A Look at the Mind of a Korean Child

You are about to take a look inside the mind of a Korean child. In my "upper level" (this is a relative term not to be confused with "advanced") classes I have my students write a diary two times a week. Here is a collection from one student provided to you in unedited format.This is a child that when I ask how he is today he answers, "I am very handsome." And when I ask him what he did yesterday he replies, "I am eating chocolate cake." He then continues to serenade me with "Yesterday" by the Beatles.

Study- I study with my mother My mother hit me because mistake a lot. I'm very angry but my mother study too. Mother hit me but I like mother.

I don't know why this doesn't shock me anymore. I think if I were a teacher in Canada, I would have had to call social services by now, or I would probably be facing charges of criminal negligence. This is just one of many diaries that I get like this: kind of freaky.

I all play today. I play watch TV, I play computer game at the PC room and I play with my friends. I'm very interesting. I make the Songpyon (Rice cake) with my family. So I eat Songpyon. It's is delicious.

This is a rare glimpse into what makes the Korean child tick. He is seemingly motivated only by TV and computer games, but as the next diary entry shows, although to the untrained eye he may seem one-dimensional, he is not.

library- I go to the library with my friend. I read book at the library. I borrow the books. It's very interesting books. I like book because I make a knowledge. So I like book. (Nike swoosh added for effect)

As you can see, deciphering the mind of a Korean child is not an easy task. It is a complex place made doubly so by the "English" he uses. If one day he can start to move away from the present simple tense, we may be able to take a further look inside his mind.