use it to resolve their cognitive dissonance.

"I learned this and believe it to be true... but your [logic, knowledge of physics, astronomy, biology, etc...] is sound.  Both cannot be true, so there must be something special in Korea that you just cannot understand."

The fools, well, the translation "Well, that's how it is done here" is probably closer.

ya'll have seriously never heard it? i've even read it in news articles. not that exact thing but close. something like "korea is unique because of blah blah blah," or "this issue is caused by the unique blah blah blah of korea". or when they report on crimes and what the perpetrator gave as an excuse, the perpetrators usually make some reference to some unique or special situation of theirs to excuse their crime.

I guess? 

 I've never ever seen or heard the exact phrase  "Please understand our/his/their/hers/whatevers unique situation". Its just a meme at this point.


Also I find it a bit cringey when I see people use it, like people who say om nom nom.

 I've never ever seen or heard the exact phrase  "Please understand our/his/their/hers/whatevers unique situation". Its just a meme at this point

All memes are deep-seeded in reality and truth. 

Edit: Holy shit, it's deep-seated???????? I had no idea. Seed are low and they make strong roots, right? No? WHAT ELSE AM I WRONG ABOUT

 I've never ever seen or heard the exact phrase  "Please understand our/his/their/hers/whatevers unique situation". Its just a meme at this point

All memes are deep-seeded in reality and truth. 

Edit: Holy shit, it's deep-seated???????? I had no idea. Seed are low and they make strong roots, right? No? WHAT ELSE AM I WRONG ABOUT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnXKVY-_i2c

Does anyone remember people saying, "Please understand, this is our culture" over minor things back where they came from?

I've never heard any reference to America being exceptional. Nor anyone saying, "If you don't love it, leave it" in a famous Merle Haggard song. No "That's the American Way" or any other similar argument used to explain anything from guns to the fact that we don't use a computer to call balls and strikes.

If you seriously can't think of similar examples back home, you really need to open your mind more.

I've never heard any reference to America being exceptional. Nor anyone saying, "If you don't love it, leave it" in a famous Merle Haggard song. No "That's the American Way" or any other similar argument used to explain anything from guns to the fact that we don't use a computer to call balls and strikes.

If you seriously can't think of similar examples back home, you really need to open your mind more.

Told ya, a meme for everything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FEW5mh7iAI

Edit: Holy shit, it's deep-seated???????? I had no idea. Seed are low and they make strong roots, right? No? WHAT ELSE AM I WRONG ABOUT

Fake news. It will always be deep-seeded for me. I think this is some sort of plot by the alternate universe that opened up following the activation of the Large Hadron Collider. First they made Shazaam! disappear, now they've unleashed this.

I will get an official warning if I whistle in class again.

One of my principals once asked my CoT to tell me to stop whistling in the halls, because it's "inappropriate in school." My CoT assured me that Koreans think whistling is very rude. None of the other Koreans I've talked to about it since then knew wtf they were talking about, but oh well. I stopped doing it at that school.

I'm a whistler, though, so I do it and have done it at all my other schools  . I'm reasonably good at it, too, so some of my students think it's neat.

I'm an occasional whistler on those rare moments at school when I'm feeling cheery enough to do so.  I lived in the Korean countryside for few years and it was the only place that I've ever heard any comment about the habit.  According to the gardener at the last rural school I worked at whistling attracts snakes!  I guess it's a Korean old wife's tale equivalent.  In fairness the gardener said it to me in a good-natured way, kind of like,

"Hey, don't you know that snakes like whistling? haha"

My brother's on holiday in Japan at present and keeps sending me pictures of all the food. 

I am quite envious   

TEACHER!!
ME!!
TEACHEEEERRRR!!!!
*grabs my arm*
HELP ME!!!!
*shoves their paper in my face*
MEEEEEE!!!!!!!

 

(I`m so done with their screaming today.)

I know it's bad to rant about the ability of our students but I don't know how much more dumbing down of my classes I can do.

I'm literally down to phrases like "He is tall" and even that's too much for them.

