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THE MAPLE LEAF AWARD
 As you may have
gathered by my constant boasting, ;-) Darcy and I are from Penticton,
B.C., Canada. This is the location of the home riding of The
Honourable Stockwell Day, Leader of the
Canadian Alliance Party for Canada. Please look for links on our
page to this party's headquarters. You should see the students' eyes
widen when I tell them of OGOPOGO! (The Okanagan Lake Monster)
Shortly after our arrival here in Korea, I wrote a letter to Mr.
Day's office expressing a desire to have some Canadian Maple Leaf
lapel pins to give to the students. This was because the students,
themselves, had expressed a desire to receive some of the same. We
had been given a few pins by the
Canadian Alliance Party office when we left for Korea, but we
soon realised that we would need alot more if we were to supply them
to the Korean children who are studying english at Si Sa English
Language Institute.
To my delight, and appreciation, the office of the second highest
level of government in Canada, congratulated us on our teaching
positions in Korea, and has sent us more than 100 Maple Leaf pins to
give to the students. I have been informed that the Leader of the
Opposition, Mr. Day, has himself been apprised of our position here
as Penticton residents teaching english, and of course we are
thrilled to be, at least in a small way, ambassadors for Canada.
The students want the Maple Leaf pins..........but I must say they
do not come easily. Initiative must be shown in the areas of respect
and desire to learn english.............a humble attitude is
important. Soon we will be posting the Maple Leaf Award Certificate.
You will see it, and the pictures of those who receive it! So visit
often.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the
Canadian Alliance Party, and to the Office of the Honourable
Stockwell Day, for taking the time and interest to send us these
Maple Leaf pins. We can truly say that the students are thrilled to
receive them in this year of 2002, when so much of the world's
attention is focused on South Korea. We have found the Koreans to be
a true friends of Canadians living here and of Canada as a nation.
We are happy to be here!
 This
is SIN AH RUM (pronounced: Sheen Ah Roem) She is the first official
recipient of the Maple Leaf Award and a fine example of what it
means to receive it. This young woman is humble enough to speak and
risk making mistakes. In a recent class, I jokingly asked her,
"Can you put this marker pen into your nose?"
answer: "No I can't"
question: "Why?"
answer: "Because my NOSE HOLES are too small!"
Ha! ha! We laugh yes, but this is a classic example of someone who
will succeed at learning to SPEAK a foreign language because she is
not afraid to use WHATEVER words are at her disposal. She did not
know the word NOSTRILS so she selected "Nose holes" to get her
meaning across. Excellent!
Congratulations Sin Ah Rum, we are proud of you!
 Here
are a couple of "wild dudes"! Jang Jon Hwan (Kevin) and Jeong Gi Tae
(Paul). I have had to make these guys stand with their "hands up"
sometimes, (punishment for distracting behaviour) but that does not
dampen their enthusiasm for attempting to SPEAK english. You'll
notice that I always put SPEAK in capitals or italics because to
learn to SPEAK a foreign language is much different from learning to
read it and write it. Reading and writing can be done in the comfort
of a study where errors can be comfortably avoided. But when you
have to SPEAK, you are on the spot, and you risk making a mistake
that will cause others to laugh. These boys don't care, they use
whatever words they can think of to attempt to communicate with me.
I like that!!!! I became (and still am) fluent in french by having
that attitude, and I hope to learn Korean by the same means!!!
Just the other day
Darcy and I went to a coffee shop, and with all the confidence of
Hulk Hogan, I asked the waitress:
"Koppie tool hana mari choosayo"
Well, how she kept herself from falling down on the floor in
hysterical laughter, I don't know, since I had just asked her:
"I would like coffee two animals please......" Ha ha ha!
Like I said, you gotta make mistakes to learn to speak a foreign
language! But I think that made her day........the whole restaurant
probably cracked up after we left! :-)
 This
is Ha Yu Jin.........moving ahead with english! She has a great
smile too!
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Here
is Ee Choo On, she is very pleased with her Maple Leaf pin, and she
is receiving it because she pays close attention to the teacher and
tries very hard to speak english!
