KOREAN ISSUES

Teachers School Book Series

Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 1. Moving to a new house? Order Jjajangmyeon!

In 2015, jajangmyeon turned 110 years old. It was first introduced in the
Jung District of Incheon in 1905. Even many Koreans do not realize
that the dish did not actually come from China. In the late 1800s, many
workers came from China to work in the port of Incheon. Nostalgic for
food from back home, they created Jajangmyeon which is a Koreanized
version of a Chinese dish, Jajangmyeon. The original Chinese dish is saltier
and accompanied with minced meat and potatoes. Jajangmyeon is
sweeter and uses more onions.

The origin of Jajangmyeon is associated with a restaurant named

Gonghwa-chun, which was the first Chinese restaurant in Korea. In
October 2005, the city of Incheon promoted a Jajangmyeon festival in its
Chinese community to celebrate the birth of this well beloved dish.

Talk About This!

1. Have you experienced having Jajangmyeon upon moving to a new house?
2. What kind of food do you think is appropriate to serve in a housewarming?
3. When is the peak season for moving in Korea, and why is that?
4. If you just moved to a new house, what kind of food would you like to prepare
Teachers
for the people who helped you moving? School
5. Aside from Jajangmyeon, what kind of Chinese dish do you like?
6. Why do you think Koreans Learning Material
have a food-related culture such as Pepero day,
Samgyupsal day, Black day?
7. What is your best comfort food?
8. What kind of food do you think is suitable for dinner with co-workers?
9. What is the food that you can confidently say that you know how to cook?
Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 2. Stressful Day?

KT&G, Korea's largest tobacco company, conducted
a survey concerning the day of the week when Koreans most often
purchased cigarettes. The survey involved over 9,000 retail stores across
Korea over an 8-week period. During this period, 132.5 million packs of
cigarettes, including all brands, both Korean and foreign, were sold. As it
turned out, Fridays witnessed the greatest number of sales at 19.5 million
packs. However, this number is only slightly above the expected average of
18.9 million packs. If we assume that the purchase of cigarettes relates to
people's stress levels, Friday would be the most stressful day of the week,
according to KT&G. However, an alternative explanation is that people
buy more cigarettes on Friday because they want extra packs for the
weekend. The lowest day for cigarette sales was Sunday, when 17.9
million packs were sold.
The smoking habit in Korea has been falling over
the past decade. In the mid-1990s around 75% of Korean
men smoked, but by 2014, the percentage had fallen
slightly below 50%.

Talk About This!

1. According to the passage, do more people smoke in this generation compared to
1990s?
2. What do you do when you are stressed out?
3. What do you think is the main cause of stress for Korean adults?
4. Teachers
Describe the most stressful day School
of your life and how you were able to deal with it.
5. If the person you love is a smoker, would it be fine? Why or why not?
6. Was there anything that youLearning Material
were addicted to?
7. Choose three factors that stress you out and explain why.
8. From Monday to Friday, when is the most stressful day for you?
9. What kind of job do you think is more stressful?
Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 3. Is house chore only for women?

According to a study conducted by the Korea Women's Development
Institute, the totality of the household chores that are completed
monthly by Korean housewives is equal to work that would be paid more
than 1,000,000 won. When that figure is applied to all the married women
in Korea, the result constitutes 219 trillion won. This figure represents
about 30% of Korea's gross domestic product.

The study also found that Korean women work more hours than
women in Germany and the United States:
Women worked a daily average of

Korea 4 hours 9 minutes

The U.S.A. 4 hours 2 minutes
Germany 3 hours 38 minutes

The study found that Korean men spend little time doing housework,
spending an average of just 46 minutes per day. The amount spent by
American and German men is about four times greater.

Talk About This!