I've mentioned it before but it blows my mind how they can happily work through a textbook with the most convoluted, long sentences and paragraphs in their classes with the KET, then come to my class and struggle with "She has short hair".

This is high school 

I know it's bad to rant about the ability of our students but I don't know how much more dumbing down of my classes I can do.

I'm literally down to phrases like "He is tall" and even that's too much for them.

I've mentioned it before but it blows my mind how they can happily work through a textbook with the most convoluted, long sentences and paragraphs in their classes with the KET, then come to my class and struggle with "She has short hair".

This is high school 

Yikes... that's balls.  I was really taken aback during one of the first classes this semester-- I was starting out easy with the one of the new grade 4 classes and asking "Who's he/Who's she" but they had already forgotten that from the previous year and needed the coT to step in and translate... 

If this is any indication of how things are in general, I wonder how much is ever retained at all.  Like, there are enough students that are fine and remember things and I know these are elementary kids but we used that simple phrase so much their 3rd grade year and the entire class was just flummoxed

I know it's bad to rant about the ability of our students but I don't know how much more dumbing down of my classes I can do.

I'm literally down to phrases like "He is tall" and even that's too much for them.

I've mentioned it before but it blows my mind how they can happily work through a textbook with the most convoluted, long sentences and paragraphs in their classes with the KET, then come to my class and struggle with "She has short hair".

This is high school 

Yikes... that's balls.  I was really taken aback during one of the first classes this semester-- I was starting out easy with the one of the new grade 4 classes and asking "Who's he/Who's she" but they had already forgotten that from the previous year and needed the coT to step in and translate... 

If this is any indication of how things are in general, I wonder how much is ever retained at all.  Like, there are enough students that are fine and remember things and I know these are elementary kids but we used that simple phrase so much their 3rd grade year and the entire class was just flummoxed

That's what happens when you rote memorise something you don't understand or care about.

English words might as well be random numbers to the Korean education system;
fill the correct sequence of numbers in the space, during the test, get your score and
that's it.

I know it's bad to rant about the ability of our students but I don't know how much more dumbing down of my classes I can do.

I'm literally down to phrases like "He is tall" and even that's too much for them.

I've mentioned it before but it blows my mind how they can happily work through a textbook with the most convoluted, long sentences and paragraphs in their classes with the KET, then come to my class and struggle with "She has short hair".

This is high school 

Yikes... that's balls.  I was really taken aback during one of the first classes this semester-- I was starting out easy with the one of the new grade 4 classes and asking "Who's he/Who's she" but they had already forgotten that from the previous year and needed the coT to step in and translate... 

If this is any indication of how things are in general, I wonder how much is ever retained at all.  Like, there are enough students that are fine and remember things and I know these are elementary kids but we used that simple phrase so much their 3rd grade year and the entire class was just flummoxed

I have a 6th grade elementary boy who still needs to be spoonfed "My name is ...." It's the very first lesson grade 3 gets. My actual 3rd graders can do it well without the book now too. I feel sorry for the grade 6 girl, as my grade 6 is 1 boy and 1 girl. The girl has pretty decent English, and actually wants to improve. Games are VERY 1 sided in class.

1 thing I have been trying, is to do listen and repeats with him with the sentences, doing it 1 word at a time, for 3 - 5 times, then 2 words at a time, for a few times, then gradually speed up. Then I'll try get him to do it on his own. Then, the next time the sentence comes up in the lesson, he has already forgotten everything >.<

It's a pretty laid back class, but the girl understands things really quickly, the boy doesn't understand / remember much, if anything at all. If I go too quickly, the boy gets bored due to not understanding, and the girl is happy; If I go too slow, the girl gets bored and unhappy, cause she has to wait for the boy to understand and do the work. It's kind of a lose/win-lose/win situation in that class >.<

I partially ruptured the ligaments in my ankle this week during warm ups for staff volleyball. Today I am wearing a splint that is uncomfortable as heck, on pain and swelling meds.

Today's goal do my class while sitting down as the important people know I have to wear the splint.

What happens. I have to get up and go into discipline mode.

By my last class I was like please please please do not make me stand up! I am not even supposed to be walking much on this foot.