Lesson Plans

  • Evelyn’s Office:
    경기 안성시 공도읍 공도로 151 한일타운상가 3층

April 30, 2024 (Tuesday, 12:50 p.m.)

  • Review (Apr 23)
    • Ecclesiastes
      To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
      A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
      A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
      A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
      A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
      A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
      A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
      A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
      A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
      • The Byrds – Turn Turn Turn (YouTube w/lyrics)
        To everything, turn, turn, turn
        There is a season, turn, turn, turn
        And a time to every purpose under heaven
        A time to be born, a time to die
        A time to plant, a time to reap
        A time to kill, a time to heal
        A time to laugh, a time to weep

        To everything, turn, turn, turn
        There is a season, turn, turn, turn
        And a time to every purpose, under heaven
        A time to build up, a time to break down
        A time to dance, a time to mourn
        A time to cast away stones
        A time to gather stones together

        To everything, turn, turn, turn
        There is a season, turn, turn, turn
        And a time to every purpose under heaven
        A time of love, a time of hate
        A time of war, a time of peace
        A time you may embrace
        A time to refrain from embracing

        To everything, turn, turn, turn
        There is a season, turn, turn, turn
        And a time to every purpose under heaven

        A time to gain, a time to lose
        A time to rend, a time to sew
        A time for love, a time for hate
        A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late
    • keeping up with the Joneses
      • bachelor kimchi
      • (idiom) not at all
  • [Arirang TV – NEWs GEN] “Which K-food is most popular these days?” (YouTube)
    Why is Korea’s dessert market expanding?
    • Reporter: “I’ve also done this coverage to get an answer to the question why Korea and many people I spoke to said they would spend approximately $14 to $21 a day just on desserts, meaning people are spending more on desserts than they would do on their single meals?”
      • How much do you spend on desserts per day / week / month?
    • “We are seeing a booming K-food trend especially in regards to desserts.”
      • Are we seeing a booming K-food trend in desserts?
      • Are you enjoying a booming K-food trend in desserts?
    • “It’s also worth noting that the rapid growth of the dessert market here in the country is largely attributable to the unique characteristics of the MZ generation because for this generation food or dessert is not just food but it’s a form of new play. Now they love to experience and share novel and aesthetically pleasing foods, even desserts, and they share them on their social media to feel connected and to feel trendy as well as the competition to try out popular unique desserts.”
      • Is there some truth to this?
      • Have you used food as a form of “new play”?
      • Is this any different from taking photos of food and sharing those photos to FB or IG?
      • Have you ever taken photos of food and shared them?
        • I have. When friends and clients send me food gifts, I take a photo and share the photo with those who sent me the food gifts. I think people get pleasure from gift giving knowing that the food gifts are being enjoyed (and shared).
      • “There seems to be so many other popular Korean dishes these days. I mean food culture is always quickly evolving.”
        • Has Korean food culture always been evolving or does Korean food culture seem to be evolving only recently?
    • “We’re seeing a lot of different options and varieties as well, so there are even all you can eat dessert buffets, like the place you went to yesterday, with pastries such as tarts, macarons, and  dacquoise and even salt bread continue to be popular…”
      • Have you been to a dessert buffet?
        • Would you go?
        • How much would you be willing to pay to go to a dessert buffet?
        • How much would you eat at a dessert cafe?
      • Do you know what dacquoise are?
    • “… but also traditional Korean desserts such as yagwa and those with ingredients that used to be considered enjoyed only by seniors are gaining popularity among the younger generation as well such as mugart and black sesame. Also the release of singer songwriter pb’s pangang which refers to the sweet chestnut traditional Korean jelly has also gained popularity because of the song.”
      • Do you know this song?
      • Have you noticed an uptick in people buying this dessert?
    • They are very Fierce to sometimes queue up to try out these desserts but the pleasure gained from trying out the uniqueness of these desserts are worth it because they are lining up in front of these popular stores and you mentioned a great point there it’s a play culture and I contributed to that play culture yesterday actually I went to the place that we’re seeing on the screen right now and there’s just a thousand types of desserts there that’s an exaggeration of course there’s just so many desserts there and many options and the reason why I went was because on social media you would see trending posts with hashtags saying they’ve tried this there and I wanted to be a part of that culture but apart from desserts there”
    • x
  • [Graphic News] Korean farming households fall below 1m for first time in 2023
    • “The number of farming households in South Korea fell below 1 million for the first time ever in 2023, and half of farmers were aged 65 or older, data showed.

      …Of the population engaged in farming, 36.7 percent, the largest share, were in their 70s and older, followed by those in their 60s and in their 50s.” (Yonhap)”
  • Yahoo Life: You’re probably throwing away these food scraps. Here’s why eating them is good for you and the environment.
    • “Some of the parts of foods we assume are garbage are not only edible but also nutritious. From peels to stems to rinds and more, sometimes what we assume to be scraps are actually as or more nutrient dense than the parts we usually eat.”
    • Here’s what to know:
      • Eat the peels
        • “It’s kind of amazing to me that people peel things,” P.K. Newby, nutritional scientist and founder of Food Matters Media, tells Yahoo Life. She says that the peels of many fruits and vegetables — including carrots, apples, potatoes, eggplant and sweet potatoes — are perfectly edible and are “where you have so much of the nutritional value.”
      • Cook the roots, leaves and stems
      • Make it into a nutritious stock
    • x
  • (cont.) Buzzfeed (via Yahoo): If You’re Bored Of The Same Old, Here Are 101 Fun Things To Try
    51.Throw a potluck dinner for all your friends or neighbors.
    -potluck – this is an interesting American social engagement. “A potluck is a communal gathering where each guest or group contributes a different, often homemade, dish of food to be shared.”
    — Do Koreans have anything similar?
    – -Does this sound like something that you might want to try?
    52.Explore a new place you’ve never been to in your town.
    -Do you have any recommendations?
    55.Treat yourself to a little retail therapy.
    (LOL) retail therapy
    euphemism – eu / phem / ism
    eu
    eugenics
    euthanasia
    ism
    theism / atheism / agnosticism / deism
    realism / idealism
    56.Pack your own picnic.
    58.Rearrange your bedroom furniture.
    -When was the last time you rearranged your furniture?
    60.Get into list-making.
    65.Organize your closet.
    66.Enjoy a night of stargazing.
    -Can you identify any stars or constellations?
    -Can you identify any planets?
    67.Watch the sunset or sunrise.
    -Which do you find more amazing, sunrises or sunsets?
    -Which, sunrises or sunsets, do you find more amazing?
    -Which, a sunrise or a sunset, do you find more amazing?
    68.Start a scrapbook.
    71.Challenge yourself to finish a (jigsaw) puzzle.
    72.Show off your creative side by starting a journal.
    73.Or begin writing a book!
    75.Watch a live cam feed from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
    78.Learn a musical instrument.
    79.Learn a new dance routine.
    80.Discover your love language.
    -Do you know our love language?
    “Words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, and physical touch. These are all different ways of making people feel loved, and the ones that are effective vary from person to person. Understanding what works best for you and your partner and how you differ can be a powerful way of deepening your relationship. Also, it’s fun to take personality quizzes!”
    84.Read inspiring, funny, moving, and powerful letters from interesting people.
    Letters of Note is an endless trove of wonderful, fascinating, and historically important letters. Read a few of these to feel inspired.
    85.Try out a new hair color.
    87.Challenge yourself to try a new recipe.
    (…and bring it to a potluck!)
    88.Plan your next trip.
    -Do you plan your trips? (I know, I know)
    -So, do you plan your family trips?
    89.Figure out your birthday song.
    –This site will tell you what song was number one the day you were born! Don’t you want to listen to the song that your parents were jamming out to when you first emerged into the world?
    95.Go thrifting around town.
    100.Learn how to play chess.
    101.Finally, plan any future projects you’ve been excited to work on.
    -Do you have any future projects you’ve been excited to work on?
  • T3 (via Yahoo Life) You only need this four-move, no-jump workout to build full-body strength
  • This workout is made up of four compound exercises (movements that work multiple muscles in the body), which are also great for elevating your heart rate. Do each exercise one after the other, with no rest in between, then once you’ve finished them all, rest for 30 seconds, before repeating the workout two more times. Don’t rush through these movements, do them slowly and controlled. Here are the exercises with a demonstration:
  • Sumo squat – 12 reps
  • Glute bridge walk out – 15 reps
  • Push-ups from knees – 20 reps
  • Opposite elbow to opposite knee crunches – 30 seconds reps
  • Reddit r/Ask: What’s something you desperately want to hear from your partner?
    • (9 hr. ago) “Hey, actually, I’m not fine. [X] is what is bothering me and you can do [Y] to best support me”
    • (Spooks-Alone95) “I appreciate you and what you do for me.”, “I want you.”, “I adore you.”, “You are enough for me.”, “let me hold you.”, “I’m sorry.” “Let’s cook together.” And “Here let me help you with this.”

      Been married for 4 years and I feel like a roommate. 😔
    • (pueraria-montana) I THOUGHT IT SAID ‘PARENTS’ I WAS SO SHOCKED AND CONFUSED READING THE ANSWERS 😭😭😭

Did you look at any Ikea hacks?
(40.Ikea-hack a piece of your furniture.
“There are literally one million of these on Pinterest.”)

  • Reddit: “Leech nations” concept – question about Asian culture
    (OP) I talked to this Chinese guy on campus…. He claims that it is well known that in the world there are “leader nations” and “leech nations” (he might have used the term parasite, not sure anymore). He said each world region has one of those leader nations, like in Asia it’s China, and that other cultures such as Japan and Korea developed due to Chinese influence, because they learned from the Chinese and copied everything China did. He claimed this is well known in Asia, that Chinese brought civilization to Asia and without China other countries would not even know how to write. xxMy question is: Is it true that people in Asia believe this or is that something he made up? It sounded a bit rude tbh and I’m suspicious if that’s really something commonly accepted in Korea. But he was very insitent that other Asian countries know about this.
    • The name “중국/Chūgoku” is a very recent creation, because it’s literally how modern China refers to itself (中国). That’s all there is to the name. Korea and Japan are just referring to China by its chosen name.
      So the name isn’t a historical one, and it wasn’t coined to represent China’s influence in East Asia or its size. Translating the names to “middle country” only tells you how China thinks of itself, not how Korea/Japan thinks about China.
      Obv not denying that China was a significant cultural impact, but just saying that the Korean/Japanese names for China have nothing to do with it.
      • What do you think about “translating the names to “middle country” only tells you how China thinks of itself, not how Korea/Japan thinks about China?
      • How do Koreans translate America / The United States?
        • Why do Koreans translate America that way?
        • What do you think about the translation?

Reddit: In your opinion and practice, what are the best method (choose no more than two) to never forget what you’ve learned? (See post for interesting methods)

  • Yahoo (via HuffPost): Julia Louis-Dreyfus Is Annoyed That Women Do This 1 Common Thing Way Too Much
    • What do you think women do way too much?
    • “The subject came up when Evans asked the Emmy winner the one “piece of wisdom” she’s embraced from her new podcast “Wiser Than Me,” in which she interviews older women including Jane Fonda, author Amy Tan and Diane von Furstenberg about how to live a meaningful life.”
  • Chosun Ilbo: Employers Still Ask Intrusive Questions in Interviews
  • Labor laws prohibit employers from asking jobseekers discriminatory questions about things like their height, marital status, assets and professions of family members, but many still do.”
  • “One jobseeker downloaded an application form for a software developer in Seoul last September and found that he had to write down his height, weight, blood type and religion, which seemed to be beside the point.

    A nurse recently sat down for a job interview in a hospital and was asked by the employer what her parents do for a living, where she lives, what her husband does for a living and how much he earns. Interviewed in another hospital, she was asked if she lives in her own house or is renting. None of those questions were relevant to her job, but there are no regulations barring them.

    Gender discrimination also persists in job ads. The ministry checked 14,000 ads on employment portals since September 2022 and found that 5.8 percent contained discriminatory terms, such as “looking for men 172 cm or taller who are easy on the eye” or “we favor women.”
    1. Which of these questions have you been asked?
    2. Which have you asked in hiring others?
    3. What questions do you think are fair to ask?
    4. What questions do you think are unfair but others might think fair to ask?

April 23 2024 (Tuesday, 12:50 p.m.)

  • Ecclesiastes
  • keeping up with the Joneses
  • bachelor kimchi
  • (idiom) not at all
  • Review (Apr 16)
    • “a foot in the door technique” vs. boiling frog
    • memorial / memorializing
    • conspiracy theory
    • introvert vs. extrovert / optimist vs pessimist (a glass is half full vs a glass is half empty person)
  • Kyunghan Shinmun: Buddhism becomes trendy among people in their 20s and 30s
    • (First line) “This too shall pass. This too shall pass. If you overcome suffering, you will live in paradise!”
    • There is also an interpretation that the Buddhist fair wins the sympathy from people in that it goes beyond simple fun culture and comforts modern people who are under a lot of stress. “I was under huge stress, but I remember a monk at one of the talk shows at the fair saying, ‘Happiness comes with unhappiness, and unhappiness comes with happiness,’” said Ms. Lee (28), an office worker. “The words ‘this too shall pass’ helped me to stop worrying and comfort myself.”
    • (last line) Kim Heon-sik, a cultural critic, said, “The younger generation is enjoying Buddhism for its healing qualities, noting that it frees them from obsession and meritocracy that are the mainstays of modern life.”
  • [Graphic News] Four out of 10 households say their children don’t eat kimchi
    • “The ratio of children that do not eat kimchi has been rising gradually, from 32.3 percent in 2020 to 37.2 percent in 2021, and now 40.9 percent.

