There seems to be a gap of understanding between the Koreans and foreign English teachers. Well, there are a lot of gaps, but here's one in particular that annoys me just a little bit.
Where on earth to little 7-year-olds get off being allowed to give each other and the teacher the finger? Or saying sh*t, son of a b*tch, or any other English swear word they pick up. Oh yes, it's sooo funny to swear in English. I understand that it's not as impacting when you say the f-word in a different language, but half of the kids kind of just frolic about, throwing these words around like candy. The Korean teachers don't seem to mind terribly. It's a little shocking to us native speakers though, as many of these words are still not allowed on the radio or prime-time television. When I was 7 years old, I wasn't even aware of all the swear words, and me and the kids my age were still trying on "idiot" and "oh my gosh" on for size.
The other half of the kids know what they're saying, in Korean and English. I know, because I know the Korean equivalents to these words. My Irish coworker swears like a sailor, but once she put an 11-yr-old girl out in the hall for saying "son of a b*tch" in Korean and then again in English when my coworker had told her not to. The boss said she'd been too harsh, that the kids didn't understand or mean what they said, but I think that if you say it in Korean and English, you know. And who on earth lets their 11-yr-old kid say those words?
I understand that they're away from their parents, and most kids have potty mouths to some extent when no one's around to smack the fear of God into them. But when the Korean teachers don't even care, there's not much you can do really. Foreign teachers are at the bottom of the heirarchy of respect. Kids are not only going to swear in front of us, they're going to try to get us to do it too -_-
On a brighter note, here is a really funny music video to a popular Korean song:
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