홍성산 교수님의 교양 수업 '실용 영작문'이 종강되었습니다. 종강이라고 하기엔 아직 이르지만 (다음 주 수요일에 최종 과제 점검 후 기말고사) 사실상 교수님도 Final Lesson이라고 하셨기에, 수업이 종감함에 따라 아쉬움을 달래고자 교수님과 학생들과 함께 사진 몇장 찍어보았습니다.
한 학기동안 수업하시느라 굉장히 수고 많이하셨고, 올 겨울 따뜻하게 보내시길 바랍니다...^^
수업 후 학생들과 찍은 몇장의 사진들 올려봅니다.

I'm looking forward to seeing prof.'s comment. Would you leave a comment, sir?

~by 윤철현

I'm genuinely surprised our homepage-blog is so active even during vacation...
I hope everyone's having a nice holiday season. Here's another piece of good news from Tistory. Check out some of the other blogs if you get a chance.

I didn't realize the proper way of bowing was so complicated. Notice the placement of hands and feet and how the order is the opposite for men and women... Hope everyone's having a nice Chuseok holiday.

Speaking of maps, some American textbooks are changing the name of the sea between Korea and Japan from Sea of Japan to Sea of Japan (East Sea). According to a chosun.com article, one publisher, Prentice Hall, had already changed the name to East Sea (Sea of Japan).

One would think there's a textbook committee that keeps geographical names consistent throughout all U.S. textbooks, but apparently there isn't.

I wonder when they'll change the name to simply East Sea or whether this is even a consideration...

U.S. Textbooks Add 'East Sea' [chosun.com]

Even native speakers of English need to learn English. A funny video of 18-year old Miss South Carolina Teen answering a question at a Miss Teen USA pageant. "Like such as and..."

Q: Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can’t locate the United States on a world map. Why do you think this is?

A: I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as in, uh, South Africa and, uh, the Iraq and everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, uh, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, should help South Africa and should help Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our children.

What poise! What confidence! What incoherence! YouTubers are having a field day with this one. Here's one of the funnier parodies.

The fact that 1/5 of Americans can't locate the US on a world map is, well, not all that surprising; the possibility that it's because many Americans don't have maps may be a serious problem. So some folks actually started a blog just for maps, all sorts of maps, at MapsforUs.org ("The children of America need maps"), where Miss South Carolina is the unacknowledged spokesperson. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

The new semester is just around the corner. Apart from moving back to campus and selecting courses, most Korean college students are probably busy meeting up with their friends to talk about how they've spent their summer vacation. Over drinks, of course.

Parties and alcohol are prevalent in almost all college campuses throughout the world, but the drinking culture may vary from country to country. For example, most of the drinking in American schools take place on campus; there are numerous frat parties, dorm parties and school-sponsored events that serve alcohol throughout the semester.

But drinking, especially binge drinking, can lead to problems such as drunk driving and even alcohol poisoning. You can listen to the Voice of America podcast about how one school, University of Oklahoma, has decided to enforce strict policies regarding student drinking to deal with these alcohol-related problems. The script is also below.

Click here for script: "Rules about Alcohol"

The Voice of America website is a great resource for students of English. Originally a famous radio program, they provide podcasts for every news story they cover, and the articles are read by a real person (unlike some newspapers that employ machine-generated voices). In addition to current news, they have a section called Special English for learners of English. What's "special" about Special English?

It has a core vocabulary of 1500 words. Most are simple words that describe objects, actions or emotions... Special English writers use short, simple sentences that contain only one idea. They use active voice. They do not use idioms... Special English broadcasters read at a slower pace, about two-thirds the speed of standard English. This helps people learning English hear each word clearly.  It also helps people who are fluent English speakers understand complex subjects.

If you think studying English without idioms is no fun, this can be remedies by going to the American Idioms page (in Korean).

Also worth mentioning is the Foreign Student Series (43 stories in all) that will be of particular interest to those thinking about studying abroad, or for those just curious about American college culture. As well as the story above about drinking, other topics in this series include the following:

• Choosing a Student Exchange Program to Come to the US
• Helping Foreign Students in the US Feel at Home
• A College Handbook Just for International Students
• Your Questions About Admissions Tests
• English Tests: Comparing the TOEFL and the TOEIC

By using VOA podcasts, you can learn about U.S. higher education and improve your English at the same time. It might even help you decide whether or not to study abroad.