      Surprisingly, 15.3 percent of households answered they do not eat kimchi at all, and only 23.1 percent answered everyone eats kimchi.”

April 16, 2024 (Tuesday, 12:50 p.m.)

  • Review (Apr 9):
    • introvert vs. extrovert
      • vert (L.) : turn, change
      • introvert – “turn” inward
      • extrovert – “turn” outward
  • optimist vs pessimist
  • morning person vs night person
  • “a foot in the door technique” vs. boiling frog
  • memorial / memorializing
  • conspiracy theory
  • introvert vs. extrovert / optimist vs pessimist (a glass is half full vs a glass is half empty person)

April 9, 2024 (Tuesday, 12:50 p.m.)

(London Ground Class)

How was Easter?
How was moving day?
Did you go somewhere special to see the cherry blossoms?
(I think that the cherry blossoms are in full bloom for such a short time makes the time of season and for appreciating them all the more special, kind of a metaphor for life itself. Do you think that’s the reason cut flowers, not plants, are poetic?)

  • Brave, Not Perfect by Reshma Saujani (pdf)
    • Audible Blurb (link)

Reddit r/askWomen: What’s the biggest ego boost you’ve ever received?

  • introvert vs. extrovert
    • vert (L.) : turn, change
    • introvert – “turn” inward
    • extrovert – “turn” outward
  • optimist vs pessimist
  • morning person vs night person

April 2, 2024 (No class)

No class – moving day

March 26, 2024 (Tuesday, 12:50 p.m.)

  • Review (Mar 19)
    • Palm Sunday – The Sunday before Easter Sunday, the start of passion week / Holy week (성지 주일)
    • Maundy Thursday – “The Last Supper” (성 목요일 – “최후의 만찬”)
    • Good Friday – the day of the Crucifixion, three days before Easter (성금요일)
    • Holy Saturday (성 토요일)
    • Easter Sunday (부활절 일요일)
    • a sense of adventure
    • a sense of contribution
    • academia – the environment or community concerned with the pursuit of research, education, and scholarship: “She spent his working life in academia.”

      Our word “academy” comes from Plato’s school, known as The Academy in English. The Greek word Akademeia was for the name of the park or grove (of trees) outside of ancient Athens where Plato taught his students. Just as schools and parks today are often named after famous persons, the Akademeia had been named in honor of a Greek hero, Akademos.
    • significant other (S.O., SO) – the other person in the adult/physical/romantic relationship/partnership
    • TBH – abbr., to be honest

“The Old Testament presages (foreshadows) the New Testament, and the New Testament fulfills the Old Testament.”

Holy Week always coincides with Passover.

  • What do you know about Moses and the story of Moses?
  • How did the Israelites end up in Egypt?
    • Where is this told in the Bible?
  • How did Moses end up in the House of Pharaoh?
    • What was Pharaoh’s edict?
    • What is this similar to in the New Testament?
  • How long were the Israelites in Egypt?
  • What is Passover?
    • How does Death passover some houses?
    • What is this similar to in the New Testament?
  • Reddit – Eli5: Why, if at all, does it seem like the years go quicker as you get older?
    • How do you perceive the passage of time?
    • Have you noticed that the years go quicker as you get older?
    • I have some ideas:
      1. Logarithms (로그)
      2. New experiences make for longer impressions.
        I’ve noticed that when I’m on vacation that the first day in a new place often feels like a week. I think that time passes slower because I’m noticing more new things. When you are born and very young, everything is new, and as you get older you see fewer new things because you’ve seen so much before.
    • What do you think?

March 19, 2024 (Tuesday, 11:30 a.m.)

  • Review:
    • It’s out of my hand(s)
    • (Have someone) in the palm of (one’s) hand
    • I wash my hands of it (a situation)
      from Pontius Pilate
    • mani – Latin prefix meaning “hand”
      • manage, manager, manufacture, manipulate,
  • Reddit r/AskWomen – Women of Reddit, what is your main source of stress in life?
    • “Money”
      • “I hate that this is the first response as it immediately reminded me that money is also my biggest stressor.”
    • “1) Myself
      2) How much time I have left in a day after working.”
      • “Are you me?”
    • “The thought of working for the rest of my life.”
    • “Money and lack of sleep”
    • “Money and finding a purpose”
    • “Starts with M has an E ends with N.”
    • “Money and search for purpose”
    • “My weight. I do love myself but I don’t like what I see in the mirror.”
    • “Money. I could fix everything wrong with my life right now with the right amount of cash.”
    • “Lack of money”
    • “I work in academia and I’m really struggling with not taking feedback personally. So much of my job is rejections, evaluations, self improvement. And so much of it is negative.”
    • “My health, work, & the state of world affairs I guess. (In that order)”
    • “My significant other is even worse with money than I am.”
    • “Everything tbh. Everything.”

March 12, 2024 (Tuesday, 11:30 a.m.)

  • Review:
    • (idiom) out of hand
  • r/AskWomenOver30• Does anyone else feel like they’ve gotten more attractive as they’ve gotten older?
    I’m 46. I hear so much rhetoric about women becoming invisible after 40. I definitely don’t feel invisible, though. I get a lot of looks still from men of all ages. And honestly, I’m pretty sure that overall I’m the most attractive I’ve ever been, at least in my own eyes. Maybe part of that has to do with dropping some toxic people from my life who used to tear me down, idk. Does anyone else feel like things just keep getting better for them instead of worse?
    • ThinkMathematician7
      • I looked at the Ask Old People subreddit the other day out of curiosity and searched for posts about what ages they felt most attractive. From what I saw at least, it seemed that the consensus from a lot of women was actually 35-45 which I found surprising just given everything we hear! But I found that very validating!
    • Buddha_Zone
      • I did. I got waaaay more attention from men in my 40’s than in my 20’s. That’s why when I read those things on Reddit where men say that nobody is going to want a woman over 40 I ROFLMAO.
    • Small_Poppy_Seed
      • I think each age had its charm. I’m definitely appreciating myself during this phase. I looked livelier younger, but I love the calmer demeanor I carry now. Even the little lines and grayish hairs sprouting are adding character. I’m still fit and I like my petite form. I think my smile aged well too and my dimples are more prominent. I don’t think heavy makeup looks amazing on me as it used to, but I’m having a great time learning how to enhance my features with little makeup and it make me feel good. It feels so weird (if not a little uncomfortable) talking like this about myself. But here’s to self-love and taking a few moments to make us feel good about ourselves!
    • haleyfoofou
      • I’d argue that I’m definitely not actually more attractive, but I feel more attractive.

March 5, 2024 (Tuesday, 11:45 a.m.)

How was Singapore?
What did you do?
What were your impressions of Singapore?

𝄞 ♯𝅘𝅥𝅮 It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year 𝅘𝅥𝅮 ♫

  • (Naver News) “결혼비용 7200만원, 다들 이래요?” 신랑 질문에… 온라인 갑론을박What do you think, is 7200만 (how do we say this number in English?) won too much, too little, or about right?
    • “이를 본 네티즌들 사이에서도 블라인드 네티즌들과 비슷한 의견이 엇갈려 나온 가운데, “출산율 0.6명도 높아보인다”는 식의 지적도 눈에 띄었다. 결혼비용이 지나치게 비싸다 보니 결혼과 출산을 꺼릴 수 밖에 없다는 의미다.”
      How would you translate the above?
      Do you think this is true or this (idiom) has some truth to it?
    • 결혼정보회사 가연이 최근 결혼을 한 기혼남녀 1000명(결혼 5년 차 이하)을 대상으로 설문 조사한 결과를 보면 결혼 비용 평균은 3억474만원으로 조사됐다.

      총비용 중 신혼집 마련이 2억4176만원으로 가장 큰 비중(79%)을 차지했으며, 신혼집 마련 비용을 뺀 결혼 준비비용은 6298만원이었다.

      혼수 지출은 평균 2615만원으로 집계됐으며 예단은 566만원, 예물은 530만원, 스드메는 평균 479만원이라고 응답했다. 예식장 비용은 0원부터(회사·학교 지원 예식장) 1억원 이상(호텔 예식장)까지 답변의 폭이 넓어 평균 990만원으로 집계됐다.
      Would these expenses [stop | have stopped] you from getting married?
      Are there alternatives or solutions?

February 27, 2024 (Tuesday, No Class)

No class – Teachers in Singapore

February 20, 2024 (Tuesday, 11:00 a.m.)

  • Review
    • denotation vs. connotation
      • denotation – the dictionary definition of a word
      • connotation – the way a word feels – ajumma, ahjussi
    • come (came) vs. go (went)
      • come and go are relative to the speaker:
        “come here and then go there”
        Do you want to come with me or go with your mother?
        Where are you going, and when are you coming home?
      • (bonus reminder) bring vs. take
        • bring and take are relative to the speaker:
          “bring it to me and then take it to him”
    • Hallmark holiday – a manufactured, usually for commercial purposes, holiday
    • associate(d) with
    • assassinate(d)
    • nature vs. nurture – the great debate
      Is intelligence due to nature, are people born smart, or nurture, are people more intelligent because of their environment?
    • socialization and environment
  • Korea Times: Over 4 in 10 young people say success unattainable without parents’ support: poll
    • “Only 23 percent said success is attainable even without parental support, while 34.4 percent said they were neutral on the issue.”
      neutral on the issue –
    • “Asked whether parents should provide financial or other forms of support for their children, 35.2 percent said they should, compared with 21.6 percent who said it is not necessary.”
      Do you think that parents should provide financial or other forms of support for their children?
      What constitutes (makes up) “other forms of support”?
    • “When asked whether their social attainment is largely attributable to their parents’ support, nearly 55 percent agreed. But 52.4 percent said individual efforts are more important than such help when it comes to success, with only 15 percent disagreeing.

      “The results suggest that young people value hard work (to a certain extent), but they think it may not be enough to achieve success in our society,” the researchers said.
      Do you agree?
      Why might young people think that hard work isn’t enough?
    • Here’s my question: How do you think people who thought of themselves as successful and people who thought of themselves as unsuccessful answered?

February 13, 2024 (Tuesday, 11:15 a.m.)

♥♥♥ Thank you! ♥♥♥

I’ll always appreciate your thoughtfulness and imagination.

  • Happy Seollal!
    • Where did you go? What did you do?
    • Do you long for the Seollals of your youth?
    • How has Seollal changed?
    • When you were young(er), did you suffer a post Seollal letdown?
      …I asked my wife, and she [said | told me] ….
    • Which of these photos most closely aligns with your Seollal memories?
  • Review
    • conscious
      • unconscious
      • subconscious
    • x
    • It’s that special time of year again. 
      Do you have Valentine’s Day plans?
      Do you want to have Valentine’s Day plans?
    • Do you know how Valentine’s Day is celebrated in America?
    • How is Valentine’s Day celebrated in Korea?
      How did that happen?
  • (continued) askReddit: What is a struggle men have that women will never understand?
  • Yahoo Life: Men Reveal 7 Things Women Will Never Understand About Masculinity
    • masculinity – qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of men or boys.
      • What do you associate with masculinity?
      • What do you associate with femininity?
      • Do you think that if men exhibit (show, act, demonstrate) some of the qualities that you associated with femininity that the men are acting feminine?
      • Do you think that if women exhibit (show, act, demonstrate) some of the qualities that you associated with masculinity that the women are acting masculine?

February 6, 2024 (Tuesday, 11:15 a.m.)

January 30, 2024 (Tuesday, 11:00 a.m.)

Live from Thailand!

  • .hwp – Hangeul Word Processor
    • Reminder: .hwp files are unopenable (un / open / able) outside of Korea
  • Who does your travel planning?
    • How about for your family?
  • How are you surviving the winter?
  • Do you feel that this winter is colder than, the same as, or milder than usual?

January 23, 2024 (Tuesday, 11:00 a.m.)

  • Review
    • potluck – What would you bring to a potluck?
    • meet cute
    • niche / market niche
    • conventional / unconventional
    • queasy
    • kook – she’a a kook
    • hurdles (literal and figurative)
    • (idiom) tag along
    • inspire / inspiration
      • root spire: aspire / aspiration, inspire / inspiration, perspire / perspiration, expire / expiration, transpire, spirit, spiritual
  • CNN Health – Weight gain in children and adults linked to 100% fruit juice, study says
    Drinking a glass or more of 100% fruit juice each day was linked to a small increase in weight in children and adults, according to a new analysis of prior studies.
    “One fundamental problem with juice is quantity; consuming fruit this way makes it so easy to overdose,” said coauthor and leading nutrition researcher Dr. Walter Willett, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
    “For example, how often do we eat three oranges? Yet, a glass of OJ is about three oranges that can be consumed in a minute or two, and we can go back and have another, and that will add many calories and lead to a spike in blood glucose,” Willett said in an email. 
    Over time, too much sugar in the blood can lead to insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, heart disease, obesity and other chronic conditions, experts say.
    • How much juice do you drink?
    • What is the difference between orange juice and orange drink?
    • How much sugary drinks do you and your family drink?

