gangwon notes

In days of yore, when men were men...

2009-11-22T02:40:00.000+09:00

From a review of a book that summarizes genetic research into chimps and humans comes an, I don't know, warning(?) about seeking too much comfort.

...humans in the last 30, 40, or 50,000 years have been domesticating ourselves. If we're following the bonobo or dog pattern, we're moving toward a form of ourselves with more and more juvenile behavior. And the amazing thing once you start thinking in those terms is that you realize that we're still moving fast. I think that current evidence is that we're in the middle of an evolutionary event in which tooth size is falling, jaw size is falling, brain size is falling, and it's quite reasonable to imagine that we're continuing to tame ourselves.

Recorded history, which for me means the last two thousand years or a little more, is probably too short to really notice the changes described above. On the other hand, reading about how the Spartans lived is awe-inspiring at least partially because of the privations they faced, and how i would likely have curled up on the ground and cried facing a tenth of them.

Yeah, my lack of toughness and resilience isn't a good indicator. I felt much the same way in reading Johnny Reb, a book about the day-to-day lives of confederate soldiers. The Civil War was too recent see evolutionary change in people.

Anyway, when I think of domesticated animals, I think first of dogs. Dogs are known to be less intelligent than wolves, with smaller brains. On the other hand, dogs are better able to read and understand human expressions.

I also think about Idiocracy.

Great, another reason to be worried about my son's future - and his children's, and their children...

Travel and finding the unexpected

2009-11-21T21:26:00.001+09:00

Joongang has an article about travel that discusses the Moon Shin Museum in Masan and museums in Yeongwol. It mentions other places, but I lived in Masan and this blog is Gangwon Notes, so these two caught my interest.

The Moon Shin Museum is on the edge of Muhaksan and offers a great view of Masan and it's harbour. Along that edge of Muhaksan are (okay, were - I lived there twelve years ago) several old buildings that weren't quite decrepit and several small temples and shrines. Also, the hike up the mountain is good fun.

Yeongwol has everything except the ocean. It is a sort of adventure capital for Korea with rafting, climbing and might even have a paint gun area. It is also a dark-sky zone and has an observatory. Apparently, it also has eighteen museums.

I'd like to add to the article by suggesting that all travelers with a bit of time on their hands should ask about local museums. They are often kitchy, but almost always fun. Sadly, Sokcho's museum is well-done and in a modern building, but doesn't really have a special local identity. The whale museum in Donghae, in contrast, is fantastic.
------
Added Later: Joongang also has an article specifically about Yeongwol's museums:

The first museum to open was Yeongwol Book Museum, which opened in 1999 in what used to be a school. Although the locals criticized the developers for opening a museum deep in the mountains, Chosun Minwha Museum opened the following year. Museum after museum began to fill the empty buildings.

Area residents are still at a loss to explain why so many museums opened here. However, it is thanks to the museums that Yeongwol County was designated a special museum district last year, which has led other local governments in the area to try to repeat the phenomenon to open more museums.

Universities should be competitive -but against whom?

2009-11-21T21:00:00.002+09:00

Two years ago, one of the foreign teacher liaisons, in describing changes at the university and tightening budgets, brought up Korea's low birthrate.

"Every year there are fewer students available to come to university and our university must fight with the others to get those students and, well, stay alive" I've put it in quotes and I am sure i have captured his point, but the actual words could be slightly different.

It was clear that we were competing with other Korean universities.

In the Herald, there is an article about universities working to enhance their competitiveness. I am not sure who they are competing against.

Leaders of some 115 universities gathered at a forum yesterday to discuss ways to enhance the competitiveness of higher education.

The International University Presidents' Forum was held at Ewha Womans University in Seoul to share strategies for university development and improvement of educational quality.

The one-day meeting was organized by the Korean Council for University Education.

"In order to survive the growingly fierce competition among countries, universities should be the heartland for producing talented individuals with multicultural global competences and creative abilities," said Lee Bae-yong, KCUE chairwoman and Ewha president, during her opening address.

So, are universities fighting for their country's honour and standing? The "enhance the competitiveness of higher education" bit suggests they are competing against not-university; apprenticeships, colleges, early entry to the workforce, even distance education.

