Korean painters

I saw a tradesperson’s van announcing that:

WE ARE PROFESSIONAL KOREAN PAINTERS

I wouldn’t have thought that there was much money to be made from painting Koreans. Perhaps they should try painting houses instead. Ha ha. I wonder if any non-Koreans hire these painters because they are Korean, or because they are professional and experienced.

In 2015, during my second stay in Korea, my wife and I went to Dongdaemun Design Plaza. A number of young artists were painting caricature portraits of people. We got ours done. It was (and is, as I look at it now) very apparent that the artist was much more experienced in painting Koreans than foreigners. I’m recognisable, but that’s about all. (Looking at it again, I can see that’s it actually pastel.)

When I taught English, I had a set of flashcards of occupations (and still have them). Two were/are of a painter, which showed someone painting a house, and an artist, which showed someone painting a painting (which, when completed, really should be called a painted).

(Korean painters might also be these people.)

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Schoolhouse Rock and Grammaropolis

A few years ago, an online friend alerted me to the Schoolhouse Rock songs and videos, especially the series on English grammar, which had been a big part of her school education in the USA. Since then I have used them occasionally to reinforce grammar points in the textbook. Now I’m planning to use the whole series as an introduction to the semester’s study. I get the feeling that English textbooks for Korean students focus on the details without ever giving the ‘big picture’. (In fact I get the feeling that almost all English textbooks do.) Schoolhouse Rock’s English grammar songs/videos cover subjects and predicates, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections.

While I was re-viewing those videos in preparation, Youtube suggested a similar series of songs/videos called Grammaropolis, which I had seen briefly before but never viewed in depth or used in class. Their songs cover nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections and punctuation.

I could quibble with some of their explanations and examples, but generally they cover the basics in a light-hearted way. Students and even native speakers could well benefit from spending an hour listening through to each series, especially comparing and contrasting the information in each.

Youtube also suggested other grammar resources (songs/videos or presentations) which I might or might not follow up on.