January 23, 2024 (Tuesday, 11:00 a.m.)

  • Review
    • potluck
  • Korea Herald: She was his homeroom teacher, now they share a life together
    From student and teacher to husband and wife, one couple shares unconventional love story to spread value of true love in society
    • Have you ever had a crush on one of your teachers?
      – OR –
      Did you ever have a crush on one of your teachers?
      • What’s the difference?
    • Is this a “meet cute” love story or ewww?

January 16, 2024 (Tuesday, 11:00 a.m.)

  • Review:
    • Well-known English adages/idioms – Some English idioms are so well-known that we need (and usually) only say half:
      • It’s all fun and games….
      • When in Rome….
      • The early bird….
        • (Sunny: How does that work out for the early worm?)
      • …yes, but the second mouse….
      • A bird in the hand….
      • Don’t count your chickens….
      • Birds of a feather….
      • A fool and his money are soon parted
      • A friend in need (is a friend indeed)
      • A penny saved is a penny earned
      • Finders keepers (losers weepers)
        • “Possession is nine-tenths of the law”
      • Give a man a fish (and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime)
      • …said the pot to the kettle
        • “Pot to kettle… pot to kettle… come in kettle”
    • Symmetric (sym + meter + ic)
  • “Birds of a feather flock together.”—From Aeseop’s Fable “The Farmer and the Stork”
    • When a flock of cranes descended on a farmer’s newly seeded field, he cast a net with the intention of trapping and killing them all. In the process, the farmer gathered a single stork along with the cranes, who naturally pleaded for his life, citing his noble character and pointing out that his plumage was different from his cohorts. The farmer, however, was not moved and, since the stork had seen fit to take up with the scoundrel cranes, he did him in with the other birds all the same.
  • Chosun Ilbo: What Are the Most Popular Car Colors?
    • What color is your car?
    • Why did your choose that color for your car?
    • Which car colors would you never buy or recommend against buying?
  • (cont.) Buzzfeed (via Yahoo): If You’re Bored Of The Same Old, Here Are 101 Fun Things To Try
  • (idiom) “same old, same old”
  • (idiom) “stuck in a rut”
  • (idiom) “go down a rabbit hole”
  • catacombs – martyr
  • obsessed , obsession
    44.Camp in your backyard.
    45.Get into origami.
    46.Organize your pantry.
    50.Spend seven minutes doing this workout.
    -It’s the Scientific 7-Minute Workout, but feel free to try any home workout you want.
    51.Throw a potluck dinner for all your friends or neighbors.
    -potluck – this is an interesting American social engagement. “A potluck is a communal gathering where each guest or group contributes a different, often homemade, dish of food to be shared.”
    — Do Koreans have anything similar?
    – -Does this sound like something that you might want to try?
    52.Explore a new place you’ve never been to in your town.
    -Do you have any recommendations?
    55.Treat yourself to a little retail therapy.
    (LOL) retail therapy
    56.Pack your own picnic.
    58.Rearrange your bedroom furniture.
    -When was the last time you rearranged your furniture?
    60.Get into list-making.
    65.Organize your closet.
    66.Enjoy a night of stargazing.
    -Can you identify any stars or constellations?
    -Can you identify any planets?
    67.Watch the sunset or sunrise.
    -Which do you find more amazing, sunrises or sunsets?
    -Which, sunrises or sunsets, do you find more amazing?
    -Which, a sunrise or a sunset, do you find more amazing?
    68.Start a scrapbook.
    71.Challenge yourself to finish a (jigsaw) puzzle.
    72.Show off your creative side by starting a journal.
    73.Or begin writing a book!
    75.Watch a live cam feed from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
    78.Learn a musical instrument.
    79.Learn a new dance routine.
    80.Discover your love language.
    -Do you know our love language?
    “Words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, and physical touch. These are all different ways of making people feel loved, and the ones that are effective vary from person to person. Understanding what works best for you and your partner and how you differ can be a powerful way of deepening your relationship. Also, it’s fun to take personality quizzes!”
    84.Read inspiring, funny, moving, and powerful letters from interesting people.
    Letters of Note is an endless trove of wonderful, fascinating, and historically important letters. Read a few of these to feel inspired.
    85.Try out a new hair color.
    87.Challenge yourself to try a new recipe.
    (…and bring it to a potluck!)
    88.Plan your next trip.
    -Do you plan your trips? (I know, I know)
    -So, do you plan your family trips?
    89.Figure out your birthday song.
    –This site will tell you what song was number one the day you were born! Don’t you want to listen to the song that your parents were jamming out to when you first emerged into the world?
    95.Go thrifting around town.
    100.Learn how to play chess.
    101.Finally, plan any future projects you’ve been excited to work on.
    -Do you have any future projects you’ve been excited to work on?

January 9, 2024 (Tuesday, 11:00 a.m.)

  • Review
    • rubrik v criterion (pl. criteria)
    • abortion; abort (v. – to stop a process)
    • cult
    • sermon vs lecture
    • aesthetic
  • Well-known English adages/idioms – Some English idioms are so well-known that we need (and usually) only say half:
    • It’s all fun and games….
    • When in Rome….
    • The early bird….
      • (How does that work out for the early worm?)
    • …yes, but the second mouse….
    • A bird in the hand….
    • Don’t count your chickens….
    • Birds of a feather….
    • A fool and his money are soon parted
    • A friend in need (is a friend indeed)
    • A penny saved is a penny earned
    • Finders keepers (losers weepers)
    • Give a man a fish (and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime)

January 2, 2024 (Tuesday, 12:30 a.m.)

  • Happy New Year! 
    • What did you do New Year’s Eve?
    • What did you do New Year’s Day?
      • Do you have any New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day traditions?
      • Do you watch the sunrise?
      • Do you go to public baths?
  • Woman & Home (via Yahoo Life): 20 New Year’s resolution ideas that could make a real difference to your life
    • New Year’s resolution ideas
      1. Spend more time alone
      2. Do daily yoga
      3. Run a 5k
      4. Try a new form of exercise
      5. Consume more fibre
      6. Consume less caffeine
      7. Establish healthier boundaries
      8. Stretch before you go to sleep every night
      9. Eat the rainbow
      10. Limiting technology to certain hours of the day
        • (What do you notice about the way this resolution is worded?)
      11. Find a new challenge
      12. Drink less alcohol
      13. Crack that five-a-day
      14. Be more mindful
      15. Spend time outdoors
      16. Be more sociable
      17. Start meditating
      18. Get more steps in every day
      19. Become more organised
      20. Relax with writing
    • What makes a good New Year’s resolution?
      • “They can be anything you want them to be,” explains Jade Thomas, psychotherapist and founder of Luxe Psychology Practice. “But a good place to start is asking yourself where you want to be in a year. How do you want to feel? What do you want to achieve? Sometimes it can be helpful to separate resolutions into categories – such as personal, professional, financial and health – as this can give you clarity on the areas you wish to improve in your life.”

        The main thing is that your goal is achievable. “It is great that you want to make big, positive changes but ensure that it’s possible within the next 365 days,” notes Thomas. “Because when we ‘fail’ at sticking to resolutions, it simply reduces our confidence and motivation to continue.” To be realistic, she suggests focusing on between one and three New Year’s resolution ideas for the year.

        Whatever you choose, it needs to be meaningful with a positive impact on your life. “This can include things like quitting smoking,” says psychologist Dr Alison McClymont. “But you need to think more specifically – how exactly has smoking been holding you back? How will giving up will bring enjoyment when you achieve it? Generic goals will invariably disappear into the intangible.”

        Dr McClymont continues: “The key is to make it personal. Write down a mind map of how this will change your life – perhaps your family, your health and maybe even your career. Explore every possible avenue of improvement and consider what it means, rather than just ‘this is a goal I should have’. Summarise this statement into a simple sentence: ‘I want to quit smoking for….”
      • Tips for sticking to your resolutions
        • Prepare in advance
        • Consider your motivation
        • Keep goals forefront
        • Track your progress
        • Ease off self-pressure
        • Give it time
        • Change your mind

December 26, 2023 (Tuesday, 11:00 a.m.)

  • Review
    • cuisine absurd, ridiculous
    • I can’t unsee it

      (… it’s funny ’cause it’s true)
    • desperate, desperately, desperation
    • Google Docs
  • (POST) The Honeymooners – ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
    & O. Henry – The Gift of the Magi
  • The Honeymooners – ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
    • YouTube video (link) (NOTE: watch with English subtitles, which I wrote)

A The Twilight Zone episode The Changing of the Guard, which is one of my favorites, has a similar thematic concept, redemption at Christmas, to that of The Gift of the Magi and a similar thematic statement, reflection on one’s life and contributions to life, to that of One for the Angels.

  • Homework: It’s A Wonderful Life
    • climax
  • contrast
    • contrast the world before George gets his wish with the world after
      • What happens to each of the characters? For example, what is Mary’s job?
  • What is the theme of It’s a Wonderful Life?
  • What did you think of the ending?
    • Did something supernatural really happen?
    • What book did Clarence leave for George?
      • Does The Adventures of Tom Sawyer have meaning or is it just a book?
  • Homage, parody, spoof
    • Humor is intimate, and people make fun of things they love
    • Did you notice that It’s a Wonderful Life has some unexplained plot holes?
      • SNL: It’s a Wonderful Life – The Lost Ending
      • Amderican sitcom – Married With Children
        • It’s A Bundyful Life! | Married With Children (0pening)
        • It’s A Bundyful Life! | Married With Children (ending)
  • It’s New Year’s Resolutions Time! 🎺
    • What small thing/activity/improvement do you want to do for yourself in 2024?
    • How do you make good resolutions? What are the criteria?
      • What do you think is the most important criteria?
    • When it comes to goal setting, there are two schools of thought:
      1. Set big goals
      2. Set small goals
    • Which do you think is better?
    • What are your dos and don’ts for goal setting?

December 19, 2023 (Tuesday, 11:00 a.m.)

  • Review
    • Optimist vs pessimist
    • It’s funny because it’s true
    • desperate, desperately, desperation
    • Google Docs
  • Our Google Docs Tutorial – (POST) Creating a (Shareable) Google Doc
    • Google Docs is a suite of online apps (applications) that allow users to collaborate in real time.
      • collaborate (col + labor + ate)
      • real time – concurrency (con + cur: recur, occur, incur)
    • TunTun Test Doc (link)
  • Reddit /r Korea: Korean cuisine ranked as the ???? best in the world. Do you agree?
  • Where do you think Korean cuisine ranked in the world’s survey? 
  • Which country’s cuisine do you think topped the survey?
    • What does topped mean? What part of speech is topped?
  • Which country’s cuisine do you think is best?
  • Which country’s cuisine do you think is overrated?
  • Which country’s cuisine do you think is underrated?
Stroll into a populous street or a shopping complex in Seoul, and chances are there will be a lost elderly person eagerly looking for a sign written in hangul, the Korean alphabet.
 
Such chance increases as closer as one gets to the "hip" areas of the city where replacing hangul with English has become chic.
 
“May I ask you for directions?” a 69-year-old surnamed Bang asked the JoongAng Ilbo reporter in a lobby of a building in Apgujeong, southern Seoul, recently. He was looking for a restaurant on the basement floor of the building.

Bang said he was a Gangnam District native who had lived in the area for more than 40 years but was completely lost that day because there were no signs written in hangul.
 
“Hangul is even found in public institutions abroad — it’s absurd how Korea treats its people,” said the 69-year-old.
 
He claimed his acquaintances, including professors and corporate executives, sometimes have a hard time ordering food because the menu is all written in English.
 
Most signs in the building were written in English when the JoongAng Ilbo revisited the venue and browsed through the area on Sept. 18.
 
A floor guide sign for the first basement floor was written “Retail,” presumably indicating a retail shopping area on the floor. Next to “Retail” was a symbol of a subway train, hinting the basement floor connects to Apgujeong Station in subway line No. 3.
 
The sign also read “Drinking & Dining,” “Event Hall,” “Fitness” and “Parking.”

Outside the building was a different sign showing directions to restaurants “Buvette” and “Texas de Brazil,” only in English.
 
Another restaurant nearby had its main menu written in English. The only obvious hangul notice said, “Use a spoon and fork instead of chopsticks to enjoy the food with proper formality.”
 
The hangul phase out presumably began in the “hip” areas of Seoul, such as Gangnam District in southern Seoul, Seongsu-dong in eastern Seoul and Yeonnam-dong in western Seoul, where cafes and restaurants popular on social media line the streets.
 
“Indiscriminate English signs may have sprouted from a misleading perception that sees foreign languages are ‘more in style’ than hangul,” said Kwon Jae-il, president of the Korean Language Society.
 
“Signs on first and second floors of a building should be in hangul, even if it requires a change in related laws.”
 
The current law on outdoor advertisements requires signs bigger than 5 square meters (53.8 square feet) or located above the third floor to be written in hangul. An enforcement fine under 5 million won ($3,700) is imposed on businesses.  
 