1. Do you agree that women do more chores than men in Korea?
2. Have you heard of glass ceiling? What do you think it means?
3. Are there female taxi drivers in your country?
4. What are the jobs we typically think that women/men should do?
5. Teachers
What do you think are the chores that menSchool
hate the most?
6. What are the chores you dont like to do?
7. Have you ever had an empty Learning
fridge for Material
a long time only because you were too lazy
to go grocery shopping?
8. If you could buy only one of this two things, would you choose a dishwasher or a
washing machine?
9. Do you like to go to the supermarket?
10. Do you prefer to cook or wash the dishes?
11. If you could choose to hire a maid or a driver, who would you hire and why?
Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 4. Birthrate of Korea

The average birth rate of Koreans was 3.02 in 1977. By 2015, it had
fallen to 1.26, which is one of the lowest rates in the world. The rate
for 2004 was 1.29. The average rate among OECD countries is 1.6 to 1.7.
To maintain the current population in Korea, a rate of 2.1 is needed.
One of the contributing factors to such a low birth rate is that some
Korean couples are simply choosing not to have children. In the United
States, such couples are known as "DINKs," which means "double
income, no kids.
The pressure from Korean parents, who want to have grandchildren
is enormous. In addition, the Korean government has introduced a
number of financial incentives to encourage couples to have children.
In spite of these pressures, the average birth rate is not increasing.

Why would some couples choose to remain childless? One married

Korean woman expressed the attitude of many DINKs when she said, "I
don't want to sacrifice my life to have children nor deal with the economic
burden of raising them."

Talk About This!

1. Do you want to have a child in the future? Why or why not?
2. How many children do you think is the best to have in each family?
3. Why do you think more and more people prefer not to have a child?
4. If the cost of raising a child could get lower, do you think more couples would like
to have a child?
5. What do you think are the disadvantages and advantages of raising a child?
6. What are your earliest childhood memories?
7. What are your fondest childhood memories?
8. If you have a child in the future, what do you think is the most important thing to
teach?
9. In your society, is there a culture thats somehow pressuring young married couples
to have a baby?
Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 5. Soju and Samgyupsal Night!

The daily caloric need for the average woman is about 2,000 calories
and for men about 2,200. On a typical night out for Korean people
featuring pork, rice, and soju, they will consume about 3,000 calories, far
above their daily caloric need. In order to burn off these calories, a person
would have to exercise for an hour every day for a week.
Such calorie-laden meals are a contributing factor to the fact that
almost 20% of Korean adults are now considered obese according the
Korean government. This figure is 1.6 times greater than the number of a
decade ago. The health problems created or worsened by obesity are well
known. They include diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.
Women who are just slightly obese are eight times more likely to get
diabetes than those of normal weight; for men, the likelihood is four times
as great.
The two main causes of obesity are very simple: overeating and lack of
exercise. To combat obesity, people need to reduce eating and lead a more
active lifestyle. For example, at company dinners and evenings out with
friends, it is recommended that one try to consume an amount of food
that is equal to a normal meal. Even those who don't like to exercise can still
use up more calories just by walking whenever possible and taking the
stairs instead of the elevator.

Talk About This!

1. Korea is known as the country where you can find a restaurant to dine out even at
2 or 3 AM. Is it true? Why is that?
2. Do you like drinking? How often do you hang out with friends while drinking?
3. Have you ever experienced a situation that you were forced to drink though you
dont want to? If so, why didTeachers
it happen? School
4. Younger generation these days seem to like drinking beer lightly more than heavy
drinking with soju. What doLearning
you think isMaterial
the reason?
5. If you go out with friends, where do you prefer to go between caf and bar?
6. What kind of food would you suggest to have with beer?
7. Do you usually have hangover after drinking and what do you do about it?
8. Do you think Koreans like drinking heavily because they are stressed out?
9. What do you think are the good ways to release stress aside from drinking?
Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 6. Suicide
The suicide rate in Korea is over 25 per 100,000, which is the highest
rate of suicide among OECD member states. One method of
committing suicide is to throw oneself in front of an oncoming train. In
2004, 54 people in Korea attempted to commit suicide in this manner.
Most of them succeeded. In the first nine months of 2005, another 46
people attempted suicide using the same method. Again, most succeeded.
The Seoul subway system is one of the largest in the world, and, with
4.6 million passengers per day, it is one of the busiest. Such a massive
subway system requires thousands of workers, including many subway
drivers. With so many suicides on the subway system, many subway
drivers are suffering enormous emotional trauma because they have
witnessed a suicide. A recent survey showed that 60% of subway drivers
had witnessed suicide attempts. Many of these drivers are suffering post-
traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because of what they have seen. As a
result, they are in need of professional psychological counseling.

