If hope you can wait another week or so for an orphan story. Since Thursday was Teacher’s Day (스승의날) I thought I’d share a little bit about that, since I am currently teaching in a Korean school.
스승 is kind of a fancy word or “teacher” but it means the same thing as “선생님” with some more nuance of “mentor” or “master.” Anyway, that’s what they use to name the day.
Traditionally, it was a holiday and schools were closed, but sometime in the past few years that changed….oh well! Students typically give carnations and a letter to their teachers.
I am sort of a novelty at my school, and for a variety of reasons never know what to expect on a day like 스승의날. Since I am not a homeroom teacher, there is virtually zero obligation for my students to write me a letter. If I get one, it is because that student took the time to write it (or some other adult suggested it^^)
Another reason is that my students don’t really know that I can speak and read Korean. A few think I can manage a couple sentences, but the vast majority is shocked to hear me utter “응” or the occasional “뭐?” Since most of my students think I won’t understand their Korean letter, or they can’t write a letter in English, I wasn’t expecting much this year. Last year I got maybe 2-3 letters.
It’s not that I need them to write me letters so that I feel good about myself, but it IS a really great feeling to get a sweet letter from a student. Plus, I really crave the language practice!^^
I was pleasantly surprised this year. I got a deluge of letters. A great majority from second graders say something like:
“그동안 영어를 가르쳐 주셨어 감사함니다”
(try to translate it in the comments!)
Some of them made laugh out loud:
To..Mr D.
안녕하세요. 원지에요. English teacher 영어 그르쳐 주시느라 힘드신데 떠들어서 죄송해요. 저번 1학년 때 여름특강 때 제가 지우개 드렸는데, 기억하세요? 그 지우개 아직도 가지고 계세요? 기지고 계셨으면 좋겠네요! 영어 특강 때 선냉님니 주우개 고르는 장면:
(Give this one a shot too! Some hints: 떠들다 – talking, being noisy; 저번 – last time; 특강 – special class; 아직도 가지고 계시다 (가지고 있다) – so still have something; 고르다 – to select; 장면 – scene)
So to our KClass teachers: – 늦게 스승의날 축하합니다! 열심히 한국어를 가르쳐 주셨어 감사합니다!