A popular U.K.-themed cafe near the Apgujeong building wrote “Open 7 days” for its business hours and “Hiring” for employee recruiting. The job requirements on the notice were all in English.
 
Out of eight other cafes in the same alley, seven put up English-only signs. Of the 62 retail shops located on the ground floor around the vicinity, only 18 stores had hangul-only signs.
 
“Some restaurants [in Korea] replace ‘mixed rice’ with ‘pilaf,’ a more commonly-used term in Europe,” said Seo Hyun-jung, senior researcher at Sejong Institute of Korean Language and Culture.

At another popular cafe in Bundang, Gyeonggi, misugaru — a traditional Korean beverage made from multiple powdered grains — was listed merely as “MSGR” on the menu, with no hangul details provided.  
 
The coffee shop gave out number cards with a “Please wait” English notice to customers who made orders.
 
“It seems like a silent gesture to fend off people who cannot read English well — similar to the ‘No Kids’ zone,” said a 43-year-old customer.
 
The staff at the cafe said they wrote notices in English because many foreigners lived in the vicinity and cramming both English and hangul in a limited space may confuse customers.
 
“Please consider it as a marketing move that pinpoints target customers and differentiates us from other cafes,” they said.
 
But some argue forcing people to use hangul may harm individuality.
 
“Cafe owners are running their business with their own brand identity, focusing on a specific consumer group,” said a 38-year-old surnamed Choo. “Such originality needs to be respected.”

December 12, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:30 a.m. – Anseong Office)

  • Review
    • FOMO
  • How much truth to this?
    This is spoken English. What do you notice?
    How would you say this in written, or formal, English?
    • Is there truth in it?
    • Is it funny? Is it a little painful?
    • Is it funny because it’s true?

December 5, 2023 (Tuesday, 11:00 a.m.)

  • Review
    • (idiom) like a kid in a candy store
      • Audible is having its huge sitewide sale, and I feel like a kid in a candy store
    • underdog
    • careless vs. cautious (careful)

      -less (without), -ful (full of)
      Do you know any words with -less AND -ful that make antonyms?
      Do you know any that don’t have an antonym pair?
    • Times when you know the most about dinosaurs:
    • Every high school movie trope:

      …and Dana when she moved to Anseong and a week later.
      • Do you know any other tropes?
  • Reddit r/AskReddit : What’s a clear sign that you’re getting older?
    • Americano_Joe: The first sign of getting older is when you no longer get excited that it’s snowing or going to snow and only think about the cold and having to drive in it.
    • level 2
    • BigGrayBeast: That sexy actress about 5 years older than you in your favorite teen comedy starts playing moms, then Grandmas, dies
    • You watch Celebrity editions of game shows and have no idea who any of them are 
    • Staying at home on Saturday nights cause I want my peace
      • FOMO literally no longer exists for me
        • FOMO – Do you sometimes have FOMO?
    • When you are filling out and online form and have to scroll through a bunch of years to get to your specific year.
    • When you fall down by accident and people rush to help you rather than laughing at you..
    • Your body cracks like a glow-stick, but you don’t glow.
    • My ankles sound like Rice Krispies for about 6 or 7 steps every time I get out of bed
      • This is great writing. Why? What makes this great writing?

November 28, 2023 (Tuesday, 11:00 a.m.)

  • Review:
    • NSFW internet tag –
    • grit (n), gritty (adj.)
      • literally –
        a : SAND, GRAVEL
        b : a hard sharp granule (as of sand)
      • figuratively – (used as a character trait) : firmness of mind or spirit : unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger
      • grit (verb) : to cause (one’s teeth) to grind or grate – gritted his teeth and faced the challenge
        • guts –
        • resilience –
        • initiative –
        • tenacity –
    • acronyms and backronyms
      • acronym
      • backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase.
  • (idiom) like a kid in a candy store
    • Audible is having its huge sitewide sale, and I feel like a kid in a candy store
  • What is something you’ve done once and never want to do again? (한 번 하고 다시는 하고 싶지 않은 일은 무엇입니까?) PREP
  • Reddit: Latest population rankings by cities in Korea
    • I think everyone knows #1, #2, and #3. Do you know the top-10?
    • Which cities do you think are underrated in terms of quality of life as places to live?
    • If money and work were not a factor, which city would you want to live in for quality of life?
    • Which city would you not want to live in?

November 21, 2023 (Tuesday, 11:30 a.m.)

How was your week and weekend?
Any surprises?

  • Review
    • (idiom) all the rage
      • rage – Let the storm rage on
    • color palette, hue, tint
    • bliss – supreme happiness; utter joy or contentment, as in wedded bliss.
      blissful – a blissful moment
      • Have you ever experienced bliss?
  • Do you like buffet restaurants?

November 14, 2023 (Tuesday, 11:10 a.m.)

  • Review
    • entice
    • bogged down
      • Don’t get bogged down in the small details.
    • not uncommonly
      • “not uncommonly” does NOT mean commonly
      • Can you think of things you do, places you go, or things you see not uncommonly?
    • not infrequently
      • “not infrequently” does NOT mean frequently
      • Can you think of things you do, places you go, or things you see not infrequently?
    • “not atypically”
      • What good writing and speaking element did we cover last week? Specificity. Good writing and speaking is specific.
  • Today’s writing and speaking tip – Avoid adverbs.
    (Review: Do you remember last week’s writing and speaking tip?)
    • Adverbs weaken writing.
    • Especially avoid intensifier adverbs such as very, really, pretty (as in, it’s pretty hot today)
    • “Today, I want to tell you about Chuncheon, a place I really like.”
  • Do you know any songs with your Korean name as the title of or in the lyrics?
  • Do you know any songs with your English name as the title of or in the lyrics?
    • Jenny
      • “867-5309” (Jenny) by Tommy Tutone. This was a huge hit in 1981, and IDK that anyone for a long time who said “My name is Jenny” didn’t here someone sing “867-5309 “
    • Amy
      • “Amie” by Pure Prairie League- Rock historian John Einarson, citing the song’s “lilting harmonies and subtle acoustic playing,” called it “a classic of the country rock genre.”
    • Carrie
    • Sunny
      • “Sunny” is a soul jazz standard written by Bobby Hebb in 1963 and one of the most performed and recorded popular songs, with hundreds of versions released. BMI rates “Sunny” No. 25 in its “Top 100 songs of the century”
    • Dana
    • Evelyn

November 7, 2023 (Tuesday, 1:00 p.m.)

  • Sophie’s interview
    • Did you or would you want to go to a boarding school?
    • Would you want to send your child to a boarding school?
    • What do you think are the upsides and downsides of going to or sending your child to a boarding school?
  • Do your students have a presentation contest coming up?
    • coming up
    • (literally) Are you coming up?
    • (idiom) What’s coming up?
    • What would you say / present about your hometown to entice someone to visit?
      • What do you think entice means?
  • Today’s tip for how to write / speak better: in general good writing / speaking puts pictures in the audience’s, the writer’s readers’ or the speaker’s listeners’, minds.
    • What did you do today?
      • I came home and ate something.
      • I came home from school, watched a little TV, and ate and drank something.
      • I came home from school, watched a little TV, ate snacks, and drank something.
      • I came home from school, watched a little TV, ate snacks, and drank some juice.
      • I came home from school, watched a little TV, ate snacks, and drank some orange juice.
      • I came home from school, watched a little TV, ate snacks, and drank a few cups of orange juice.
      • I came home from school, watched a little TV, ate snacks, and drank two cups of orange juice.
      • I came home from school, watched a little TV, ate snacks, and drank two cups of homestyle pulpy orange juice.
      • I came home from school, watched a little TV, ate some cookies, and drank two cups of homestyle pulpy orange juice.
      • I came home from school, watched a little TV, ate some Choco Pies , and drank two cups of homestyle pulpy orange juice.
      • I came home from school, watched a little TV, ate some green tea flavored Choco Pies , and drank two cups of homestyle pulpy orange juice.
      • I came home from school, watched a little TV, ate three green tea flavored Choco Pies , and drank two cups of homestyle pulpy orange juice.
      • I came home from school, watched a little TV, ate three green tea flavored Choco Pies , and drank two cups of homestyle pulpy orange juice.
      • I came home from school, watched TV for an hour, ate three green tea flavored Choco Pies , and drank two cups of homestyle pulpy orange juice.
      • I came home from school, watched Pororo for an hour, ate three green tea flavored Choco Pies , and drank two cups of homestyle pulpy orange juice.
      • I came home from school, watched Pororo on Netflix for an hour, ate three green tea flavored Choco Pies , and drank two cups of homestyle pulpy orange juice.
      • I came home from school, watched my favorite program, Pororo, on Netflix for an hour, ate three green tea flavored Choco Pies , and drank two cups of homestyle pulpy orange juice.
      • I came home from my afterschool program, watched my favorite program, Pororo, on Netflix for an hour, ate three green tea flavored Choco Pies , and drank two cups of homestyle pulpy orange juice.
      • I came home from my afterschool class, watched my favorite program, Pororo, on Netflix for an hour, ate three green tea flavored Choco Pies , and drank two cups of homestyle pulpy orange juice.
      • I came home from my afterschool English class, watched my favorite program, Pororo, on Netflix for an hour, ate three green tea flavored Choco Pies , and drank two cups of homestyle pulpy orange juice.
      • I came home from my afterschool English speaking and listening class, watched my favorite program, Pororo, on Netflix for an hour, ate three green tea flavored Choco Pies , and drank two cups of homestyle pulpy orange juice.
      • I ran home from my afterschool English speaking and listening class, watched my favorite program, Pororo, on Netflix for an hour, ate three green tea flavored Choco Pies , and drank two cups of homestyle pulpy orange juice.
    • Now compare “I came home and ate something” with “I ran home from my afterschool English speaking and listening class, watched my favorite program, Pororo, on Netflix for an hour, ate three green tea flavored Choco Pies , and drank two cups of homestyle pulpy orange juice.”
      • (idiomatic usage) “compare to” vs. “compare with”
        “Compare to” expresses similarity between two things, often very different, to highlight, their similarities:
        “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s night?”
        ~William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18
      • “Compare with” suggests more of a contrast, that the differences between two things are at least as important as the similarities. If the purpose is to draw attention to the differences between elements that are basically of the same type or category, use compare with:
        “…compare ‘I came home and ate something’ with ‘I ran home from my afterschool English speaking and listening class, watched my favorite program, Pororo, on Netflix for an hour, ate three green tea flavored Choco Pies , and drank two cups of homestyle pulpy orange juice’.”

November 2, 2023 (Thursday, 10 a.m. – online)

  • stamina
  • tolerance
  • life is a marathon not a sprint
  • (idiom) watch out for (someone) you keep them in mind and be mindful of their interests.
    • watch out – means be careful or “heads up” as a warning.
  • Do you remember monthly goals?
    • Do you have a special small goal that you can do everyday for November?
  • Sophie has an interview on Saturday. How do you think she should prepare?

October 24, 2023 (Tuesday, 12:40 p.m.)

  • Review
    • objective vs. subjective
    • subtle
      • Genesis – “The serpent was more subtle than any other beast in the garden.”
      • a subtle hint
      • a not so subtle hint
        • nuance
    • (idiom) “It’s a free country” – free as in political freedoms and individual rights
    • put put their heads in the sand
    • (idiom) “hiding (one’s) head in the sand”
  • Reddit – r/AskWomenOver30 (“A place of mature Redditors”): What’s the most underrated self-care routine for women that pays off big time in the long run?
    • (bijib) Dental hygiene
    • (Avivabitches) Especially flossing.
      • (treat-ya-self) I smile into the shower water when I take a shower as a mini water pik
    • (wilderwoof) My therapist recently taught me about the hierarchy of self care and it really resonates with me. It makes sense that taking a bubble bath can’t help when the issue is further down the pyramid. So the biggest self care is figuring out the underlying issue of what it stressing you out and doing what you can to improve it. Self care is sleep. Self care is boundary setting (my current biggest obstacle). Self care is seeing the doctor about that thing you’ve been putting off.

      Once you’ve got the lower levels worked out, you can start to tackle the higher levels and have it actually help. I never understood it this clearly before. Self care is doing what you can to resolve overarching issues to manage your stress.
      • (Americano_Joe) I had a big LOL thinking of the Hierarchy of Self Care as somehow analogous to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs with the former analogizing “hair, nails, makeup, TV, spa, social media, etc.” to the latter’s “self-actualization”.
    • (RevolutionaryStage67) A hobby that produces a finished product. Baking, woodworking, knitting, gardening, whatever. Use your creativity, create something beautiful and/useful, see your effort creating a real finished product. Does wonders for the brain chemistry.
    • (mindingmybizzie) Unapologetic use of the word “no” early and often.
      • (WgXcQ) I have a moment from “Friends” in my head that I remind myself of frequently.
        Phoebe gets asked to help with something, and her answer is “I wish I could, but I don’t want to”.
        Not wanting to is reason enough to not do something and decline. But it’s surprisingly difficult to stick by that, especially if you’re a people pleaser like me. That sentence has been great for that.

October 17, 2023 (Tuesday, 12:40 p.m.)

Review

Have you been trying the rinsing your mouth experiment?

