Mr. Han makes rapid progress, while Un-Je picks up some fun vocab

Some days in the classroom are a joy, while others can be quite trying on my sense of humor. Regardless of the earlier classes, I always look forward to my last class of the day with Un-Je and her boyfriend Mr. Han. Mr. Han is quickly learning the ins and outs of conversational English and Un-Je, whose English is terrific, is picking up some new vocabulary. The other night, I taught Mr. Han about describing people. I explained that even if someone is fat it is best to use a euphemism such as large to describe the person’s body type. Un-je has told me that Mr. Han frequently calls her pig. While this would get you slapped in the States, apparently it is an endearing and “cute“term here in Korea. I explained (half jokingly) that in the case of describing a women, you might even use the word curvaceous as a substitute for large.

The other night we sat in class and Un-je hit Mr. Han who responded with, ” You’re fat.“ Un-je quickly shot back, ”I’m not fat, I’m curvaceous.“

I’m proud of my students. ^^