In a TedTalk, Ken Robinson described how the current education systems of the world had one goal; creating university professors. He also stated that most education systems kill creativity. Perhaps universities could compete in innovation.

I agree with the idea that universities should provide an education, not job-training. Yet, perhaps we need more focus on jobs and how jobs and businesses actually work at university. I don't have the answers or suggestions as most of my life has been in education. Still, I can see that some practical results need to be brought to the university.

I have asked some big questions and have no answers, not even if this is what the conference was all about.

Hmm, The Times has an article about Korea's 'gruesome future' which might be a little relevant.

This article is about Korea's declining and aging population.

The world's lowest birthrate here, when coupled with the highest suicide rate, also tells us something; Korea is becoming a country in which people increasingly find it hard ― and/or unpleasant ― to live. The government's demographic concerns also focus mostly on the shortage of workers or soldiers, failing to delve into the more fundamental causes of the problems.

Just think of it: Who would want to produce children in a country where everything ― entering schools, finding jobs and getting your own home ― must be won through cutthroat competition with the portion of state-provided welfare dwindling year by year?

The second paragraph interests me. Considering there will be a smaller number of students graduating from high school, why not ease the competitiveness of the university entrance exam? Why not drop student-professor ratios and encourage students to learn with their professors, rather than in-spite of them (If the 'in-spite of...' confuses you, you haven't taught at university). A smaller number of students can and should mean a better quality of instruction. We need to work to make that happen.

Updated on November 23.

From the Korea Times (I am at work and don't have time to comment further - but I did add bolding, if that makes a difference!):

The English portion of the test has once again been attacked as unfair, questions in all parts of the test have been challenged, and no doubt we will again learn of test cheats. Test proctors, too, are accused of failing to monitor tests adequately, or creating disturbances during the testing period.

A testing administrator claimed that the English test was relatively easier this year; yet, test-takers claimed it was harder than the practice questions they got from last year's test.

For those of us who live, teach and study in Korea, we must again ask ourselves: What's going on? How can we fix this mess?

High stakes

Korea's university entrance exam is the ultimate high-stakes test. It is, for some, literally "life or death." Aircraft, trains and, even private businesses adjust their schedules on test day to reduce disruptions to candidates.

Scores from the test day are the sole, or major, consideration for admission in over 75 percent of all Korean universities.

Nearly every high school senior took this test on Nov. 12. Most now feel their high school careers are over despite the fact that the school calendar runs until February.

Serious time management

2009-11-21T12:01:00.000+09:00

I am posting this mostly to put it in an accessible place to me to read, and possibly study, later. I understand that most self-help books and guides are crap, and the ones that do what they are supposed to, involve working smarter, not less. Still,there's nothing wrong in working smarter.

Today, I asked my friend Cal Newport to illustrate how he completely dominates as a post-doc at MIT, author of multiple books, and popular blogger. How does he do it all?

Cal writes one of the best blogs on the Internet: Study Hacks. His guest post shows how you can take I Will Teach You To Be Rich principles — plus many others — and integrate them into a way to use your time effectively.

OoS: Happy Anniversary!

2009-11-20T10:37:00.000+09:00

The Origin of Species is 150 years young today.

Read it, and other works by Darwin at Gutenberg.
The Panda's Thumb links to a few essays in honour of OoS.

Image from here.

S.K plans forestation project for N.K.

2009-11-19T16:34:00.000+09:00

From the Herald:

[F]orestation has been one of the top priorities among President Lee's North Korea policy tasks ever since he vowed as a presidential candidate to plant 100 million trees north of the border.

The president ordered related ministries on Tuesday to gauge the impact of the planned forestation project on the entire Korean peninsula and review measures to support North Korea's forestation.

Lee made the instruction while presiding over a Cabinet meeting which finalized the South Korean government's plan to cut the nation's greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent below expected levels in 2020, or a 4 percent reduction from 2005 levels.

"POSCO went all the way to South America to plant trees," the president said, referring to the steelmaker's ongoing forestation work in Uruguay to secure carbon emission rights.

...

Images provided by NASA showed that vast forest fires hit a large part of central North Korea last month.

