Do You Believe Superstitions?

Here is a guest post from Oh Chae Won in LIEC 107

Do You Believe Superstitions?

There are many superstitions in the world. Some people say that they believe

them, but others think they are just lies and nothing. What is a superstition? It is

the belief that people made for their good luck and also bad luck that we want

to avoid negative situations. Do you believe it? There are many superstitions in

Korea, and especially I want to tell about Korean superstitions of an exam.

Korean people often eat rice cakes which are called “Tteok” before they take

a test, because it is very sticky. We also eat “Yeot”, and it is a type of sticky

and sweet Korean candy made from glutinous rice. It is believed that good

fortune will stick on to you if you eat them. Korean students usually eat these

before an exam so that all the knowledge sticks into their head. They believe

that if they chew sticky things such as “Tteok”, “Yeot” and taffies, their name

will be able to be stuck on the board of the successful candidates. For instance,

most Korean parents give Tteok and taffies to their children who will have CSAT

similar to SAT in America. I also got a lot of taffies from my parents, friends

and relatives when I was a high-school senior.

However, Korean people have bad superstitions that they need to be careful

about it before the exam. They don’t eat brown seaweed soup or noodles,

because they are slippery. They think if they eat slippery foods, they will slip

when doing their test, and then they can’t stand up. They also believe slippery

foods also will lubricate their brain and the material they’ve studied will slip right

out of their head. Similarly, Korean people don’t cut their nails and hair ahead of

the exam, because they believe that it will cut down their scores.

In my opinion, it depends on the people’s mind whether superstition is

believable or not because it was just made by people. I usually accept

superstitions that will only give good fortune. I believe there is no right or wrong

things in the superstition. Therefore, I think it is better to believe that you think it

will give you a good luck.

My Favorite Movie by Jeon Hyelim

This is a guest blog post from Jeon Hyelim in LIEC 105

201210097. 전혜림
< My Favorite Movie >
Hello professor,I will recommend and
introduce my favorite movie 'Twilight'. I watched this 5 series all. I love story about vampire. One I want to introduce of these series is 'Twilight'. This is love story about vampire. Major characters in this movie are Bella Swan and Edward.

 
Bella has naturally dark personality and she likes better playing alone than with friends. Bella moves from sunny Phoenix, Arizona to rainy Forks, Washington to live with her father. The first day of school, Bella looks at the Cullens and Edward. She becomes interested and has fascinating feeling to him. A few days later, She attends biology course with him. She is pleasured, but he does strange behaviors like wrapping nose, retching. In addition, he is absent from next course. One day, Bella is almost hit by a car, then Edward extricates her from the car with enormous strength. She finds out that Edward and the Cullens are a vampire who drinks blood of animal. Edward warns to her to keep himself. However, Bella doesn't care about the fact. Over time, Edward and Bella fall in love. Meanwhile, when Bella and the Cullens are playing baseball, James finds them. He hunts humans who have sweet blood like Bella. Edward provokes James by protecting Bella. The Cullens help Bella from getting killed, but Bella gets bitten by James. However Edward saves her by draining the poison out. Bella wants to be vampire, but Edward doesn't want it.
 
This is simple summary of 'Twilight'. During watching this movie, I have so fantastical, and beautiful feelings. Although this series was over, I expect more and more movies about vampire are made.

Social Phobia (Park Ha Young LIEC 107)

< Social Phobia ＞

201410104 Park Ha Yeong

Hi:) My name is Park Ha Yeong and I am sophomore. I would like to introduce a korean movie I watched last weekend with my friend. Have you heard of 'Social Phobia'? It is a combination of the words Social Network Service(SNS) and Phobia. SNS like twitter, facebook, kakaotalk and so on is essential in our life. This movie shows influences of SNS interestingly.

First, I want to tell you a storyline of this movie. Lena posted hateful comments about a suicide of a soldier. It became rapidly widespread through the SNS. Even some netizens also posted malicious comments to her and planned to punish her under the name of justice. They traced her personal information and gathered to break in her apartment with a camera played as a live. However when they entered her house, they found her dead body. Many people blamed them for her death. Because they gave her a extreme stress. Two of them were preparing for being a policeman. Ji woong and Yong min heard that it would go against them. Therefore they insisted her death was a murder. They tried to find evidences that support their insistence.

I think their action to trace her was not righteous. It wasn't justice but selfishness. Ji woong and Yong min behaved because of their benefit. It was just 'witch hunt'. People tend to express their feelings on the Internet too easily without considering those influences on others. In addition, the expressions are usually cruel and harsh. I think it is invisible violence. A development of the Internet has both merits and demerits. It is important to utilize the good things and be careful in an anonymous place. I hope that we will become more considerate in real life and on social network service(sns). I usually watch movies just for fun. However, I considered messages of this movie and it was very interesting. I am not very good at writing yet so I am concerned about getting my ideas acrossㅠ_ㅠ. I would like to express my thought effectively and communicate with others in English. Therefore I will practice this kind of activities and participate in your class actively. Thanks for reading my multimedia journal assignment!

And another student blog!

Choi Eun Kyoung of Low Intermediate English Conversation 106 also has her own blog!  Check it out!

http://blog.naver.com/eg0957/220305291189

Another Blog

Seongkyu Park, in Low Intermediate English Conversation 106, has made his own blog for his multimedia journal!  Please visit it and leave a comment for him.

http://seongkyupark.blogspot.kr/

Thanks, Seongkyu!