Talk About This!

1. What comes to mind when you hear the word suicide?
2. Is the suicide rate in your country high?
3. Why do people commit suicide?
4. Korean teenagers tend to think of suicide more than adults, why do you think so?
5. Does the society do enoughTeachers School
for people who feel suicidal to stop them from taking
their own lives?
6. What would you do if yourLearning Material
friend started talking about suicide?
7. Thomas S. Szasz said: "Suicide is a fundamental human right. This does not mean
that it is morally desirable. It only means that society does not have the moral right
to interfere." Do you agree?
8. What do you think about assisted suicide? Should it be legally allowed? Why or
why not?
9. What do you think our society can do to stop people from committing suicide?
Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 7. What day is it?

Love comes at a huge price in Korea. By one count. there are 21 special
days, anniversaries, and celebrations per year for sweethearts. These
include the following:

January 14 Diary Day February 14 Valentine's Day

March 14 White Day April 14 Black Day
May 14 Rose Day June 14 Kiss Day
July 14 Silver Day October 14 Wine Day
November 14 Movie Day December 14Hug Day

The first such special day, January 14. is called "Diary Day" because
on that day, sweethearts are supposed to buy gifts such as planners.
Then they mark all the red-letter days of love in the planner.

In addition to all these special days, couples also mark the milestones
of 100, 200, 300, and 1,000 days since the first time they met or went on
their first date.
There is also November 11, which is Pepero Day, on which couples
exchange a brand of pencil-shaped cookie sticks covered in chocolate.

Talk About This!

1. Are you aware of Pepero day or Black day? Do you celebrate those days?
2. How many special day do you celebrate in one year?
3. Why do you think those days were created from the beginning?
4. Do you think having the special days like this can help people enjoy their lives?
5. Teachers
Have you ever given chocolate or PeperoSchool
to your parent?
6. Have you heard of Samgyupsal Day?
7. If you can remove some ofLearning Material
the special days in Korea, what would you remove and
why is that?
8. If you could announce one special day, when would it be and how do you want
people to celebrate the day?
9. How do your parents celebrate their anniversary?
10. Where do you want to go if there is Free Trip Week for 7 days?
Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 8. Are boys preferred?

It is a well-known fact that Koreans have traditionally preferred boy
babies. This preference in the 80s and 90s created, a huge imbalance
of baby boys compared to baby girls, and many female fetuses were
aborted. To deal with this growing social problem. in the early 90s, the
Korean government made it illegal for doctors to reveal the sex of a baby
to the parents. The law provided that doctors who violated the regulation
could be imprisoned up to three years, fined ten million won. and lose
their medical licenses.
In spite of the law, many doctors tried to reveal the sex of the baby
indirectly to the parents with remarks such as, "You should buy pink
baby clothes." In 2003, an obstetrician was indicted for violation of the
law, he was fined two million won, and he lost his license. He appealed
the sentence, arguing that he had not directly revealed the sex of the baby
to the parents. It is clear that abortion because of gender continues,
especially in the case of third child, where the ratio of boy babies to
girl babies stood at 121: 100 in 2010.
What do Koreans think about this issue? Should parents have the
right to know the sex of the baby before it is born? A survey revealed that
60% of Koreans thought revealing the baby's gender should be allowed.
Another thing is that the trend and preference have been changing as well.
More married couples in the current generation prefer to have a girl.
What do you think this change is showing?

Talk About This!