The U.S. space agency said multiple fires had been burning in North Korea since mid-October, with several hot spots located in a mountainous region in the center of the country.

Here is an Lee Myung Bak project I can agree with wholeheartedly. It seems to have everything one wants in an aid project: benefit to the North Koreans, benefit to the South Koreans and benefit to the world.

For the North Koreans, planted trees will stabilize hillsides, reducing erosion and mudslides. In the long term, the wood can be harvested.

For the South Koreans, stabilized hillsides and deep tree roots hold water in the soil, reducing floods - like the one that on the Imjin River, starting in North Korea, but killing six South Koreans in late summer.

For the world, well, the article discusses carbon offsets, so that's clear. There's more. When a poor country loses it's forests, it becomes a lot poorer, fast. I am thinking of the world's best/worst example of that: Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The D.R. side has forests and is relatively well-off, while Haiti is a craphole.

El Camino Packer explains bowing to US conservatives

2009-11-18T09:54:00.000+09:00

I'm sure everyone has read or seen complaints by Americans by Obama's bow to the Japanese emperor.
Just in case, here is the background (from the Packer's site):

But it’s not appropriate for an American president to bow to a foreign one,” said conservative pundit William Kristol speaking on the Fox News Sunday program, adding that the gesture bespoke a United States that has become weak and overly-deferential under Obama.

The Camino Packer explains what I felt, but does it more eloquently than I seemed to manage:

I guess no one told them that there is such a thing as different cultures and different greetings. All the former Presidents were Caucasian and never grew up in a multicultural society like Hawai`i or are multiracial. This just goes to show the rest of the world that Obama is a worldly leader.

There is a little more at the Camino Packer's site.

A typical day at work

2009-11-17T21:03:00.000+09:00

Here I am in my blogging persona. You mean not everybody makes a fake 'press' card to fit in their hat when they blog?

I chose to take public transit to work today. I first take an city bus, then an inter-city bus. Between buses, I had to wait a bit so I visited the ocean.

Homework, based on what turned out to be difficult exam questions, included the request that students compare themselves to me.

Apparently, I have a nose like [a] high mountain. And yes, I am afraid of the dentist. I mean, I've seen Marathon Man - and had plenty of work done.

This homework looked too good to be true. The next request was to tell me about a time the student had been happy (this is a different student, by the way). There was one thing that the student really should have noticed, whatever his level:

It will be easy to you to find, and probably you would have found it without the circle. Especially with the source in Korean and translated onsite.

Okay, back to my alter-identity:

Skindleshanks in the Herald

2009-11-17T19:13:00.000+09:00

Photo from the peak of Seoraksan. Also from the Korea Herald.

Now its time for you to dust off your blog.

Leonid Meteor Shower

2009-11-16T20:41:00.000+09:00

I remember sleeping out on the backyard of my house when I was 14 or so, to get up and watch the meteor shower. There were two or three per minute and it was fantastic.

On the other hand, many meteor showers are more like a drizzle (to a layman like me, anyway) or a fizzle. Boring!

Still, a friend mentioned on Facebook that the Leonid meteor shower was coming soon. I hope there's something to see, but I fear there will be too much light-pollution and there will be little to see.

From Space.com:

When people hear about an impending meteor shower, their first impression may be of a sky filled with shooting stars pouring down through the sky like rain. Such meteor storms have actually occurred with the annual Leonid meteor shower of November, such as in 1833 and 1966, when meteor rates of literally tens of thousands per hour were observed.

In more recent years, most notably 1999, 2001 and 2002, lesser Leonid displays of up to a few thousand meteors per hour thrilled skywatchers.

This year will be not set any records, but ...

...

[for] much of Asia, India and Indonesia, the corresponding calendar date will be Nov. 18. It will be 12:40 a.m. in Moscow; 3:10 a.m. in Mumbai; 4:40 a.m. in Jakarta and 5:40 a.m. in Beijing, Unfortunately from Tokyo and across Australia, the sun will have already risen, effectively hiding the meteor outburst.

It is yet possible that some meteors will be seen before the peak. Tomorrow night and Wednesday morning, we will be on the roof.

