My co-teacher and I discussed names and holidays today. I asked her if Halloween was celebrated in any sort of way in Korea. She shared a very interesting story with me in reply...
“One day, about nine o’clock at night, I heard a knock on my door. I answered my door and there was this little girl standing there. She looked up at me and yelled “Candy! Give me candy!”. I asked her why she wanted candy because I did not understand. She could not tell me, she just kept saying “Give me candy!”. I told her she did not deserve candy and sent her home.”
This happened a few years ago, when my co-teacher had little knowledge of Halloween. Still, with her current knowledge, she does not pass out candy to the rare child who happens to knock on her door. She does not feel that the students understand why they are going door to door, asking for treats. She feels that the Hagwons are just telling the kids the fun parts of Halloween without really explaining the holiday to them. I had to let her know that many people do not know the true origins of Halloween, in general most kids just think it is a day where you dress up and get candy.
I understood where she was coming from, she feels that too many kids think American holidays are better than Korean holidays and fears the growing fondness for Halloween. I can understand her fear of change, the fear of the holiday becoming a celebrated event in the next 20 years - a holiday that has nothing to do with Korea or Korean culture. I get a little peeved when people think Halloween is just about dressing up and getting candy/drunk (depends on if you’re a kid or adult!). There is so much more to it than that. Drinking is fun, of course, but there is a reason we celebrate the Day of the Dead. It is a meaningful holiday to me, personally, one that I take seriously. But - that’ll have to be an entirely different entry.
We also discussed English names. See, in Korea, a lot of the English teachers find it difficult to pronounce the Korean names. Somewhere along the lines, someone thought it would be better if the students had English names. Now English teachers all over the country are essentially renaming their students. It isn’t always the English teacher, sometimes the parents will allow the student to choose an English name or will choose one for them, and sometimes the student chooses an English name - it has become rather popular among a lot of the kids.
Take a second to imagine this: You live in America and it is your kindergarteners first day of school. You drop him/her off, say a tearful farewell, and head to work. Of course you get off early so you can pick your little darling up from school on their first day! You go to your students classroom, ask for James/Emily and the other kids look at you funny. It takes the teacher a second to know who you are talking about - this worries you. Your child comes running up to you and the teacher smiles, replying “Ohh you meant Ricardo/Eunseok. We gave the kids new names today, their English names were too difficult to remember.”
Um...yea, that would totally go over well in the school system >note sarcasm<. Parents would RAISE HELL. Teachers would be FIRED. But here, among the English teachers, it is deemed appropriate. Among the students, it is expected and, some if not most, welcome their new “Western” name. I’ve had some pretty difficult names to pronounce in my classes in the States, I understand how easy it would be to just rename students and call them something I can easily remember. However, “easy” isn’t “right” and I don’t feel that I have the power/right to take away a person’s name just because I’m too lazy to learn how to say it correctly.
My co-teacher hates it too, she feels it is doing a great injustice to the students as they are young and don’t even know who they are yet. If they haven’t figured out who they are as Sue-young or Yun-sang then how are they supposed to know who they are as Margaret or Peter? Are they even Sue-young anymore or are they Margaret? Names hold power, they hold identities, and these kids are losing theirs.
Bizarre! So the children are literally being *re-named*?
ReplyDeleteI mean in my high school French class we were given French names in that class, but that was where it began and ended. No one called me Charlotte outside of my French class, and I never thought I had assumed a new identity. Plus, it was more of a cultural immersion sort of thing, rather than a "teacher can't remember your American names" kind of thing.
Same idea here, well they say it is the same idea. The kids are being culturally immersed by being given "English" names but the teachers use these names as if they are the kids proper names because they don't know their real names/haven't learned them.
ReplyDeleteWe all took foreign language in Middle/High school where we were older and understood a little why we were receiving these foreign names. Korean kids take English classes as young as kindergarten. They think it's cool to have an English name. I don't think they understand the "cultural immersion thing". They're too young.
I've had tons of kids come up to me and tell me "My name is Kate/Hannah/James" to which I reply "Ok, is that your real name or English name?" I only have one kid in all my classes who has a non-Korean name - her name is Hannah.
I think it would be better to teach the kids to write their own names in English letters. Actually...that's an idea for a lesson! I'm gonna do that. :)