1. Why were boys preferred by parents more than girls in the 80s and 90s?
2. For your own child, do you prefer to have boy or girl? Why is that?
3. Do you think Korea is a country where girls and women have limited opportunities
compared to boys and men?
4. If you have a daughter, what Teachers
do you thinkSchool
would be the best part of it?
5. Do you think fathers still prefer to have a son? Why or why not?
6. Learning
Since the trend and preference Material
are changing, do you think it would be Ok if
doctors reveal the gender of baby?
7. Is Korea a safe country to raise a daughter?
8. Do you think people prefer to have a daughter now because the society improved
that womans life and rights are fully respected?
9. Do you easily get long with boys or girls?
Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 9. Gambling
On Christmas Day 2013, a woman in her 50s took her life by jumping
off the 4th floor of the Kangwon Land Casino Hotel. The woman,
owner of a hair shop, had lost her entire life savings, believed to be
around 100 million won, while gambling at the casino. According to
police, she had visited the casino 196 times during the year. Only a few
days earlier, a Korean businessman hung himself in his hotel room
after losing 2 billion won during a year's period in over 100 visits to the
casino.

There are a number of casinos in Korea, but the Kangwon Land Casino
is the only one that is open to Koreans. It was approved in order to revive
the economy in the Kangwon area. From the perspective of the casino. it
has been a rousing success. In 2014, the casino attracted 4.3 million
visitors, which is triple the number in 2004. However, there are a
number of negative results associated with the casino including the
following: (1) There were 50 suicides from 2006 to 2015. (2) A total of
5,300 gambling addicts received counseling at the casino's prevention
center in 2015 (up from 390 in 2003). (3) Crimes, such as homicide,
robbery, rape, burglary, and violence have increased in the area.

Talk About This!

1. Have you been to Kangwon Land Casino? If you have a chance, would you go?
2. Do you think the government of Korea should not open Kangwon Land to Koreans
to prevent further damages? Why or why not?
3. Why do you think people get addicted to gambling?
4. Do you think Kangwon LandTeachers
Casino is theSchool
cause of the increasing number of
crimes in Kangwon area?
5. Learning
If your best friend offers you Material
to go to Casino for fun, would you say yes?
6. When was the first time you knew about gambling or Casino? What came to your
mind when you knew about it?
7. If there is a game with 50% winning rate that you can win 5 million KRW by betting
1 million KRW, will you bet?
8. A lot of celebrities in Korea were caught while gambling in Hongkong and Las
Vegas. What was your reaction to the news about these incidents?
Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 10. Teens smoking

According to a study conducted by Yonsei University's Graduate
School of Public Health, the average Korean male teenager who
smokes begins the habit at age 14, about two months before his 15th
birthday. Teenage girls who smoke also start at age 14, but a little earlier
than the boys, around 5 or 6 months before their 15th birthday. The
Yonsei study was based on surveys of 4,000 middle and high school
students.

What is more worrisome is increasing heavy smoking among teens.

The rate of those who smoked every day for 30 days prior to the survey
rose more than 1.5 times from 3.9 percent in 2005 to 6.1 in 2014.
In 2014, 2.8 of teen smokers said they smoke more than 10 cigarettes a day.

Some experts blame the social environment where many adults can be
seen smoking in the street and cigarettes come in garish packets.

According to last year's survey, 39.6 percent of teenagers said

they saw family members or guests in their home
smoke over the last week.

Talk About This!

1. When you were in the high-school, were there a lot of smokers in your class?
2. It is strictly not allowed to sell cigarette to a teenager in Korea, but why is the
number of teen smokers increasing?
3. Have you heard that some teenagers ask a stranger adult to buy them cigarette?
4. If a group of teenagers ask Teachers Schoolfor them, what would you do?
you to buy cigarette
5. Why do you think more teens are smoking nowadays?
6. Do you see a lot of smokers Learning Material
in the street during day time? Do you think seeing
adult smokers everywhere influences teenagers in a negative way?
7. Do you have any family member who is also a smoker? Does it affect you in any
way?
8. What can be the other problems related to teen smoking aside from their damage
in health?
Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 11. Adoption

