The Silence of the Aitches

Today in Social Studies, we took a quiz on the geography of South Asia. One of the most diabolically fun things about my job is that I get to make my pupils learn whatever geographical locations and features I think are important. Few moments here in Korea have given me greater pleasure than the time I leaned back in my chair, steepled my fingers, and with a faraway gleam in my eye, said to myself..."Yeessss...very good...they will be required to learn the locations of the Indus and Ganges rivers. The Brahmaputra will be extra credit. Mwahahahahahaha. Mwahahahahahaha! MWA-HA-HA-HA-HAH!"

But I digress.

South Asia includes such countries as Bhutan, and such national capitals as New Delhi, Kathmandu, Thimphu, Dhaka, and such landforms the Brahmaputra river, etc. Of course, all these silent aitches present a challenge to memorization. So correcting the quizzes, I've seen a lot of Dehli, Thimpu, Dakha, etc. The most entertaining is when they throw a silent aitch into a country name that has none. I have seen both "Bhurma" and "Burmha" given as names for Burma (the country immediately to the east of India whose oppressive military government would rather that people called it Myanmar).

A Very Special Episode of "Korean Eighth Graders Write the Darndest Things!"

Assignment: write a critique of the story "The Treasure of Lemon Brown" from the perspective of the article "Homeless in America."  (Basically: is the story's portrayal of Lemon Brown, a homeless character, realistic?)

"In the last part, Lemon Brown said that he'll be moving to East St. Louis so he could be safe from the thugs who are trying to hurt him.  It's unknown how he'll move and why moving to East St. Louis rather than any other places.  Homeless people wouldn't have money for expensive transportation unless they manage to hide inside an empty backpack, hitchhike, or hijack a vehicle."

"He picks [food] out of the trash sometimes, but he doesn't seem weak from hunger.  Either he gets a lot of good food from the trash or it's just not real."

"I wonder how he [Lemon Brown] ate, how he washed, and how he slept because in the story it did not tell about Lemon Brown's supplies like toothbrush, sleeping bag."

"I researched in google and it says that the most reason homeless people doesn't leave their place is that other people might steal their seats."