  • inevitable – an event that is unavoidable or certain to happen.
    • Death and taxes are inevitable, the only certainties in this world.
    • Mondays and winter are inevitable, so I’ve learned to accept them and am now much happier.
  • pretentious – attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed.
    “putting on airs”
    • Are you sometimes pretentious?
    • The antonym, opposite word for, pretentious is modest or humble.
    • Are modesty and humility good qualities?
    • Are modesty and humility always good qualities to have?
    • Can modesty and humility sometimes hurt someone?
    • Anyone else other than an old Paul McCartney, even a young Paul McCartney, would have sounded pretentious: “…Plus, I’m a genius“. Old Paul McCartney was “funny because it’s true”.

  • (idiom) two schools of thought
  • (idiom) game changer
  • computer vs. “compuder”
  • who / whom

October 10, 2023 (Tuesday, 12:40 p.m.)

How was your Chuseok holiday?
What did you do? Where did you go?

Review

Did you try the rinsing your mouth experiment?

  • (idiom) two schools of thought – means that some people think one way is the best way to do, go about doing, or accomplish something while others think something completely different:
    • There are two schools of thought. One wants to control inflation, while the other is more interested in boosting employment.
    • the nature vs. nurture debate
    • Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
    • Should one set small goals or big goals?
  • (idiom) game changer
  • computer vs. “compuder”
  • who / whom
  • My new heroes, inspirations, and role models:
    • On our way up, setting out to hike, Sobaeksan, we met this pleasant and friendly older couple.
    • My kids, particularly my son, lagged behind and dragged his feet all the way up. We reached the peak in three hours, including sporadic and intermittent breaks.
    • At the top, my wife asked me whether I thought grandmother and grandfather would make it to the summit. We stayed at the top for about 35 mins. and took some family photos:
    • On our way down, 300 meters from the peak, guess who(m) we bumped into?

      • who vs whom
        • Which, who vs whom, is correct?
        • Does it matter?
          • A good rule / guideline: Use who. If you are incorrect in using who when ( by the rules of standard written English) whom is correct, no one will notice. If you are incorrect in using whom when who is correct, you will hurt your listeners’ ears ( or readers’ eyes) and seem pretentious.
            • CT’s highest peak: Bear Mountain
              • “At 2316 feet, Bear Mountain is the highest mountain that lies wholly within Connecticut.” However, Bear Mountain’s peak is not the state highpoint. The highest elevation, at 2380 feet, in CT is on the nearby Connecticut-Massachusetts border, on the southern slope of Massachusetts’ Mount Frissell.

October 3, 2023 (No Class)

Chuseok Extended Holiday / National Foundation Day

September 26, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • Has Chuseok changed since you were a child?
  • Are there any Chuseok or family traditions that you wish that Koreans still do today that they used to do in the past?
  • What are your best Chuseok memories?
  • Do you / did you do jesa?
  • Are there any Chuseok or family traditions that you wish that Koreans would no longer have to do?
  • Are there any Chuseok or family traditions that you or Koreans do today that are now better?
  • What are your best Chuseok memories?

September 19, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • (review) come vs go
    • come and go are in relation to the speaker: “do you want to come home with me or go home with mommy?”
    • bring vs take are in relation to the speaker: “bring this to me, and take this to her.”
  • (Note: the come vs go idiom is stronger than the bring vs. take idiom)

September 12, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • come vs go
    • come and go are in relation to the speaker: “do you want to come home with me or go home with mommy?”
  • bring vs take are in relation to the speaker: “bring this to me, and take this to her.”

September 5, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • (review) Chosun Ilbo: Self-Help Books Sell Like Hot Cakes Among Middle-Aged Koreans
    • (idiom) sell like hot cakes
    • Do you read self-help books?
    • craze
    • (idiom) lost steam
      • “Middle-aged Koreans have been swept up in a worldwide craze for self-help books while investment primers have lost steam….”
    • (idiom) Rags-to-Riches Stories
      • Do you know any rags-to-riches stories?
      • Italians have an idiom that translates to from stables to stars to stables in three generations.
      • Americans might say from rags to riches to rags in three generations.
      • Do Koreans have a similar idiom to from rags to riches?
    • (idiom) road to success
      • “But a key difference is that the bestsellers now give detailed accounts of the road to success rather than general reflections.”
  • Serenity Prayer

    God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
    the courage to change the things I can,
    and the wisdom to know the difference
    • Serenity
  • Have you seen Umma (Korean: 엄마) on Netflix?
    • What kind, genre, of film do you think Umma is?
    • Do you want to see it?
    • Umma (Korean: 엄마) is a 2022 American supernatural horror film, written and directed by Iris K. Shim. The film stars Sandra Oh, Fivel Stewart, MeeWha Alana Lee, Tom Yi, Odeya Rush, and Dermot Mulroney. Sam Raimi serves as a producer on the film. The film follows Amanda (Oh), a single mother who lives with her daughter in an isolated farm being haunted by her mother’s ghost.

August 29, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • Chosun Ilbo: Self-Help Books Sell Like Hot Cakes Among Middle-Aged Koreans
    • (idiom) sell like hot cakes
    • Do you read self-help books?
    • craze
    • (idiom) lost steam
      • “Middle-aged Koreans have been swept up in a worldwide craze for self-help books while investment primers have lost steam….”
    • (idiom) Rags-to-Riches Stories
      • Do you know any rags-to-riches stories?
      • Italians have an idiom that translates to from stables to stars to stables in three generations.
      • Americans might say from rags to riches to rags in three generations.
      • Do Koreans have a similar idiom to from rags to riches?
    • (idiom) road to success
      • “But a key difference is that the bestsellers now give detailed accounts of the road to success rather than general reflections.”
  • (POST) Zeffirelli’s Romeo & Juliet 
    • 10 year gap photos
    • What’s the lesson?

(POST) Ikigai – Finding your sense of purpose (Introduction)

August 25, 2023 (Friday, 9:00 a.m.)

  • (idiom) Rise and shine!
  • scared vs. scary
  • fun and funny
  • bored and boring
  • Do you remember PREP / OREO and PREOP?
    • (PREP) Q: What is something new that you want to experience? (경험하고 싶은 새로운 것은 무엇입니까?) Something new that I want to experience is ________ because ______________________.
    • (PREOP) Q: Are you happy or sad that August is ending? I am [happy | sad] that August is ending because ____________. For example, _________ ___________ ______. On the other hand, I am [sad | Happy] August is ending because _________ _________, but I am mostly [happy | sad] that August is ending
  • My environment hacks and what I’ve discovered/learned
    • The habits that stick give me benefits
      1. Save money
      2. Save time
      3. Get exercise
      4. Preserve resources / save the environment
  • My environment hacks and what I’ve discovered/learned
    • The habits that stick give me benefits
      1. Save money
      2. Save time
      3. Get exercise
      4. Preserve resources / save the environment

August 22, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • Independence Day Holiday
    • July 4th, the Fourth of July, is a huge holiday in the U.S. What do Koreans do on August 15th?
    • What did you do?
    • (Class Rescheduled for Friday August 25)

Are you drinking less coffee?
Have you even noticed?

  • sheknows: Prince Harry Has an ‘Insane’ Habit That Totally Bewilders Meghan Markle
    • Who has an insane habit that totally bewilders members of your household?
      Prince Harry admitted that he has an “insane” household habit that has caused his wife, Meghan Markle, to raise her eyebrows on occasion. As reported by Express, Harry picked up a thing or two from his extremely environmentally conscious father, King Charles III, and his dad’s teachings have actually impacted his daily life.
      In 2018, a documentary titled “Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70” aired in celebration of the then-heir’s 70th birthday and, in it, Harry was interviewed alongside Prince William about their father’s quirk. Harry told viewers: “He’s a stickler for turning lights off and that’s now something that I’m obsessed with as well. Which is insane because actually, my wife goes ‘Well, why turn the lights off? You know it’s dark.’”
      Harry, now 38, continued: “I go ‘we only need one light, we don’t need like six’, and all of a sudden, it becomes a habit and those small habit changes he’s making, every single person can do. And I think that’s one of the key lessons certainly that I felt that he taught us.” William, 41, admitted that he too has “serious OCD” when it comes to making sure light switches are off.
      Charles also encouraged his sons to protect the environment in other ways too. “He took us litter-picking when we were younger, on holiday. We were in Norfolk on school holidays, and we went out litter-picking with him,” Harry explained. “And again, both of us thought, ‘Well this is perfectly normal, everyone must do it’. We were there with our spikes, stabbing the rubbish into black plastic bags.”
      These positive habits even stuck with Harry while he was at school as he explained that he “used to get taken the mickey out of at school for just picking up rubbish.” He continued: “I didn’t go out consciously looking for it. When you go for walks anywhere, if you see something, it stands out, you pick it up… It’s like I’ve literally done this because I’m programmed to do it, because my father did it. And actually, we should all be doing it.”

August 15, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

No Class – Independence Day Holiday (Rescheduled for Friday August 25)

August 8, 2023 (Tuesday, 9:30 a.m.)

  • We will end class at 10:30 sharp so that you can go to your TinTin meeting on time.
    • (idiom) at 10:30 sharp
    • (idiom) at 10:30 on the dot
    • Do Koreans have an idiom for “at an exact time”?

Vacation – What did you do and where did you go on your vacation?

Did you look at any Ikea hacks?
(40.Ikea-hack a piece of your furniture.
“There are literally one million of these on Pinterest.”)

August 1, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

Vacation

July 25, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

What are you reading?
(POST) The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (all seven books) (pdf)

July 18, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • (cont.) Buzzfeed (via Yahoo): If You’re Bored Of The Same Old, Here Are 101 Fun Things To Try
  • (idiom) “same old, same old”
  • (idiom) “stuck in a rut”
  • (idiom) “go down a rabbit hole”
  • catacombs – martyr
  • obsessed , obsession
    37.Binge-watch your favorite series again.
    binge – drinking binge, cleaning binge, exercise binge, study binge
    40.Ikea-hack a piece of your furniture.
    “There are literally one million of these on Pinterest.”

July 11, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

The Ten Commandments

Do you know all 10 of the Ten Commandments? When I was a boy preparing for my confirmation, a right of the church, I had to memorize the Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments and the Exodus are among the best known stories in the Bible. “The ten commandments” has also become an idiom for the 10 dos and don’ts of a discipline, technique, or practice.

What are the ten commandments of teaching?

What are the ten commandments of successful marriages / relationships / friendships?
What are the ten commandments of parenting?

  • (cont.) Buzzfeed (via Yahoo): If You’re Bored Of The Same Old, Here Are 101 Fun Things To Try
  • (idiom) “same old, same old”
  • (idiom) “stuck in a rut”
  • (idiom) “go down a rabbit hole”
  • catacombs – martyr
  • obsessed , obsession
    28.Refresh your middle and high school knowledge.
    29.Watch as many documentaries online as you can find.
    30.Go to a museum — or if you can’t, take a virtual tour of one.
    33.Travel down a Wikipedia rabbit hole or two.
    (Idiom – down a rabbit hole)
    33.Travel down a Wikipedia rabbit hole or two.
    35.Rearrange all your books.
    By color, perhaps? Or what about by genre? Or by books you’ve read vs. books you have yet to read? Books are your friends.
    36.Work on a DIY project.
    DIY – do it yourself: do you do any DIY projects?

July 7, 2023 (Friday, 10:30 a.m.)

  • sofa vs. couch
  • (idiom) in full swing – : 
    • “at the highest level of activity”
    • “Work on the project is in full swing.” “The party was in full swing by the time we arrived.”
  • acronym
  • costume jewelry
  • intricate – lots of small detail
  • high maintenance vs. low maintenance (woman)
  • (cont.) Buzzfeed (via Yahoo): If You’re Bored Of The Same Old, Here Are 101 Fun Things To Try
  • (idiom) “same old, same old”
  • (idiom) “stuck in a rut”
  • catacombs – martyr
    • obsessed , obsession
      9.Paint all your cheap-o jewelry with clear nail polish.
      12.Try meditating.
      14.Listen to an audiobook.
      15.Watch TED talks to learn something new.
      16.Try new makeup or a new skincare routine.
      18.Attempt some intricate nail art.
      20.Get some fresh air and take a hike.
      24.Clean out your fridge.
      26.Take a luxurious bubble bath.

July 4, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

Class moved to July 7

June 27, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

Google meet: https://meet.google.com/fib-qkeh-mwe

  • not uncommon –
  • (idiom) stirring the pot
  • (idiom) “the American dream”, “living the American dream”
  • The Korea Times: Korea’s age system to change from Wednesday
    • Yayyy, we’re all officially about to get one to two years younger!
    • Will you continue to use your Korean age or will you use your legal/international age?
    • How do you think other Koreans will present their ages?
    • Do you use your lunar birthday and solar birthday?
    • Do you thing that older Koreans will use Korean their ages and younger Koreans use their legal ages?

June 20, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

Google meet: https://meet.google.com/ebr-wnhs-qmj

  • analysis paralysis
  • Living paycheck to paycheck
  • $3MM – ‘M’ is Roman numerals for 1,000
  • “From stables to stars to stables in three generations.”
  • Some wealthy parents say, “I want to leave my children enough money so that they can do anything but not enough money so that they can do nothing.”