Remember, keep looking up!

adfdsa

Internet use guide for foreigners

2009-11-16T19:36:00.002+09:00

Yonhap reports that:

South Korea launched Monday an interactive guide for foreigners wishing to use South Korea-based Web sites more easily.

The site in question offers assistance for foreigners wanting to use Korean sites that require using your ID. ID numbers in Korea consist of two six-digit numbers; the first six are your birthdate and the second six, well, are mostly random. However, the first digit of the second set reflects your nationality. If it starts with a '5', you are a foreigner. My son, with dual citizenship until he reaches eighteen, has a different first digit, and my wife, Korean, has a different digit yet. Shamefully, I do not know my wife's ID number, so I cannot tell you what the number is for Koreans.

However, I can tell you that it is the one that works on Korean sites, and the foreigner's number does not.

Anyway, the website describes itself as "Internet guide of identical person acknowledgement on alien in Korea". Everywhere, the website confuses 'Identity' with 'Identical' in a really maddening way.

Amusingly, the Korean version of "John Doe" or "John Q. Public" is "Hong Gil Dong" - a local hero for Gangneung.

The scary thing is how free the website (and presumably, the Korean government) expects us to be with our passport number and similar data.

"In case you input wrong alien registration (or domestic residence statement) or wrong name and number with your passport Alien shall input name and number same as that on the identification card (Hey, they used the correct ident.... word) exactly. And you shall input your name with English capital letters.

To keep my commentary simple, the site needs work.

Nov 14 Club Ride

2009-11-15T21:23:00.000+09:00

I don't know why but I have always found Ulsan Bowi beautiful. Five years of seeing it almost daily has not changed that. This pic was taken at Sokcho Expo park before the start of the ride.

Here are two 'Beware of Mountain Fire' signs. There were perhaps five more in the area.

This is why:

As I mentioned earlier, reservoirs are dry. There is little water to be found, although I have seen no warnings in downtown Sokcho.

The ride last week was short and the only challenge was a one kilometre section that was dirt road. This ride was nearly fifty kilometres and involved quite a climb. There was a hill of 7% and another of 9%. I don't really know what that means, but it can't be good when they go out of their way to measure and label it Anyway, we stopped here for a few minutes at Dowon 'Resort'. Above is Dowon Lake but I am not sure what or where the 'resort' is. Still, it was goshdarned beautiful - at least when the 'lake' was out of sight.

Here are two club members returning down the hill. I am the only rider with a road bike, which gives me a slight advantage on level ground, but a great advantage on the downslopes. Still, the others were plenty fast enough and I was feeling a little grim by the end of the trip.

We ate lunch at a Chu-a-tang restaurant. If you don't know what Chu-a-tang is, imagine a handful of cute little eels, and put them in a blender. At the restaurant, a little girl was playing with a batch of fresh Dwenjang and even eating a little.

I don't know if I want to join the club. On the one hand, I could have ridden as far or farther on my own in less time - chiefly because it took a while for club members to arrive at Expo Park and my bike and riding style are different from that of the club's riders. On the other hand, I have not ridden since early October, except for club rides. This ride was the longest or second longest of the year for me. In addition, I was shown places I had not seen before.

What I need to do is do more riding on my own - or really, any form of exercise - in addition for the club rides.

E-books in the classroom

2009-11-14T19:24:00.000+09:00

I have mentioned E-books and their readers (by 'reader', I mean the electronic device, like Amazon's Kindle. Hmm, I wonder how many ---er words now refer to electronics, rather than people. Computer, Rice steamer, Typewriter....) at least once on this blog, and have been considering getting one for years.

Although my Korean language studies have stalled, I think e-book readers would be great: many allow you to store a book and an MP3. You could easily read and listen at the same time.

Also, as an opinionated person, I often want some evidence close-to-hand to support my claims.

Finally, I love to read and even if a book file were as expensive as a paper book, I would save on postage. If/when I start my Masters, having the necessary books in a convenient device instead of going without-
I am unlikely to visit the University in question often - will be very valuable.

The Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology is looking at e-books for Elementary school students.

Korea envisions digital school books ushering in a new chapter in education. Now, if only government authorities could find a company to make e-book readers for the schools to use.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology is planning to spend 18 billion won (about $15.5 million) to establish e-book infrastructures in 110 schools in rural communities around the country, where the digital transition is to be tested first.

