say what you like of the camouflage pants and the spy theme, but the chorus of this song is pure genius. SUPERSTAR PARTY STARTS SEXY STAR HOT TIME
Korean wave is huge in Saigon, and believe me, as soon as I'm given any freedom with my lesson plans, I'm exploiting that so hard. #TEACHWHATYOUKNOW
I've long been accustomed to the idea that asking "do you understand?" to students usually accomplishes nothing and is sometimes counterproductive (since the question itself pressures the students to say "yes", since even if a student honestly says "no" the teacher still doesn't know what or why the student doesn't understand, since if everybody simply nods or does nothing the lesson sometimes proceeds assuming everyone has understood when in fact this is not the case...), but today I learned that Vietnamese students will say "Yes, teacher, I understand" for a totally different reason. I do feel uncomfortable with my school's dress code insofar as it sets me apart from the general population (see yesterday's post), but the fact remains that teachers are highly respected in Vietnam - and that no student would admit to not understanding the teacher because it would cause the teacher - not the student! - to lose face. Not that I think that anyone should lose face when a misunderstanding occurs, but isn't that interesting? In Korea, students are afraid of acknowledging lack of understanding because they don't want to look stupid; in Vietnam, students are unwilling to acknowledge lack of understanding because they don't want their teacher to look stupid.
I'm not the only one who finds this fascinating, right?
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