June 13, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

Today’s Google meet link:
https://meet.google.com/jpv-sayx-iho

How are you? I am feeling my mortality.

  • Do you ever coach for English language proficiency tests?
    (OPIc , IELTS , TOEIC , TOEFL)
    • Have you ever taken an English language proficiency test?
      • How did you do?
      • What was your strategy?
    • My student got his IELTS score:

      Although the score itself might not seem impressive, he got the score he needed to study at Toronto University.
    • I’m taking partial credit for his score. Do you think that your students’ victories and triumphs are part yours (partly your victories and triumphs)?
    • What about their loses and shortcomings?
  • Q: Do you like rainy days?

June 6, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

Holiday – No class

May 30, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

What did you do yesterday, Buddha’s birthday?

  • (POST) “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes
    • Matty’s story reading on YouTube (video w/subtitles)
    • “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes (pdf)
    • “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes (online text)
    • Charly 1968 Full HD movie | Adapted from Flowers for Algernon (YouTube)
  • Quora – Mortality Moments forum: What did you learn from your dad that other kids might not have learned from their parents?
    1. Do you think this is good advice?
    2. Would you give this advice to yourself?
    3. Would you give this advice to your children?
      (Note what this advice actually says.)
  • Dad taught me something very few people even consider. I must have been about fifteen at the time. We were outside working. I was painting a fence and Dad was working on a project nearby. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as he paused and turned to me. It’s not that a thought suddenly occurred to him. I suspect it had more to do with the fact that we were alone and I was a captive audience.
    Dad was about this age when we had the conversation.
    “Kathy,” Dad began. “When you consider whether or not you are going to marry someone, I hope you’ll put love near the bottom of your list. Love is very important. But, during your lifetime, you may love several people, so don’t let love be the main factor when you marry.”
    “I don’t understand, Daddy,” I said.
    Dad thought a moment. He was a very deliberate man and always considered carefully what he was about to say. “Think about how you resolve your differences. It’s very easy to get along when all is going well. It’s how you resolve your differences that determines whether or not this is a good match. Do you have agreement on spending money, having and raising children, your faith, where you want to live, your lifestyle.”
    I nodded my head understanding the words he said but very little of their importance. Many years later, I understood exactly what he meant. When my own children reached a certain age, I repeated that conversation with them. Even now, I tell my daughter, “Love is very important, but put love near the bottom of your list.”
  • Have you ever thought about it?
  • Have you ever thought that some people might do it differently?
  • sacrifice one’s own interests – 자신의 이익을 희생하다
  • there is no way to compromise – 자신의 이익을 희생하다
  • soul mate
  • There’s a special “one” for me, my soul mate. “There are many ones”. -저에게는 특별한 “하나”가 있습니다. 제 소울 메이트입니다. “여러 가지가 있습니다.”
  • liver -간
  • kidneys – 신장
  • organ failure -장기 부전
  • conspiracy (n) – 음모
  • conspire (v) – 공모하다 (동사)

May 26, 2023 (Friday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • Point of view (POV)
  • standpoint
  • proselytize
  • fortune teller
  • superstition / superstitious
  • (POST) “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes
    • Matty’s story reading on YouTube (video w/subtitles)
    • “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes (pdf)
    • “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes (online text)
    • Charly 1968 Full HD movie | Adapted from Flowers for Algernon (YouTube)
  • Buddha’s Birthday
    • What did Buddha’s birthday mean to you when you were growing up?
    • What did Buddha’s birthday mean to your friends, community, or those around you when you were growing up?
    • What does Buddha’s birthday mean to you now?
    • What does Buddha’s birthday mean to your friends, community, or those around you now?
    • Do you have plans?

May 23, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

Class moved to Friday, May 26

May 16, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • (POST) “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes
    • Matty’s story reading on YouTube (video)
    • “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes (pdf)
    • “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes (online text)
  • Assignment: Use a critical lens to analyze the story. Notice all the dramatic techniques and devices that the author uses.

Viral Mirror Optical Illusion (graphic explanation)

  • (cont.) Korea JoongAng Daily: [WHY] Oh, the lengths Koreans will go, to make themselves taller!
    • earnest – sincere, with strong effort
    • alarming (adj.)- causing great concern (like triggering an alarm), something that rings a warning bell
    • in-fighting – team fights within itself
    • status – status
    • status conscious – concerned with your own status
    • recoup an investment – get back the fixed cost (and the rest is gravy)
    • (idiom) go to extreme lengths – the effort ore expense someone will endure to do something

May 9, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • (POST) The Wizard of Oz
    • The Wizard of Oz (English Subtitles)
      1. Watch and enjoy the film with English subtitles
      2. Rewatch the black & white opening, the part before Dorothy lands in Oz.
      3. Note what each of the characters says and does.
    • The Wizard of Oz (No Subtitles)
  • Here’s how different colors feel when you’re trying to keep cool while out and about on hot sunny days:
  • (idiom) out and about
  • Do you look at some colors in summer and think “I can’t wear that?”
  • How much comfort are you willing to sacrifice for fashion?
  • Reddit: When I struggle with procrastination, I ask myself these questions Technique
    1. What’s the smallest step forward that you could take?
    2. What precise emotions do you feel when you procrastinate?
    3. What problem does procrastination solve for you?
    4. How does your procrastination serve you?
    5. What are you scared of?
    6. What would happen if you didn’t procrastinate?
    7. How do you feel in your body when procrastinating?
    8. What specifically makes procrastinating so appealing?
    9. Why is it important you stop procrastinating?
    10. What would need to be true for you to not procrastinate?
    11. What triggers your procrastination?
    12. Are you making this task seem much bigger than it actually is?
    13. When was the time that you didn’t procrastinate? What made that time different?
      • What type of questions do you ask yourself?
  • A more general aversion, replacing “procrastinating” with “avoiding” works. For example, “why am I avoiding this?” We often convince ourselves that our doubt is rational and reasonable when we really are just masking our fear. Perhaps ask:
    1. “Why did I originally set this goal? Has anything specific actually changed since I began to make me want to rethink it?”
    2. If nothing has changed (specific, as in: I wanted to make a certain app but now better alternatives exist), continue questioning the doubt:
    3. “Is this new doubt just masking a fear of failure or fear that I may not be capable of my goal?”
    4. “Is this doubt masking laziness now that I see the work ahead of me?”
    5. “Is doubting my goal masking doubt in myself?”
      • It’s always easier to make a goal than it is to make it happen and our minds are crafty little bastards in the ways that they’ll trick us in self-defense.
  • “My favorite: What would this look like if it were easy? Learned this from Tim Ferriss.”

May 2, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

It’s May!

  • Eat the frog
    • Everyday write down the frog that you’re going to swallow first thing in the morning. Note how eating a frog every morning affects your life.
AmyCarrieDanaJennyJosephSunny
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
What frog did you eat on each day?
  • Business Insider: 4 one-minute habits that helped me stop procrastinating and get more done every week
    • (idiom) drag your feet – do but don’t want to do
    • higher – ups (noun) – supervisor
    • (idiom) in the zone – perform at a high level, blocking distractions
    • (slang idiom) zoning out – distracted, day dreaming
    • auto pilot – when you do something without thinking or even being aware of what you’re doing.
    • extraordinary (pronunciation)
    • (idiom) works wonders – “why it works like a miracle or is amazing”
    • inept – incompetent
    • “Five, four, three, two, one — eat the frog!”
    • (idiom) dial it down – turn it down notch, be less emotional and vociferous (loud) about something, control yourself
    • (idiom) clear the air – “address the elephant in the room”
    • “People don’t decide their futures. They decide their habits, and their habits decide their future.”
    • envision – literally, put into a vision. Visualize
    • anchor – literally a ship’s anchor, figuratively to attach to something hard to move
    • encore – literally, again
    • underrated – people don’t hold in high enough regard or esteem
    • overrated – people value or think of too highly
  • Korea Bizwire: Colleges’ 1,000-Won Breakfast Project Creates Welfare Gap
    • Do you always, usually (typically), often, sometimes, seldomly, rarely, almost never, or never eat breakfast?
    • If and when you do eat breakfast, what do you typically eat?
    • “Just because some of us didn’t go to college doesn’t mean we should be excluded from these benefits.”
    • Since universities are expected to pay for almost half of the food price, students enrolled in colleges with poor finances are excluded from this benefit.
  • The Wizard of Oz
    • The Wizard of Oz (English Subtitles)
      1. Watch and enjoy the film with English subtitles
      2. Rewatch the black & white opening, the part before Dorothy lands in Oz.
      3. Note what each of the characters says and does.
    • The Wizard of Oz (No Subtitles)

April 25, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • Yahoo: I’m a software engineer who struggled with procrastination until I tried ‘monk mode’ — here’s how it saves me up to 3 hours a day
    • monk
    • mode
    • procrastination (n) procrastinate (v), procrastinator (person who procrastinates)- to put off or delay doing something that needs to be done or should be done.
      • Do you suffer from procrastination?
      • Do you procrastinate?
      • Are you a procrastinator?
      • Why do you think people procrastinate, what are the causes of procrastination?
      • What do you procrastinate?
      • Why do you think you procrastinate?
    • “if a job is worth doing, then it’s worth doing well”
    • derail – taken off track, “rail” is a train track, sidetracked
    • sucker –  One who is easily deceived; a dupe.
    • radical (adj.) – too extreme
    • tedious (adj.) -describes something that is repetitive and boring .
    • –mind numbing
    • (idiom) steer clear of – stay away from
    • compartment – a box, container, or room
    • compartmentalize (v.) – means to separate into compartments

April 18, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • ChatGPT: Did you play with ChatGPT?
    • What did you ask it?

Viral Mirror Optical Illusion (graphic explanation)

  • (cont.) Korea JoongAng Daily: [WHY] Oh, the lengths Koreans will go, to make themselves taller!
    • earnest – sincere, with strong effort
    • alarming (adj.)- causing great concern (like triggering an alarm), something that rings a warning bell
    • in-fighting – team fights within itself
    • status – status
    • status conscious – concerned with your own status
    • recoup an investment – get back the fixed cost (and the rest is gravy)
    • (idiom) go to extreme lengths – the effort ore expense someone will endure to do something

April 11, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • Happy Easter!
    • He is risen vs He has risen
    • Note that in English, pronouns referring to Jesus and God (the Judeo-Christian God) are capitalized. Pronouns referring to other gods, e.g. Zeus, are lowercase.
    • Jesus and God are often spoken of in the present tense:
      • He is risen
      • Merry Christmas! Christ is born in Bethlehem
    • Why do you think Jesus is often described in the present (rather than the present perfect or past) tense?

April 4, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • Palm Sunday
  • Passover and Holy Week
  • Easter (Easter Sunday)

“The Old Testament presages (foreshadows) the New Testament, and the New Testament fulfills the Old Testament.”

Holy Week always coincides with Passover.

  • What do you know about Moses and the story of Moses?
  • How did the Israelites end up in Egypt?
    • Where is this told in the Bible?
  • How did Moses end up in the House of Pharaoh?
    • What was Pharaoh’s edict?
    • What is this similar to in the New Testament?
  • How long were the Israelites in Egypt?
  • What is Passover?
    • How does Death passover some houses?
    • What is this similar to in the New Testament?
Dramatic Irony

The whole film The Ten Commandments is dramatic irony. We know the Moses story, that Moses will lead the Israelites out of Egypt and part the Red Sea.

Moses: I’ll not leave a man to die in the mud.
Simon: Thank you, my son… but death is better than bondage, for my days are ended and my prayer unanswered.
Moses: What prayer, old man?
Simon: That before death closed my eyes, I might behold the deliverer who will lead all men to freedom.
Moses: What deliverer could break the power of Pharaoh?
Egyptian guard: You!

Symbolism

The significance of Moses eating dates. Moses had dates dangled before him as a baby and then shown when he was “reborn” after crossing the desert. What is the biblical meaning of dates?
A palm branch symbolizes peace, victory, triumph and eternal life. The date is a symbol of honesty and righteousness.

Motifs

Motifs are repeated symbols or words, recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes. In music, a leitmotif is a series of notes associated with a character or action. I think of the oboe in Jaws that signifies the presence of the shark and the theme that accopanies Captain Hook or the ticking clock for the crocodile in Peter Pan.

The Bible is filled with motifs. Some examples are blood, animals (particularly sheep, goats, and pigs), and numbers.

  • What do sheep and shepherds represent?
  • What do goats and goat herders represent?
  • What does blood represent?
  • What do certain numbers (3, 6, 7, 12, 40) represent?
    • Do you know the English (through Latin) word quarantine?

BTW in The Ten Commandments, did you notice what Moses’s mother put in Moses’s ark? Did you notice what Moses was clutching while he was sleeping after he had crossed the dessert and found the palm tree? (Dates and palm leaves.)

What was laid in Jesus path as he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the Sunday that starts Holy week?

So what is the difference between symbols and symbolism and motifs? Symbols are widely understood as representative of a concept even outside the text. Motifs are repeated symbols created and repeated with a text.

Historicity

Historicity is the historical actuality of persons and events, meaning the quality of being part of history instead of being a historical myth, legend, or fiction. The historicity of a claim about the past is its factual status.

Historicity denotes (remember denotation vs. connotation) historical actuality, authenticity, factuality and focuses on the true value of knowledge claims about the past.