However, there are concerns that the project could be derailed. The consortium that the government picked to provide the e-book readers, led by LG Dacom (LG Group's fixed-line telephony unit) and American computer giant Hewlett Packard (HP), is showing signs of bailing.

More than 9,800 e-book devices are required for the project, and the government insists it won't be spending more than 1.1 million won for each unit. However, LG Dacom and HP are finding it hard to keep the price of the device below 1.3 million won.

Another company offered to build the readers for 900,00 but they offered "an inferior device". I would love to see the readers in question. The top-of-the-line Kindle goes for around 400,000 won so I guess these ones would have homework and some interactive capabilities. a commenter at the Korea Times article described how American test users were unhappy with the ability to take notes. I think most readers have some bookmarking, and highlighting functions as well as the ability to take some notes.

The Herald is also looking at e-book readers:

For starters, Samsung Electronics, the country's biggest electronics firm, unveiled an e-reader that attempts to mimic what Amazon's Kindle can do, except for the U.S.-based bookseller's already sizable library. The smaller yet recognizable Korean firm iriver, known for its MP3 players, also put out a similar e-reader armed with a 6-inch screen and QWERTY keypad.

The e-book reader initiatives by the major device makers have helped create a growing list of news articles about the fledgling market in recent weeks, and Korean publishers are now duly set to focus on the topic of digital publication in the forthcoming Paju Bookcity Forum (www.pajubookcity.org), which will kick off its two-day run on Nov. 19 under the theme of "Evolution of Books & Future of Digital Publication."

...

...experts said the e-book market in Korea will confront many difficulties before taking off. Among the thorniest issues are the standardization of e-book formats and new practices for copyright arrangements regarding e-books and other new platforms.

Baek Won-keun, chief researcher of Korean Publishing Research Institute, said that publishers will struggle for a while to come up with a viable vision about the act of reading itself at a time when other options such as video gaming, Web surfing and mobile texting are widely available. "At the heart of the problem is that people are spending less time reading books in general and we have to think about whether we can persuade them to read books again by offering a digital version."

Although standardization is an important issue, the thorniest issue I know of is sharing books and efforts to stop same.
At No substance, All Eloquence, Clay discusses the problems with Digital Rights Management (DRM, software that controls what rights you have toward your MP3 files, e-books, and videos). Quoted with original bolding:

So long as DRM is used in digitally delivered literature, it will never be “permanent” in the way a wood pulp-based text is. So long as its possession is revocable, an e-book will only ever exist as a disposable, ephemeral set of data, unsuitable for the sort of long-term collection we build upon our bookshelves.

Did someone talk about DRM? Cory Doctorow must not be far away.
Hmm, after a second glance, it is still Boingboing, which Doctorow is editor of, but Rob Breschizza wrote the article I am currently looking at.

I recently talked to Sony's Steve Haber, President of Digital Reading, about its flagship ebook reader. Named the "Daily Edition," it hits stores next month. Notwithstanding differences between each manufacturer's respective libraries, it offers all the best features of its main rival, the Kindle. But Sony says it offers one thing that Amazon won't: actual ownership of your books.

Breschizza also compares a few readers:

Sony's new reader also features a 9" display, page-changing swipe gestures, annotations and a cellular connection to download new titles on the go. At $400, however, it's as pricey as the top-of-the-line Kindle DX that it resembles; Sony already has a new generation of cheaper e-readers out which lack the fancy features and big screen.

Barnes and Noble announced its own reader, the Nook, a few weeks ago. At $260, it's competitively priced and has a secondary LCD display. It also focuses hard on consumer-friendly features that Amazon seems unwilling to indulge: in its case, books can be shared between devices and even with friends. Not all books will be available, and shares are limited to 14 days at a time.

