See the previous post for my discussion on the language/culture acquisition model.
I'd like to use a Korean poem as part of the film, read in one channel in English, and Korean in the other channel. Perhaps echoing, slightly overlapping. The images accompanying this sound track would represent my personal experience of culture shock in Korea (haven't identified which images, yet).
I have a book of Korean poetry translated into English by Chang-soo Ko. I might use an entire poem, or just snippets.
SOUND OF RAIN
It is raining.
The night quietly spreads its feathers.
The rain murmurs in the garden
Like a chick lisping furtively.
The hazy moon became wan and
Warm winds began to breathe
As if the spring flowed from the sun.
And it is raining this dark night.
It is raining.
The rain arrives like a kind guest.
I open the window to receive him.
The rain falls, murmuring and unseen.
It is raining on the garden,
The window and the roof.
The rain falls,
Bringing secret glad tidings to my heart.
--by Yo-han Chu
On an ordinary autumn evening
Ordinary fruit is better.
Sometimes ordinary words
With no peculiar savour
Suit me better.
Hearing in memory
The last car depart,
I step over
The membrane of sleep,
And a fruit falls in my dream.
I will ask the wind
That departs in the morning
To what depths the fruit has fallen.
--by Dong-jip Shin
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Language/Culture Acquisition Model
I've hit on a metaphor I'd like to use in one or more of the planned videos.
In second language acquisition, a beginner and often intermediate speakers are constantly translating from their first language into the target language. This increases language processing time while decreasing fluency. Eventually, the learner starts to think in the target language, and utterances become more natural, fluent, and expressive.
My postulation is that there is a similar process in "culture acquisition." When you first arrive in an unfamiliar culture, you view everything as an outsider, from the standpoint and values of your own culture. At first the host culture may seem exotic or exciting as you notice the differences. But as culture shock sets in, these difference start to annoy the hell out of you. "Why do the DO that?" Eventually, just as the language learner begins to think in the target language, you start to acquire aspects of that culture. And you might not even realize it. You might not realize it until you return home and find yourself still thinking "like a Korean." This reentry culture shock is the result of cultural assimilation, which is a process as much as learning a language is a process.
One of my favorite examples of re-entry culture shock is my first full day home after a year in Korea. My friend took me to the grocery store. I didn't dare drive - hadn't driven in a year and was scared to death to get on the highway. At the time I was living in Columbus, OH, which is all highway. Anyway, as soon as we entered the store, it felt as if I was being buffeted by a strong wind. There was English EVERYWHERE, and my brain, not accustomed to having to process so much extraneous information, was in fifth gear processing all the input. When you don't understand 80-90% of what's being said around you for a year, your brain relaxes and doesn't try to "hook" into idle language.
I was set on buying Nestle Toll House cookies that come in the freezer case. I made a beeline past ALL the dozens of varieties of everything and headed to the cookies. There was a woman standing in front of the case, and without thinking, I reached in front of her to grab the cookies off the shelf. She glared at me, and I realized "Oh God, I'm not in Korea any more." Welcome back to the 3 feet of American personal space! I'd become so accustomed to the lack of personal space in Korea that I hadn't realized it didn't even bother me any more. And that very lack of personal space was one of the things that drove me nuts in my first couple of months!
These are the kinds of experiences and ideas I'd like to explore in the video(s). Using the language/culture acquisition model makes a lot of sense, I think.
In second language acquisition, a beginner and often intermediate speakers are constantly translating from their first language into the target language. This increases language processing time while decreasing fluency. Eventually, the learner starts to think in the target language, and utterances become more natural, fluent, and expressive.
My postulation is that there is a similar process in "culture acquisition." When you first arrive in an unfamiliar culture, you view everything as an outsider, from the standpoint and values of your own culture. At first the host culture may seem exotic or exciting as you notice the differences. But as culture shock sets in, these difference start to annoy the hell out of you. "Why do the DO that?" Eventually, just as the language learner begins to think in the target language, you start to acquire aspects of that culture. And you might not even realize it. You might not realize it until you return home and find yourself still thinking "like a Korean." This reentry culture shock is the result of cultural assimilation, which is a process as much as learning a language is a process.
One of my favorite examples of re-entry culture shock is my first full day home after a year in Korea. My friend took me to the grocery store. I didn't dare drive - hadn't driven in a year and was scared to death to get on the highway. At the time I was living in Columbus, OH, which is all highway. Anyway, as soon as we entered the store, it felt as if I was being buffeted by a strong wind. There was English EVERYWHERE, and my brain, not accustomed to having to process so much extraneous information, was in fifth gear processing all the input. When you don't understand 80-90% of what's being said around you for a year, your brain relaxes and doesn't try to "hook" into idle language.
I was set on buying Nestle Toll House cookies that come in the freezer case. I made a beeline past ALL the dozens of varieties of everything and headed to the cookies. There was a woman standing in front of the case, and without thinking, I reached in front of her to grab the cookies off the shelf. She glared at me, and I realized "Oh God, I'm not in Korea any more." Welcome back to the 3 feet of American personal space! I'd become so accustomed to the lack of personal space in Korea that I hadn't realized it didn't even bother me any more. And that very lack of personal space was one of the things that drove me nuts in my first couple of months!
These are the kinds of experiences and ideas I'd like to explore in the video(s). Using the language/culture acquisition model makes a lot of sense, I think.
Invitation to EFL Teachers in Korea
I'd like to extend an invitation to EFL teachers currently in Korea, and those who have recently returned home from Korea. Think back to your first week or couple of weeks on the job. Please name ONE thing that you didn't know then that you wished you had. I'm sure there are many things, but if you can pinpoint the most crucial item, what would it be? Please leave me a comment.
