::A Geek in Korea::

I accompanied my wife to an English educational book store to help her pick out new books for some of her classes. I was there in an advisory role, as I needed to give her some advice as to the books, and look at what kind of materials and books they had for what she needed to do. We went over to the series I had recommended and started working through how her lessons would work, page by page. I told her how I structure my lessons for class, how I use the material in the book to cover the basics of reading, writing, listening, speaking.

We were having this conversation in lowered tones in one corner of the room by the elementary school books. It shows what I poor tactician I am, because I didn’t realize that giving seemingly free advice about books and how to teach classes would be like catnip to Korean mothers in the room. In the manner of minutes, there were people swarming me for answers about book recommendations. Remember that scene in Interview with a Vampire, in the theater, where they rip off that woman’s clothing and all the vampires move in to feed in a mass of fangs? It was a lot like that, except with less death and more phonics books.

Giving recommendations to my wife was difficult enough. I’ve never taught or met her students, so I simply have to rely on her experience and understanding of the student’s levels to give a best guess as to how to proceed with the material. Factors such as age, reading ability, determination to study, and parental involvement all need to be considered when choosing a book.

When a random lady in the English book store comes up and says, "Hey, what book should I pick for my kids to study" it’s nearly impossible to give a good answer. I tried to get an idea of their age and general speaking ability, but when you get an answer like, "They can read, a little," does that mean they have bad pronunciation, bad phonics, bad intonation, or all three? All I could do is give them recommendations about good and bad book series and why. The strengths and weaknesses of series, or things I would or wouldn’t use myself.

Even after I had escaped the recommendations phase, women came up to us with purchases and asking us if they had made good choices to teach their kids on their own. One of the problems, of course, is that they didn’t realize we were a married couple. They simply thought I was a foreigner for hire at the right price. It’s almost scary how Korean parents can go from meeting a random person in a bookstore to inviting them to teach their children without thinking about the consequences. I guess I sound like I know what I am talking about. Must be my disarming American charms that wiles away their reservations. I was always mentioning what worked in my current school as the basis of my recommendations , so if they really wanted to get a class from me they knew where to find me.