I remain interested in buying one and I like iriver's other products but it remains difficult to choose. The keys are 1) owning the book (or it being clear that I don't), 2) able to read a variety of formats - I want to read text files, PDFs, HTML and whatever formats Amazon and others use and 3) the ability to take notes easily. I don't need many other features - I am willing to do my up and down loading connected to my computer so I don't need wireless capabilities - but having an included MP3 player would be nice.

snow and cloud at Seorak National Park

2009-11-13T22:00:00.000+09:00

Levy and gate in Gangneung

2009-11-13T16:59:00.000+09:00

I wrote earlier about the four rivers project and how I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not. I remain suspicious but look at this wall and flood gate in Gangneung

It has been raining for the past few days but the water is well below the level of this parking lot. In the past, however, it has reached this high and the wall (is it a levy? I think so.) and gate have been needed. Evening the flow of rivers might well be good for everyone, including the fish.

So there is H1N1 in North Korea

2009-11-13T04:49:00.000+09:00

Yonhap brings word that a recent defector was diagnosed with the disease. His condition is 'stable' - I hope that means he has or will recover.

Dying from voluntary overtime

2009-11-13T01:36:00.001+09:00

From the Korea Times, I learned that Koreans really can work themselves to death.

Deaths that occur during "voluntary" nightshift should be acknowledged as industrial incidents and should be compensated for, a court ruled Wednesday.

According to the Seoul Administrative Court, a man identified as Park died after having run night shifts at a car accessory plant for more than five weeks in a row. The widow asked the government for compensation, but her request was rejected because he had volunteered.

This is almost the entire article. No word is given on where or how Mr. Park died. I can accept that the man wanted to work or needed the money or the like, but why would the plant want someone to work that long? If someone works himself to death, I would definitely be suspicious of the last few days products.

"I want a car built between Tuesday and Thursday and not by anyone who has worked double shifts for five straight weeks, please.

sleep in class, get posted on the internet

2009-11-12T21:35:00.000+09:00

In the first year ESL textbook I use, students are expected to listen to a conversation and fill in the blanks. It takes too much time for me so I made it homework for my students to fill in the blanks. The answers are on the next page but upside-down. Most students turn the book back a forth to read and remember a few words, fill them in, then flip the book again. This student sped things up by carefully ripping the answers out and holding them right side up next to the conversation. I approve.

No book, sleeping in the corner. I disapprove. No credit for attending this class.

No flu, flu and Bird Flu/ no jets today

2009-11-12T10:42:00.004+09:00

Editted before posting: The links are good. I had to search for sentences in the article, and google gave me full URLs for linking purposes.

I am using my old computer at work. I seem unable to see the full links for newspaper articles. The URLs I am using here for linking are only to the newspaper main page. I'm sorry but you'll have to hunt through to find the articles I am describing. I will edit the post this evening to include links.
From the Dong-a, I learned there is no swine flu in North Korea:

North Korea officially refers to swine flu as new influenza, but many in the North call it swine flu because of international media.
The communist country said yesterday that it has no cases of the flu so far, adding it has no reason to hide any flu outbreaks.

Pak Myong Su, in charge of infectious disease control at the North’s Health Ministry, told the Japan-based daily Chosun Shinbo Oct. 14, “A weakened health infrastructure doesn’t lead to the outbreak of the new flu. If so, this will not undermine our image.”

I recall the communist countries of Europe denying that AIDS existed in their pure and more-wholesome countries. They certainly feared that news of such diseases would undermine their image. Of course, it would be challenging to undermine my image of North Korea.
I was interested to read, though, that it was known by the public as swine flu because of 'international media'. I guess international bad news is transmitted there.

Elsewhere in the article, I learned that there is a new flu from China that medicines don't work on and that North Korean doctors don't have the ability (testing materials or knowledge, I don't know) to recognize the swine flu. But there is no swine flu in North Korea. And it there were, it wouldn't reflect badly on them.

There is swine flu in South Korea but today is the University Entrance Exam and there is no second chance to take it. You take it today or you wait a year.

From the Joongang:

High school seniors nationwide had their temperatures checked at schools where they gathered for last-minute preparations yesterday, and re-takers underwent the checkup process at regional education offices. Some 677,000 people, up 18 percent from last year, will be taking the state test, which will decide their college admission next spring.

Under the Education Ministry guidelines, there will be two separate rooms at each school acting as a CSAT venue for students who are confirmed with and suspected of having the flu.

Each room can house between 15 and 28 students. Some 14,000 teachers nationwide who have been selected as supervisors of the flu rooms have been vaccinated. Anyone showing flu symptoms during the test will be relocated to the separate rooms.