Modern Life and Traditional Customs

Guest post from Huang Shimeng in HIEC 109:

  Mordern Life and Traditional Customs

  Nowadays, people's life develops quite rapidly and things have changed a lot over the centuries. As the skyscrapers replacing the old buildings gradually, telephone, air-conditioner, TV, digital camera, computer and the internet have taken their place in our life. It means we've stepped into Information Age and apparently people are enjoying these newest digital products. 

   As we can see, people are leading a more colorful life than ever in their spare time with all these hi-tech products. Such as watching movies, surf the internet or just make a phone call with their friends and families whenever and even wherever. Compared to the previous age when people couldn't even feed themselves, how different the present life is! What's more, it differs a lot as well in transportation. Various modern means of transport have taken the place of human feet and horses. Airplanes, subways and even maglevs are offering people much convenience. In other word, people can save a lot great deal of time when on the way of traveling.

  However, there's always something remaining the same while people are enjoying the changes caused by hi-tech. For example, the traditional customs and festivals are typical to be carried on as the old time. Especially the customs that people gather to celebrate as well as ethical culture forms like Peking Opera, ancient architecture and traditional food. Peking Opera is spreading throughout and as to ancient architecture like Siheyuan and Hutong, people are still preserving them well as the symbol of the whole nationality's historical culture. Besides, when it comes to traditional food, people are still used to enjoy it. Even though the world has been extremely highly developed and all kinds of foreign culture are pouring into China, traditional food is still the mainstream. That's why I believe traditional culture will stay unchanged and develop further though those hi-tech products bring along unprecedented creature comforts. And on the original basis, it must create miracles one after another because it belongs to the soul of    our Chinese nationality.

Family Introduction

This is a guest post from Koo Min Woo for his multimedia journal assignment:

Hello, Professor. I am Koo min woo.

First, I am really happy to meet you.

Because it’s my first journal, I would like to tell you about my family.

Now let’s begin. To your surprise, my family consists of 5 members: dad, mom, younger brother, sister and me.

My dad is our good cook. Do you know why? Because, when he often makes a dish, our family members enjoy a meal.  

But, it doesn’t mean that my mother is not at cooking.

His hobby is watching a baseball game.

Despite of living in Pusan, he is a fan of Samsung. Of course, I am Giants’ fan

This makes a trouble, you can imagine I think.  You’re right!  

When we sometimes watch the baseball game, we support other team.

But we don’t care whether which team win. We just enjoy together.

Also, when I have a trouble, he listens to my worry carefully and offers a solution

So, I am very thankful to him for everything.

Second member, my mother is an ordinary housewife but my brother and I call her a wonder woman.

Why do you call her? You can ask me like that.

Although she loves socializing and she’s always out meeting people, she manages to keep the house spotless. So we call her like that.

Her hobby is cooking and shopping.

The funny thing is that she often takes me and my brother to the mart and department store as a porter.

As she is very humorous, I like to talk with her.

Third member is my brother. He is 20 years old and he wants to be a

Chef of Western food

So, he is now at cookery school at Seoul and lives in dormitory.

Unlike me, he likes exercise so he plays soccer every weekend.

And because he is interested in clothes, he has many clothes and often goes shopping.

I ‘am not interested in clothes so I have a few clothes.

Sometimes, secretly I wear my brother’s clothes but he doesn’t know as he has many clothes.

Now, as he isn’t at home, I can’t do that.  I miss him sometimes.

Fourth member is my cute sister. She is 13 years old.

When both of my parents work in the past, I often took care of her.

As a baby, she is very cute and beautiful but now… uncertain.

In my eye, she is still cute.

She loves puppy so she often asks me “could you buy a puppy?”

I want to buy her a puppy but we live in apartments so we can’t.

As she has played piano for 4 years, she plays the piano well.

   

Lastly, it’s about me.

I am 24 years old and about a month ago, I finished army.

So, I have a lot of plans like travels and going abroad for studying,

For all of these plans, I have to earn the money. So I am planning to get a part time job in summer vacation.  

My hobby is listening to music.

Because ballad music makes me relaxed and I can relieve study-related stress by listening to music, I often listening to music on my way home after class.

My favorite singer is Younha.

Because her voice is very clear, it makes me feel better.

Because my family members have various hobbies and characters, we have a lot of conversation each other and often have a joke.

Sometimes, although we conflicted in the opinions, we resolve that and then have a enjoy life.

Thanks for listening to my story.  

Multimedia Journals by Text

Hi everyone, here are a few examples of how to submit a multimedia journal from a text message chat/conversation.  The first is from Son Young Eun in class LIEC 105:

The next is from Nguyen Vy in TESOL Communication 1:

Some More Multimedia Journals

We have some awesome videos submitted today, as well as a business letter and audio recording of a phone call.  Keep up the good work, everyone!

Here is a video from Mingyang Lee in class LIEC 107

And here is a fun video showing a card trick by Jay Nam in class LIEC 106

A multimedia journal example

Ms. Kim Jihyeon, in the TESOL Masters level Communication 1 class, has submitted a video for her first multimedia journal assignment.

Students in Low Intermediate English Conversation, don't worry about your level of English compared to Ms. Kim.  These assignments are not about testing your English grammar, vocabulary, or usage.  It's about fluency.

Still, you may want to watch this video as an example of something you can do.  Pay close attention to how much fun Ms. Kim is having interviewing her coworker.  If you can have fun while doing this, it will make it easy!