teaching english but not quite

[clivity]

i'm a korean-canadian who speaks teeny bit of korean and i'm planning to go there to teach english but i don't want to just teach them grammar or how to pronounce correctly. those are given, but in order to give the kids some interest i'm looking for any cool english-related, western culture-related lessons. it can be basic and simple as explaining

Comments

[leora]

Teach them what a bathroom is called in different places - that's important and useful. Bathroom, restroom, W.C., water closet, loo, powder room, little girl's room, little boy's room, ladie's room, commode anything else you can think of. It's practical and important info, and it's good to know which term to use where.

I was really glad to be taught that in Spanish. And in English there are so many terms.

[clivity]

haha that's great! if you can think of any more practical things like this please give me more! thanks!

[leora]

Here's another thought I had last night. Different forms of address. It's good to know how they're used, and in some places people do expect you to address olders by Sir and Ma'am. Some places consider "Madame" rude, although I do think they're silly, but that doesn't change the culture. There's also: Miss and Ms, of course. And the collective terms like: Ladies, gentlemen, guys (sometimes used to include women and sometimes used with only females present, but some females dislike this), gals, women, men, girls, boys, and dude. Possibly others.

The only other thought I had where we have an interesting collection of English terms didn't seem appropriate, as there are so many creative expressions for masturbation, but you probably don't want to teach them.

[lundwik]

Ok, I teach many different Asian backgrounds. I teach English (Grammar, Lit, ect.) The funniest thing I've run across is "Miss, may I throw?" This meaning, of course, "May I throw this piece of paper in the trash?" right? Well, I actually saw a teacher answer "yes" to this in the lunch room and the girl threw her tea box at another student. If anything, teach them to be a little more specific in their questions. It makes for some interesting discussions. (I taught them by picking up the chair and asking, "May I throw?" They all laughed at it, but it got the point across.)