I am gathering research for the TEFL orientation video I am planning to shoot this summer in Korea. Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Komapsumnida!
I am gathering research for the TEFL orientation video I am planning to shoot this summer in Korea. Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Komapsumnida!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Pre-Prod Update
I have begun to re-think, or maybe just think more deeply, about exactly what film I want to make. I still want to create an orientation video for new EFL teachers, but I'd also like to make a more personal film about the full experience of teaching and living in Korea, more of an existential journey about self-discovery in another land. Those are two distinct ideas. Can they be melded? Should they? These questions I am pondering now.
As it stands, I will be creating a promo for a recruiter in Korea (more info on that later). That recruiter will help me connect with hakwan directors and teachers for not only the promo, but the film(s) I am making independently. The recruiter has expressed interest in an orientation video so at the least, that is a go.
I think the personal film could incorporate the entire experience - of going to Korea, living there, coming home and experiencing re-entry culture shock, carrying on life in the States, then having this opportunity to revisit, both literally and psychologically, the experiences of life there. It can incorporate making the training video, even, since that project came to me out of my personal experiences as a new EFL teacher there. It can and should all be part of the personal film which would be about much more than just "life in Korea as an ex-pat."
These are my thoughts right now. It's becoming a bit overwhelming, because I went from making one film to making two films plus a promo.
The other overwhelming aspect is that I don't yet know exactly how I'll be getting to Korea this summer. There is a good possibility that I will be going to teach a cross-cultural documentary class, but I don't want to provide details until it is finalized. If that doesn't work out (because not enough students enroll to open a second section, which I'd be teaching), the recruiter has promised to place me in a good summer EFL program. This would allow me to make the film(s), but it would be more challenging for me to acquire the use of production equipment. But we'll see what pans out. One way or another, this project will happen this summer.
As it stands, I will be creating a promo for a recruiter in Korea (more info on that later). That recruiter will help me connect with hakwan directors and teachers for not only the promo, but the film(s) I am making independently. The recruiter has expressed interest in an orientation video so at the least, that is a go.
I think the personal film could incorporate the entire experience - of going to Korea, living there, coming home and experiencing re-entry culture shock, carrying on life in the States, then having this opportunity to revisit, both literally and psychologically, the experiences of life there. It can incorporate making the training video, even, since that project came to me out of my personal experiences as a new EFL teacher there. It can and should all be part of the personal film which would be about much more than just "life in Korea as an ex-pat."
These are my thoughts right now. It's becoming a bit overwhelming, because I went from making one film to making two films plus a promo.
The other overwhelming aspect is that I don't yet know exactly how I'll be getting to Korea this summer. There is a good possibility that I will be going to teach a cross-cultural documentary class, but I don't want to provide details until it is finalized. If that doesn't work out (because not enough students enroll to open a second section, which I'd be teaching), the recruiter has promised to place me in a good summer EFL program. This would allow me to make the film(s), but it would be more challenging for me to acquire the use of production equipment. But we'll see what pans out. One way or another, this project will happen this summer.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Alpha
This is the initial stage of a production blog for this project. I am producing/directing a video about the experience of living and teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in S. Korea.
From 2002-2003, I taught EFL in Korea, having never taught children or the English language before in my life. I had never been to Asia before, either. Everything, and I mean everything was new, shocking, exciting, frustrating, thought-provoking, intriguing (often a combination of all of the above).
When I returned to the states, I entered an M.A. program in Linguistics at Ohio University in Athens, OH, a small town in South Eastern Ohio. I was blessed with opportunities to teach and learn in my two years at O.U., and I had incredible professors who inspired me to continue teaching. Since then I have taught EFL in the People's Republic of China, and I have taught ESL (English as a Second Language) to international graduate students at Cornell University and SUNY Binghamton.
To continue the story of how this video project came to be, I have to back the truck up a bit. In 1998, I received an M.F.A. in film and video production from the Rochester Institute of Technology (R.I.T.). My thesis was a feature-length screenplay. Life went on, I did other things, including teaching film and writing, and working as a video editor for the Ohio Historical Society. Then things changed (a lot) and I chose to go to Korea to live and work. Since that time, I have taught Screenwriting and Academic English at Ithaca College, as well as the ESL classes mentioned above.
So, as you can see, I have two degrees in two fields, but with this project, I am pulling the best of my experiences together to fulfill a mission - to help other new teachers in Korea have a positive experience with something of a guide to help them find their way.
That's a brief introduction to who I am and what this project is about.
From 2002-2003, I taught EFL in Korea, having never taught children or the English language before in my life. I had never been to Asia before, either. Everything, and I mean everything was new, shocking, exciting, frustrating, thought-provoking, intriguing (often a combination of all of the above).
When I returned to the states, I entered an M.A. program in Linguistics at Ohio University in Athens, OH, a small town in South Eastern Ohio. I was blessed with opportunities to teach and learn in my two years at O.U., and I had incredible professors who inspired me to continue teaching. Since then I have taught EFL in the People's Republic of China, and I have taught ESL (English as a Second Language) to international graduate students at Cornell University and SUNY Binghamton.
To continue the story of how this video project came to be, I have to back the truck up a bit. In 1998, I received an M.F.A. in film and video production from the Rochester Institute of Technology (R.I.T.). My thesis was a feature-length screenplay. Life went on, I did other things, including teaching film and writing, and working as a video editor for the Ohio Historical Society. Then things changed (a lot) and I chose to go to Korea to live and work. Since that time, I have taught Screenwriting and Academic English at Ithaca College, as well as the ESL classes mentioned above.
So, as you can see, I have two degrees in two fields, but with this project, I am pulling the best of my experiences together to fulfill a mission - to help other new teachers in Korea have a positive experience with something of a guide to help them find their way.
That's a brief introduction to who I am and what this project is about.
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