Sethi: Let the name of Moses be stricken from every book and tablet, stricken from all pylons and obelisks, stricken from every monument of Egypt. Let the name of Moses be unheard and unspoken, erased from the memory of men for all time.

Ishmael

Who was Abraham?
Who was Hagar?
Who was Abraham’s wife?
Who were Abraham’s sons?
What happened to Hagar?
When God told Abraham to take the son whom he loved into the mountain and sacrifice him to God, whom did Abraham take?

Jethro: You have come far.
Moses: From Egypt.
Jethro: Across the desert on foot? He who has no name surely guided your steps.
Moses: No name? You Bedouins know the god of Abraham?
Jethro: Abraham is the father of many nations. We are the children of Ishmael, his firstborn. We are the obedient of God.
Moses: My people look to him for deliverance… but they are still in bondage.

Moses: Does your god live on this mountain?
Sephora: Sinai is His high place, His temple.
Moses: If this god is God, he would live on every mountain, in every valley. He would not be the god of Ishmael or Israel alone, but of all men. It is said he created all men in his image. He would dwell in every heart, every mind, every soul.

Gershom: [Moses and Sephora are now parents] Did the little boy die in the desert, my father?
Moses: No. God brought Ishmael and his mother Hagar into a good land.
Gershom: The same God who lives on the mountain?
Moses: It may be, my son.
Sephora: Moses! Moses!
Moses: Here!
[Gershom starts to try blow shofar and Moses chuckles]
Moses: [to Gershom] Your mother’s calling.
Sephora: Moses, there is a man among the sheep.
[Sephora saw Joshua]
Moses: Keep sounding the alarm, Gershom, but stay here till your mother comes.
Sephora: [to Moses] In the cleft. Behind the rock.
Moses: Your eyes are as sharp as they are beautiful.

March 28, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • Return to the Hiding Place – Corrie Ten Boom’s Story
The date of Easter is determined by the spring equinox

Unlike Christmas, Easter is based on the lunar calendar and changes from year to year. Deciding what day Easter will fall on is a matter of great importance to Christian churches because it celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the 4th century A.D., a group of Christian leaders came together to officially decide how to calculate Easter’s date, deciding Easter is to be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox.

  • Women have so much better discussions than men.
    • What do you talk about with your friends?
    • What do men talk about?
    • Compare Reddit’s Ask Men with Ask Women
  • Reddit Ask Men – What is your best random advice?
    • Ctrl+Shift+T opens closed tabs.
      • Do people not know this?
    • And Ctrl+Shift+N opens closed windows if you have open multiple browser windows and accidentally closed one.
      • Ok, I did not know this
    • But do you know about that little arrow at the top to view tabs and recently closed tabs?
    • Holding your space bar whilst texting on an iPhone, will allow you free control over your cursor amongst your text.
  • Fewer Koreans Pledge to Donate Organs
    • Have you ever donated blood?
      • How did you make your decision?
    • Why do so few Koreans donate blood or their organs?
    • Would you donate your organs?
    • Korea Times: Father donates organs from brain dead 5-year-old daughter to save children
      • “When I heard from the doctor that So-yul would not be able to live anymore, I thought it would be meaningful if her heart could be donated to save another child’s life rather than being turned into a handful of ashes. As long as the child who received her heart is alive, So-yul’s heart will live on. It gives me a lot of comfort to think that way,” the father said according to KODA.
  • Global Audio Book: The Amazing Jar (VOD)
    • YouTube – The Amazing Jar (Illustrated Audiobook)
    • Do you know this story?
    • Is this story well known in Korean culture?
    • Do Korean parents tell this story to their children?
    • Does this story remind you of any western fairytales?

March 21, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • Return to the Hiding Place – Corrie Ten Boom’s Story
The future tense in English: will and [be] going to
  • Are you going to go to Seoul this weekend?
    • Are you going to Seoul?
    • Are you going to go to Seoul?
      • The simple future tense with [be] + going to with the verb to go.
  • In English, we often use the present progressive (be + verb + ing) to talk about future events which have already been planned. Time words in the sentence, such as next week, next year, tomorrow, etc., make it clear that the action is not happening at this moment.
    • What are you going to do this weekend?
      • I am going to see a movie OR I am seeing a movie this weekend.
  • Is this confusing?
    • The time markers (next week, this weekend) indicate a future time. Native speakers often use the present progressive tense with time markers to indicate future actions.
  • The first day of Spring
    • Spring Equinox
      • equi + nox
    • Explaining seasons to kids
      • Explaining seasons to yourselves
    • Do you like Spring?
      • What’s to like?
        • “what’s to…” (spoken idiom)
      • What’s to dislike?
      • Do you remember PREP?
    • What are your spring activities?
  • St. Patrick’s Day (March 17)
    • St. Joseph’s Day (March 19)
  • What are some minor Korean holidays, holidays that are not red days but Koreans have some kinds of customs, traditions, or activities?
    • April 1, April Fool’s Day
    • Which do you like?
    • Which can you do without, dislike?

March 14, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

March 7, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • HOMEWORK:
  • Reddit Ask Women: What is a seemingly mundane question you can ask someone that will tell you a lot about their personality?
  • What are yours?
  • Here are mine:
    • If you didn’t need to work for money to support maintain your current lifestyle, what would you do?
    • What do you think of K-pop (or disco, or some young kids’ current fashions)?
    • If you were to magically find out the date that you were going to die, what would you do with the rest of your life?

(cont. from shopping cart theory, POST)

February 28, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • Reddit Ask Women: What is a seemingly mundane question you can ask someone that will tell you a lot about their personality?
    • Are you intuitive? Do you have good intuition?
    • Do you think that women are more intuitive than men?
    • What are some questions that you ask and that you can learn a lot about a person from? (What is that construction? Is it difficult?)

February 21, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

Hong Kong

  • Kim Ji-young, Born 1982
  • (see gmail for interesting hacks)
  • What are some unethical life hacks?
    —How to get a free umbrella—
    You walk into a busy café after a rainy day.
    You ask the serving girl/guy “Hi! Is it possible that I forgot my umbrella here yesterday?”
    You will most likely get an answer like “We have lots of forgotten umbrellas. Which one was yours?”
    You take an umbrella you like, thank the serving person, say bye and walk out with your new umbrella.
    They might say that they don’t have any umbrellas, in this case you say “Then I might have lost it somewhere else. Thanks for checking!”
    I tried this as a social experiment following a conversation with friends. Worked.
    • It’s unethical because it’s technically stealing and lying, on the other hand I view it as the natural circulation of umbrellas. I lost each and every umbrella I’ve ever owned, means someone else is using it now. I’m fine with it. I also worked in cafés and by experience I know that they have, at any time point, a bunch of umbrellas that no one ever will come back for.

February 14, 2023

No Class (HK Trip)

February 7, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • What are some hacks that everyone should know?
    1. When you sign up for anything online, put the website’s name as your middle name. That way when you receive spam/advert email, you will know who sold your information.
    2. If you’re on a first date and aren’t connecting with the other person or feel they’re dull, ask them what job they’d choose if money wasn’t an issue. It initiates a talk about one’s passions, which are rarely dull and are simple to connect.
    3. If you want to be an effective communicators, let others talking about themselves and their interests – it’s as rewarding as sex. Check out 10+ psychological tricks that are mind blowing.
    4. Do not try to be the man your father would want you to be. Be the man you would like your son to be be. It more clearly defines your own convictions, desires, goals, and motivates you to be your best.
    5. Pay Attention to the smell of your home when you come back from a trip – that’s what it smells like to guests all the time, you just get used to it.
    6. When a friend is upset, ask them one simple question before saying anything else: ‘Do you want to talk about it or do you want to be distracted from it?’
    7. No matter how much your workplace pushes “team building” and “family culture” – remember, they’re not your friends and it’s still a workplace.
    8. If you’re stuck on an annoying call, put your phone on airplane mode instead of just hanging up. The other person will see “call failed” instead of “call ended”.
    9. If you want to learn a new language, figure out the 100 most frequently used words and start with them. Those words make up about 50% of everyday speech, and should be a very solid basis.
  • John 21:10-19
    10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

    Jesus Reinstates Peter

    15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
    “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
    Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
    16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
    He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
    Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
    17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
    Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
    Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

January 31, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

♥♥♥ Thank you! ♥♥♥

  • Do you know about the almond?
  • Who(m) do you think found the almond?
  • Buzzfeed (via Yahoo) – Adults In Their 30s (And Older) Are Sharing The Things They Believe Every Younger Person Should Know, And This Is Excellent Advice
    • As you get older, it’s easy to think back and recognize the kind of advice you should have listened to help make your life easier as you age. So when Reddit user u/SoleJam_18 asked: “30+-year-olds, what is some good life advice to give to 18-year-olds and above?”, people had a lot of thoughts and shared really profound advice.
      • significant / insignificant
      • pan out / didn’t pan out – and idiom that means an opportunity worked out or didn’t work out
      • milestone – literally a marker on a highway that marks distance in miles. Used figuratively as a measurement for achievement or a point that someone should be in life.

January 24, 2023 (Seollal Holiday)

No class – Happy Seollal!

January 17, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

January 6

  • P.R.E.P. review
    • Do you remember PREP?
  • NY Times: Your Best Advice of 2022
    • We should do this!

      One of my favorite New Year’s traditions is writing resolutions for other people. Write a resolution for the year. Put the papers in a hat, pass the hat, everyone draws one.

      One year I received the resolution to always put my clothes away at the end of the day, rather than letting them pile up on a chair. A friend was to rise from bed every morning, waggle their fingers and say, “It’s showtime!” The resolutions can be whimsical or reflective. They can be things the author would like to resolve themselves or things they think would be good for others to try. It turns the rather dreary exercise of making (often self-punishing) resolutions into something exciting: an exchange of gifts, a gesture of community.”
      • This sound interesting! What resolution would you put in a community hat for someone else to draw?
        • Joseph
        • make micro-resolutions every month
        • read a novel or literature every day for 10 mins / day
        • Jenny
        • Sunny
        • Carrie
        • Dana
        • Amy
        • Evelyn
  • Korea Times – Korean culture has shifted from ‘han’ to ‘heung’: CICI founder
    • “South Korea first began with the sentiment of ‘han,'” Choi, a professor emeritus at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, told The Korea Times. “As far as I remember, it came under the spotlight of the world in the early 2000s, when news about North Korea’s possible nuclear development made the headlines. Knowing that this can threaten their own national security, many countries across the globe became more concerned about various issues related to Korea. Simply put, it was actually our national crisis that triggered people’s attention.”

      However, Choi pointed out that the game has completely changed today. K-pop, K-drama and other cultural content made in Korea have become the first thing that crosses people’s minds when they think of the country, and it is all linked to the feeling of “heung,” according to her.

      “These days, Korean culture is drawing global attention with its bright and positive energy,” she said. “Our sentiment of ‘heung’ is dominating.”
    • Is this your understanding of han?
    • When did you first have a feeling of han?
    • What does han mean to you?
    • What does heung mean to you?
    • Do you think Korean culture is a han or heung culture?

January 10, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • January 6 – a momentous (moment +ous) day
  • Three kings day –
    • “Little Christmas”
  • Russia announces a unilateral (uni + lateral) ceasefire
  • Anniversary of January 6 insurrection
  • Anything else?
  • NY Times: Your Best Advice of 2022
    • We should do this!

      “One of my favorite New Year’s traditions is writing resolutions for other people. Tonight, if you’re with a group of friends or loved ones or strangers who are down for one last New Year’s Eve reindeer game, hand out slips of paper and instruct the assembled to write a resolution for the year. Put the papers in a hat, pass the hat, everyone draws one.

      One year I received the resolution to always put my clothes away at the end of the day, rather than letting them pile up on a chair. A friend was to rise from bed every morning, waggle their fingers and say, “It’s showtime!” The resolutions can be whimsical or reflective. They can be things the author would like to resolve themselves or things they think would be good for others to try. It turns the rather dreary exercise of making (often self-punishing) resolutions into something exciting: an exchange of gifts, a gesture of community.”
      • This sound interesting! What resolution would you put in a community hat for someone else to draw?

January 3, 2023 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

Happy New Year!
  • Did you make a New Year’s resolution?
    • Is your resolution (S)pecific?
    • Is your resolution (M)easurable?
    • Is your resolution (A)ttainable?
    • Is your resolution (R)elevant?
    • Is your resolution (T)ime bound?
  • NY Times: Your Best Advice of 2022
    • “One of my favorite New Year’s traditions is writing resolutions for other people. Tonight, if you’re with a group of friends or loved ones or strangers who are down for one last New Year’s Eve reindeer game, hand out slips of paper and instruct the assembled to write a resolution for the year. Put the papers in a hat, pass the hat, everyone draws one.

      One year I received the resolution to always put my clothes away at the end of the day, rather than letting them pile up on a chair. A friend was to rise from bed every morning, waggle their fingers and say, “It’s showtime!” The resolutions can be whimsical or reflective. They can be things the author would like to resolve themselves or things they think would be good for others to try. It turns the rather dreary exercise of making (often self-punishing) resolutions into something exciting: an exchange of gifts, a gesture of community.”
      • This sound interesting! What resolution would you put in a community hat for someone else to draw? (draw means to pull from, “draw water from a well”)
    • Pieces of advice:
      • If you didn’t have to keep working, would you?
        • IDK whether this is advice, but this is an interesting question.
      • The best advice I received this year was to stretch my calves regularly. It cured my mild knee pain.
      • In your closet and your life, subtract whenever you add.
        • I understand the in your closet part, but what do you think of the and your life part?