Wow! "Yes, we know you have swine flu and, hysterical exaggerations aside, it can kill you. You can take the test in that room, over there. Feel a little dizzy? Just hang onto the sides of the desk a moment. We'll give you until six PM to finish the exam. You can see a doctor or take your medicine after that."

Although my sympathies go out to all the Entrance Exam takers today, I particularly feel for the sick ones. Fighting!
I am thrilled though, to be teaching today without the frequent roar of fighter jets training overhead. The whole country changes it's behaviors to allow the students the best conditions to work.

I don't know if the migration patterns of birds are responsible but bird flu virus has been found in South Korea recently. From the Chosun (and a good link!):

The resurgence of bird flu in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province is causing concerns to health authorities as the H1N1 flu scare continues. A low pathogenic bird-flu virus was found in excrement of migratory birds in a reservoir in Chuncheon. Despite the low infectiousness, health authorities claim they cannot rule out danger to humans or mutation and pledged to stay alert.

The worst-case scenario is that patients infected with the H1N1 virus could additionally contract bird flu, leading to a mutation that gives rise to a new supervirus. "But that doesn't necessarily mean that a new form of virus will be formed when the bird flu virus appears amid the spread of H1N1 virus," a health official said. "But if that did actually happen, the situation we've seen so far would be a mere shadow of what lies ahead. That's why we have to take preventive measures."

Viruses can share genetic information so I guess a 'supervirus' could be created. As I recall (Bird Flu is so 2005), bird flu wasn't very contagious between people. You could catch it from a bird but not spread it to other humans. Simply making it infectious among humans would be a big step toward 'supervirus' status.

Indian English teachers in Korea?

2009-11-11T17:38:00.003+09:00

From the Joongang:

Starting in the fall semester next year, around 100 teachers from India will be teaching English at elementary, middle and high schools nationwide, a high-ranking official with the Education Ministry said yesterday.

The ministry has recently confirmed a plan to “improve the system for assistant native teachers of English,” including hiring English-speaking Indians.

“The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed between Korea and India last Friday has opened a 1.2 billion-strong Indian market. We expect a number of qualified English teachers from India will come here,” said the source.

Also mentioned at The Marmot's Hole and Brian in Jeollanam-do's blog.

Brian quotes and says:

The ministry has spent more than 300 million won a year on hiring and training those teachers but experienced difficulty gaining sufficient “qualified” teachers, given that only 13 percent of them have official teaching certificates.

I wrote about the misuse of "qualified" and "unqualified" in the Korea Herald in June, and have addressed it many timeson this site, to such an extent that I thought we moved beyond that misnomer. I guess it bears repeating, for those who missed it the last few times around, that it is Korea itself that determined a four-year degree and the right passport are the qualifications for teaching English here.

...

However, I'm sure these teachers come cheaper, and I consider their introduction more indication---together with the new domestic English test, the thousands of Korean English "lecturers," and the increased contract funny business by public schools---that South Korea is moving away from hiring native speakers from the Big 7. Though thousands of native speaker English teachers have been hired for public schools over the years, a near-total lack of planning and support on the part of co-teachers, schools, and education offices has prevented them from reaching their full potential and has essentially set them up to fail. I suspect it won't be too long until the NSET experiment is over.

Indeed, at the 2008 KOTESOL conference, one of the big-name speakers, in describing the future of ESL, discussed the end of "Native speaker English". The example given there was of a Chinese construction company hiring English teachers from Germany, who were more interested in communication, than in proper use of articles and the like.

Certainly, any teacher brought here from India will be well-qualified and experienced. In a third-world country with such a huge population, you're either good at something or you're unemployed. Students will learn excellent English-for-communication, although they might ask, "What is your good name?"

On the other hand, Korea Beat, in discussing a completely different article, reports that racist attitudes in Korea are unchanged. I should add that my very-traditional in-laws welcomed me into their family without reservation.

KwandongAlex is hungry - maybe more later.- Okay, he's fed. Post is as complete as it ever will be.

