February 7, 2009

• Comprehensible Input

  Dear Folks,

  Today is the Sabbath.  We will walk to church about noon.  Our Sunday school starts at 2:00 p.m., but we like to get there a bit early, so that we can take in the last 30 minutes of the English service, and then enjoy the muffin, soda pop snack time sandwiched between the service and English Bible Study.   I would like to lead a bible study there at our Baptist church, a new church for us, one which we only discovered a year ago.  Few churches in Taejeon offer English language services.  We have attended three different Presbyterian churches over the years because they were the only English language services we knew of close to our home.  And I am not Presbyterian.  Rather, I am Southern Baptist.

  I woke up a little late today, nearly 10 a.m.  I felt a duty to snooze a bit longer with My Flagship (oldest son), My Shining Knight (2nd son), and My Clever Lad (3rd son).  They all depend on me rather much, for affection. 

  Aha!  My Shining Knight just got up!  He just came in here to see me.  He is groggy with sleep, and slow moving.  He sat behind me at the glass teaching table, here in my classroom.  He is fiddling with two sand clocks, which we use in games.  Much of my job here over the past 13 years involves entertainment.  That's the only way to teach the typical Taejeon child English in an engaging manner. 

  My Dandelion (daughter) woke up early and has been watching The Berenstain Bears on DVD.  I went in to join her for a few short episodes.  One episode was about a new friend in town.  His name was Ferdie, short for Ferdinand, I think.  His uncle (ostensibly) was a professor, and they were both very smart.  They also both wore glasses.  While highly educated, and good at chess, Fertie was unaccomplished at social interactions.  He could not make friends very well.  As Mamma Bear explained, he probably was snooty towards others because he was uncomfortable and didn't know how to make friends well.  It is not that he was condescending on purpose, so much as just that he didn't know how else to behave, and hope to gain respect, or just not be ridiculed. 

  Now My Flagship is awake, seated right behind me on a stool, and fiddling with a plastic tool for keeping a cereal bag closed to maintain optimal freshness of the cereal.  I found a new kind of cereal, which is a tad cheaper than anything else about, in these parts.  It is called TESCO, and hails from The Mother Country.  I up and bought nine boxes.  I should have bought only bran flakes, as they were 3,250 won for 500 grams. However, I bought only three boxes of bran flakes and one each of every other kind they had on offer.  The others are tasty, and the variety is good, but they cost 5,250 won per 500-gram-box, and I just don't think that's worth it, not when we could just eat bran all the time for such a colossal savings.  Maybe it doesn't seem like a huge savings at first glance, but try to think of everything multiplied times the number of cereal eaters in my family.  Reality sets in. 

  We bought those new kinds of cereal at HomePlus, a new store in town.  Well, it's been here maybe four or five years, but that's new to us.  And what's more, there are two outlets of HomePlus within walking distance, one about 20 minutes away, to the West, and the other about 30 minutes away, to the East.  That's perfect for us to pick and choose, to time our exercise outings, walk-abouts around town, to my teaching schedule. 

  I picked up a new student yesterday.  He, too, studies alone, like perhaps most of my students.  At 50 bucks an hour, I used to think that expensive, but not anymore.  I used to try to introduce students to each other and help them save money, but that is not what mothers of my wards really want, and it took  me some years to fully realize this.  Rather, they want a more intense relationship with me, and zero interruption from noisy peers.   I finally got it, so now, more and more of my students are singles.  And I enjoy it more.  It is pure concentration for one hour, while groups of two, three or four students can be somewhat noisy, with flagging attention, when one student is required to respond, and the others just kind of lull out, lose focus.   

  My Dandelion and I watched together two other Berenstain Bears episodes together, aside from the overbearing Fertie, who eventually learned his lesson about friendship, realizing that Queenie was actually merely pretending to be his friend, just to get help with his math homework.  I could relate the events of the other two episodes, but I will not bore you with the details, dear Reader.  If I get more time today, I'll get back on the horn here, and fill in some detail for you.

  Already we have a visitor, this Sunday morning, Ko Shee-Yeon, a friend of My Dandelion, who lately has been going to church with us, even though she understands no more than a handful of words in English.  I think her mom likes for her to hear the English language Sunday School, even though I think there is no certain value in her doing so, as the comprehensible input is virtually zero for her, and she just daydreams.    

  Love, Padooker

  • 9:02 pm
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