December 27, 2022 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

  • The Conversation (via Yahoo News) – The long history of how Jesus came to resemble a white European
    • What do you think Jesus looked / looks like?
    • Wikipedia: Race and appearance of Jesus
    • Korea Times: Paintings Depict Jesus Christ in Korea
    • If Jesus Had Been Korean: 20 Rare Paintings of the Life of Christ
      • From the post: “Jesus was thoroughly Jewish. Even so, different cultures and ethnicities have often portrayed Jesus and others from the Bible as being from their group. Sometimes this is done to symbolize the fact that Jesus came for all the nations of the world.

        Since Christianity for many centuries was based largely in Europe, these important characters of salvation history have often been depicted as white Europeans. Which is fine, but other cultures have also depicted them according to their own appearances.

        Enter Korean artist Woonbo Kim Ki-chang. A Christian missionary during the Korean war suggested he paint biblical scenes with a Korean backdrop, and he painted about 30 within a year. “I was praying for the quick end of the Korean War and a unified peace, and soothed my painful mind with a paintbrush,” he later said.

        Kim passed away in 2001, but his paintings were featured at a museum in Seoul in 2013.”
Madonna and Child

Madonna and Child & The Holy Family

The seated “Madonna and Child” is a style of image that became particularly popular during the 15th century in Florence and was imitated elsewhere. These representations are usually of a small size suitable for a small altar or domestic use. They usually show Mary holding the infant Jesus in an informal and maternal manner. These paintings often include symbolic reference to the Passion of Christ. (In Christianity, the Passion – from the Latin verb patior, passus sum, meaning “to suffer, bear, endure” and the root of the English words “patience, patient”, etc. – is the short final period in the life of Jesus Christ.)

Growing up Catholic, I am used to seeing the above iconographies, particularly those of Madonna and Child, the Holy Family, and of the Holy Spirit, which is represented as a dove. The dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, appearing at Jesus’ baptism (Matthew 3:16-17) and peace and the bird that brought a olive leaf, another symbol of peace, back to Noah, signaling the end of the flood (Genesis 8:11).

Merry Christmas!

  • The Honeymooners – ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
    • YouTube video (link) (NOTE: watch with English subtitles, which I wrote)

December 20, 2022 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

Thank you. I only regret that the Christmas stollen didn’t make it past the first night and until Christmas morning.

Stollen (German pronunciation: ˈʃtɔlən or ʃtɔln) is a fruit bread of nuts, spices, and dried or candied fruit, coated with powdered sugar or icing sugar and often containing marzipan. Stollen is a traditional German Christmas bread. During Christmas season, stollen loaves are called Weihnachtsstollen, for the German word for Christmas, Weihnachten, or Christstollen, named after Christ.

  • Do you remember the homework assignment: How do you tell me that it’s Christmas (season) without explicitly saying “it’s Christmas (season)”?
  • What is good writing?
    • Why can some people write well, but you can’t?
    • Why can you know good writing when you see it but don’t understand why you can’t write it yourself?
      • I realized after I (re)saw The Honeymooners’ Christmas episode ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, this is exactly what I had had in mind and nearly exactly what I wanted to write:

You know something, sweetheart? Christmas is, well it’s about the best time of the whole year. You walk down the street even for weeks before Christmas comes and there’s lights hanging up. Green ones and red ones. Sometimes there’s snow. Everybody’s hustling someplace but they don’t hustle around Christmas time like they usually do. You know they’re a little more friendly. They bump into you, they laugh, and they say “pardon me” and “Merry Christmas”. Especially when it’s real close to Christmas night, everybody’s walking home. We can hardly hear a sound. Bells are ringing. Kids are singing. Snow is coming down, and boy what a pleasure it is to think that you got someplace to go with them. And the place that you’re going to, there’s somebody in it that you really love, someone you’re nuts about. Merry Christmas!

Everyone promised!

December 13, 2022 (Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.)

Jenny promised!

  • Different words for different kinds of snow
    • Does Korea have different words for snow?
    • Sleet
    • Snow flurry
    • Words for heavy wet snow an dry powdery snow.

How do you tell me that it’s Christmas (season) without saying “Christmas (season)”?

(POST) The Gift of the Magi

December 6, 2022 (Tuesday, 12:00 p.m.)

Jenny promised!

How do you tell me that it’s Christmas (season) without saying “Christmas (season)”?

(POST) The Gift of the Magi

November 29, 2022 (Tuesday, 12:00 p.m.)

Christmas Movie/Literature Themes

Do you have any favorite Christmas themed movies or stories?

Christmas stories often have a theme of protagonists who were once good, lose their way, and are saved on Christmas through Christmas spirit. In Christmas stories, the thematic concept, the tie that binds the story, is Christmas, and the thematic concept is finding one’s lost self through Christmas spirit.

  • Homework: It’s A Wonderful Life
    • climax
  • contrast
    • contrast the world before George gets his wish with the world after
      • What happens to each of the characters? For example, what is Mary’s job?
  • What is the theme of It’s a Wonderful Life?
  • What did you think of the ending?
    • Did something supernatural really happen?
    • What book did Clarence leave for George?
      • Does The Adventures of Tom Sawyer have meaning or is it just a book?
  • Homage, parody, spoof
    • Humor is intimate, and people make fun of things they love
    • Did you notice that It’s a Wonderful Life has some unexplained plot holes?

November 24, 2022 (Thursday, 10:00 a.m.)

Happy (American) Thanksgiving!

November 22 in history (from orig. class date)

November 22, 2022 (Tuesday, 12:00 p.m.)

Class moved to Thursday, Nov. 24. @ 10 a.m.

November 15, 2022 (Tuesday, 12:00 p.m.)

  • How was Seoraksan?
    • Did you climb the mountain?
    • Was climbing/hiking difficult?
Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.
  • Seuneung Memories
    • What are your suneung memories?
      • Do you remember how your stomach felt?
      • Do you remember the adrenaline rush when you opened your suneung test booklet?
      • Was the test more or less difficult than you had thought it would be?
        • Look at those verb tenses!
      • How did you feel afterwards?
        • Did you do better than, less than, or about as well as you thought you would?

November 8, 2022 (Tuesday, 12:00 p.m.)

  • Reddit r/AskWomenOver30: Anyone else feeling the SADs (seasonal affective disorder)?
    • (idiom) “like clockwork” – Every year, like clockwork, I notice my mood downshift in October, which gets really acute with the time change, and reaches a nadir by winter solstice.
    • “I call it Persephone Syndrome because every year I got to the Underworld for a few months.”
    • Not since I started taking 2500 mg of Vitamin D daily year-round.

      SAD is not always because of the reduction in sunlight, sometimes it’s the reduction in social engagement, the change in how active you are overall, or the fact that you just aren’t outside as much, sometimes it’s genuinely random, but I think most of the science points concretely at the nexus of the changes in your habits + an actual dip in your vitamin d levels, which does affect mood.
    • I come from the land of SAD, a.k.a Finland. This is always the go-to advise, along with vit D and a therapy light.
      • (reply from OP) Scandinavians are gangsters at surviving the SAD, I was hoping one of y’all would chime in! Hygge FTW.

November 1, 2022 (Tuesday, 12:00 p.m..)

October 28, 2022 (Friday, 9:00)

  • Farm Land
    • Why did you go?
    • What did you do?
  • Colors and flowers
  • The pig parade and waddling duck
  • German restaurant – wiener snitzel (like donkas)
  • NPR: Thailand is rethinking its approach in its drug laws
    • Southeast Asia has some of the toughest drug laws in the world. One country bucking that trend is Thailand, which recently decriminalized cannabis and freed thousands of people convicted of cannabis-related offenses from jail. NPR’s Michael Sullivan has this report.
    • Are you still going to go to Thailand in December?
      • Are you disappointed?
      • Did you really want to go or do you prefer to stay and work or go some place else?
    • Do you think that Korea should decriminalize marijuana?
    • Do you see a difference between alcohol and marijuana?

October 25, 2022 (Tuesday, 12:00)

Class moved to Friday, October 28 at 9:00 a.m.

October 18, 2022 (Tuesday, 12:00)

October 11, 2022 (Tuesday, 12:00)

October 4, 2022 (Tuesday, 12:00)

  • Gaecheonjeol
  • From Reddit, r/Korea: “Hwanung,the son of Hwanin, Lord of Heaven is believed to have descended on earth in 2457 BCE to live with humanity. The occasion called as Gaecheonjeol (Opening of heaven) is regarded as the foundation of Korea, and is celebrated as a national holiday.”
      1. What did you do yesterday? Did you have a day off?
      2. What do you think of this holiday, Gaecheonjeol?
      3. Is Gaecheonjeol controversial in Korea?
      4. Is Gaecheonjeol controversial in Korean churches?
      5. Is Gaecheonjeol controversial for you?
      6. Do some Koreans view this holiday similar to the way some Americans view Halloween?
        • Note: there are some differences, mainly that Halloween is not a national holiday. Schools and govenment offices are open, trash gets picked up, mail gets delivered, and people go to work and do whatever they would normally do.
  • Pink tax
      • Do you pay pink taxes?
      • The pink tax refers to the tendency for products marketed specifically toward women to be more expensive than those marketed for men. This phenomenon is often attributed to gender-based price discrimination, with the name stemming from the observation that many of the affected products are pink.
      • The Pink Tax is not actually a tax, rather a trend where products marketed towards women cost more than products marketed towards men. Generally, these “female” products are colored or packaged pink, giving the trend its name. The Pink Tax, while prevalent in our society, is harmful because it has no real basis and is detrimental to women over the long term.
  • Do you have any special classes in October?
    • What are you going to do?
    • How will you prepare for them?

September 30, 2022 (Friday, 12:00)

Bible Hub – Bible Verse comparisons

  • Korea Times: No men allowed: Women-only spaces increasing in Korea
    • “In recent years, an increasing number of female-only spaces has been emerging in Korea, ranging from study cafes, “gosiwon” or dormitory-style flats, guest houses and shared offices to camping sites.”
      • Do you use female-only spaces?
      • Do you go to businesses that have female-only spaces?
    • “Some women-only spaces have drawn backlash from men who feel excluded.”
      • Do you think that women-only spaces are discriminatory or a reasonable accommodation?
      • “The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced in August that women-specific parking spaces will transition into ‘family-prioritized spaces,’ and the spots will be designated for families with children, pregnant women or people with disabilities.”

September 20, 2022 (Tuesday, 12:00)

  • Dong-a Ilbo: Fruits become sweeter to survive
    • “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die..”
    • The Book of Genesis of the Christian Old Testament shows that humans subconsciously perceive orchards as the symbol of paradise.
      • What do you think of as paradise?
      • What’s the difference between heaven and paradise?
      • Do you remember “almost heaven”?
        • Well, “almost paradise” is not an idiom, but we do say “this is like paradise” or “this feels like paradise”.
        • We also will name places paradise:
        • …but we don’t name cities Heaven. Why?

September 16, 2022 (Friday, 12:00)

  • How was your Chuseok?
    • Thank you !

September 6, 2022 (Tuesday, 12:00)

  • How did your Show me the TunTun go on Saturday?
    • Did everything go perfectly?
    • Did you have any behind the scenes mishaps?
      • mishap = mis + hap
      • Mis is among English’s most flexible prefixes.
        • What does mis mean as a prefix?
      • Do you know any other mis- words?
  • (review) (POST) Short Story – August Heat
    • YouTube: “August Heat” by W. F. Harvey (audio)

August 25, 2022 (Thursday, 12:00)

(Class rescheduled from Tuesday, August 23)

August 30, 2022 (Tuesday, 12:00)

  • Song: Country Roads
    • “Almost heaven, West Virginia”
      • What do you think is almost heaven
        1. Do you like to take country vacations or city vacations?
        2. Do you like city life, suburban life, country life, or rural life?
        3. Do you like Gangwon-do?
        4. Which of Korea’s provinces is your favorite?  Why?

August 16, 2022 (Tuesday, 12:00)

  • Thinking and in honor of Evelyn’s return…
    • One of my all-time favorite, most influential on my life and learning, books:
      • Three Dimensions of Vocabulary Growth by Paternoster and Frager-Stone
    • Merriam-Webster’s WOTY – “Pandemic”
      • Original article: Merriam-Webster’s WOTY “not a shocker”
      • Greek roots pan, dem, ic
        • pan means “all” or “every”
        • dēmos means “people”
        • ic is an adjective suffix
        • pandemic’s literal meaning is “(describing) all the people.”
      • Latin roots omni, pop, ous
        • omni means “all” or “every”
        • popul means “people”
          • Can you guess where the English word “people” comes from?
        • ous is an adjective suffix
        • What does omnipopulous mean?
      • List of Greek and Latin roots, stems, and prefixes

Lesson Plans (Archive: Sept 28, 2020 – Aug 31, 2022)

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