If I had three wishes...

Instead of teaching lessons on pronunciation and grammer, I decided to change things up a bit. Initially, I planned a lesson around Kelly Clarkson's song "Breakaway." The lyrics were easy to read and follow along, even for my low-level students. However, after teaching this lesson with my first class and having them fill in blanks and circle new vocabulary, the thought of listening to the song 24 more timesover a span of 2 weeks gave me a migraine.

Change of plans. This morning I watched the English club practice their rendition of "The Wizard of Oz." As I listened to the students recite their lines ("I wish for a heart... I wish for a brain...") I thought to myself... what do these middle school kids really wish for? To go to Seoul University? To travel outside of Korea? To become a doctor? Why not make a lesson out of it?

In my first class of the day....I asked my students if they had three wishes, what would they be and why? I listed different cateogories on the board... such as Long-term wishes, short-term, material goods, "well-being" (i.e. health in Korea), appearance, and "other intangible things" (i.e. happiness, love, friendship). I chose a handful of students write their wishes on the board. A few surprised me. Here are some of responses from my class of all girls. We'll see how the boys respond next week.

"I wish I had a pointy nose."
"I wish I had a lot of money."
"I wish I had bigger eyes." (Nearly 2/3 of my class raised their hands for this one!)
"I wish to be rich."
"I wish to find a nice boy."
"I wish I were taller."
"I wish to have longer hair."
"I wish to have a smaller face."
"I wish to be famous." (Most of the girls wanted to be famous.)

And my favorite:
"I wish I looked like an American."
Me: You mean me? I'm an American!!
Student: No you don't.
Me: Yes I do! In America, there are many types of people from all sorts of countries and backgrounds.
Student: But you don't have blonde hair.
Me: Hmffff. So?
Student: Well, I wish to look like an American. Like Hilary Duff!
Me: (Thinking to myself... damn you Hilary Du-puh)

I was hoping they would write wishes like... "I wish to be successful!" or "I wish to go to Seoul University..."

No matter what part of the world you live in, or where you teach, Korean girls have similar insecurities with their image/body shape and how they are perceived by their peers, much like in the U.S. Middle school and even high school girls are not allowed to wear makeup, dye their hair, or even pierce their ears. (Note: All students, except for elementary and university students, must wear uniforms, which are pretty hip by the way. )One student even showed me her "double eye-lid" tape and kept pointing to her "folded" eyes in class. Korean girls want to have big eyes and double eyelids like the American beauties they see on TV, on the Internet, and in the magazines. They also idolize Korean drama stars and singers, many whom have gone under the knife. Double eyelid surgery is the most popular procedure, followed by rhinoplasty (nose job) and even sculpting of the calves! Anyways, point is, even in middle school, the majority of these girls are obsessed with their looks. I may be generalizing a bit, but there is some truth to that.

Read more about SK's obession with plastic surgery here:
http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/1101020805/plastics.html

So my friends...if you had three wishes, what would you wish for?