Remembrance Day

2009-11-11T07:17:00.001+09:00

There were a lot of kids buying Ppeppero at the store this evening. Ppeppero Day sounds like a fun day and not more commercial than Christmas, just more focussed on what should be bought.

For me, on the other hand, it is Remembrance Day. Image from Wikipedia.

Canadian-style poppy worn on lapel

Also from Wikipedia:

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 - 1918)

There was more on a Canadian veteran's website.

I know that a few people from my hometown fought here in Korea. I regret that I cannot find the photo I took of the memorial at Memorial Park in Bracebridge.

Movember

2009-11-10T21:43:00.002+09:00

Movember is an annual, month-long celebration of the moustache, highlighting men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer and depression in men.

Mo Bros, supported by their Mo Sistas, start Movember (November 1st) clean shaven and then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache. During Movember, each Mo Bro effectively becomes a walking billboard for men’s health and, via their Mo, raises essential funds and awareness for Movember’s men’s health partners – The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue – the national depression initiative. At the end of Movember, a series of Gala Partés are held to thank Mo Bros and Sistas for their support and fund raising efforts.

I think we have one more coworker who is growing a mustache for Movember.

In this photo is fellow G-blogger, Paka (with hat).

I am disappointed that my mustache is light coloured and doesn't stand out so well. I think I see a lot of grey in it.

The BBB of M

2009-11-10T21:27:00.003+09:00

In my third year class, we were talking about the five senses. To best use the sense of touch, students had to put their hand into (Kwandong)Brian's Big Box of Mystery. Inside were a wooden block, an open Swiss Army Knife*, some plastic toys a cassette tape, a bolt with wingnuts on it, a few chocolates, a chess piece and a baduk piece.

The box wasn't really that deep - I taped in a divider about halfway. The opening was covered in three layers of paper cut into ribbon but also with "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here".

We also performed a sort of Buddhist food meditation that I learned at KOTESOL from Marc Helgeson. It involved using all five senses to study the food before eating it. We looked at the food (a chocolate, which is probably sacriligious), listened to the crinkling of the wrapper, smelled the chocolate (wiped the drool), felt the texture of the chocolate on our tongues, then finally bit down and considered the taste.

It seemed like a excellent start to the class, although the BBB of M would probably be better for a children's class.

------

The Swiss Army Knife was open to the nail-file, not a sharp blade. Still, when a student found it, you could tell by the look on his/her face.

Is North Korea full of tigers?

2009-11-10T06:57:00.003+09:00

Actual big-cat tigers, I mean. Not metaphorical tigers, such as doubtless fill the ranks of their army.

The Korea Herald and Joongang Daily both have articles about the Korean government asking Russia to lend a few tigers to improve local genetic diversity. The tigers would be used to improve diversity in zoo populations but both articles reference 500 living in the wild.

Herald:

The tigers, which had widely inhabited the Korean Peninsula until the early 20th century, are presently on the list of critically endangered species due to poaching and habitat destruction. Siberian tigers, most of which currently live in the Russian Far East, are also known as the Amur, Manchurian or Korean tiger.

Okay, that's not so specific, but now the Joongang:

Siberian tigers, also known as Amur tigers, have the same family line as Korean native tigers that have not been present since 1924.

In 1940s, there were 20 to 30 Siberian tigers in Korea. However, the number increased after the government adopted policies, such as hunting bans, to protect them.

Currently, an estimated 500 tigers roam the wilds in Korea and 421 are being raised in captivity.

The first and last quoted lines confuse me. 'Not present' and '500 tigers roam wild'.

Another reason to pity those poor North Koreans.

A masters in TESOL

2009-11-09T21:54:00.002+09:00

I'm looking for some advice. I want to get my Masters in TESOL and have a few questions that I hope my loyal readers could answer.

First, it would be easiest if I could do my degree at home. I am currently looking at Birmingham University, Anaheim U and the New School; chiefly because these three had seminars at The KOTESOL conference. In the lead is Birmingham.

At some point I would like to return to Canada. Would a degree from these universities be recognized, or approved of? I'm hoping that online or correspondence degrees have lost some of their bad reputation. One way or another, they are expensive enough and will take enough time that I wouldn't want to do it for nothing.

Can readers suggest other universities?

Any suggestions would be welcome.