It is a well-known fact that Koreans have been sending babies overseas
for adoption for many years. Some have even ref erred to Korea as a
"baby exporter." During the period of 1958 to 2005, there were
approximately 223,000 Korean children that were adopted. Of these.
156,000 were adopted by non-Koreans living in other countries, and
67,000 were adopted in Korea.
The 1988 Olympics brought the fresh attention of the world to this
Phenomenon, so much so that the Korean government made efforts to
stem the tide of foreign adoptions. However, even in the 2000s, the ratio of
adoptions overseas compared to adoptions at home has remained at
about 6:4, that is, for every 1,500 adoptions in Korea, there were 2,500
adoptions abroad. Of all the countries in the world with a per capita
income of over US$ l 0,000, Korea is the only one that sends children
abroad for adoption.
Recently, a celebrity couple, Cha ln-pyo and Shin Ae-ra, chose to adopt
a baby daughter, even though they already have a 7-year-old son. They
named their daughter Ye-eun, meaning "the blessing of Jesus." The
remarkable thing about this adoption is that these celebrities chose to
make it public, while 70% of adoptive couples in Korea choose to keep
their adoptions secret, even going to the extent of having the adopting
mother check into a maternity clinic and later leaving with the pretense
that the child was her own biological child.

Talk About This!

1. How is adoption viewed in your country?
2. What are some of the reasons people adopt children?
3. What are some of the reasons people give children up for adoption?
4. What qualities make a couple or a person qualified to adopt a child?
5. Should the adoption processTeachers
be more, or School
less, difficult than it is now?
6. If you adopted a child, would you tell him/her that he/she was adopted? If so,
Learning
when do you think is the perfect timingMaterial
to reveal it to the child?
7. What makes a family, genetics or environment?
8. Should there be an age restriction for the adoptive parents?
9. Should a single man or woman be able to adopt a child?
10. How would you feel if you found out you were adopted? What would you do?
11. Would you want to find your birth family? Why or why not?
Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 12. Charity

In the past in Korea, the conglomerates were criticized for a
lack of philanthropic spirit, that is, they seemed to lack much sense of
social responsibility. However, one can certainly observe that the situation
has improved and the conglomerates are doing more. For example, at the
end of 2013, the following donations were made to help the needy:

Group Amount
Hyundai Automotive W 10 billion Community Chest of Korea
Group W 1 billion Various welfare facilities
Samsung Group W 20 billion Community Chest of Korea
SK Group W 10 billion Community Chest of Korea
W 10 billion Community Chest of Korea
LG Group W 1 billion Senior citizens, disabled
W 8 billion Community Chest of Korea
Kumho Asiana Group W 3 billion Community Chest of Korea

The Community Chest is Korea's largest charitable organization.

In addition to these cash and commodity gifts, other organizations,
such as Asiana Airlines, asked its workforce to devote time for volunteer
work.

Talk About This!

1. Do you give money to homeless people? Do you think people should give money to
homeless people?
2. Should rich people and corporations be forced to give to charity?
3. Do you think there are charities that are scams?
4. Teachers
Who do you think needs charity the most?School
5. Why do you think those big corporations are donating money every year?
6. What do you think of peopleLearning
who standMaterial
outside stores or railway stations holding
charity donation boxes?
7. If you have a chance to join an oversea-volunteer work, which country would you
like to go and why is that?
Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 13. Are you prepared for retirement?

The Samsung Research Institute of Finance (SARIF)
released the results of a survey of 2,000 Korean households. The survey
found that, while 56% of those surveyed felt strongly that financial
preparation for retirement was necessary, only 23% were actually taking
the necessary steps to prepare for it. This fact means that 4 out of 5
Koreans are unprepared for retirement.
In the past, it was possible for Koreans to retire at age 55 and to live
the remainder of their lives on their severance pay. However, according to
Experts, that approach is no longer possible due to two factors: more early
retirements and longer life spans. According to the Korean National
Statistical Office, the life expectancy of a Korean child born in the year
2003 is 80.8 years for girls and 73.9 years for boys.
In the SARJF survey. when asked about the appropriate age to begin
preparing for retirement, 43.4% chose the 30s, and 34. 7 percent said that
the 40s was the best time to begin preparations.
Among those respondents in their 20s and 30s, only 15-19% were
actually preparing for retirement. Among those in their 50s and 60s, the
number was surprisingly low, at only 35%.
Many older people said they would work part-time or get help from
their children during retirement. Younger people stated that they would
depend on various types of investments or severance pay.

Talk About This!

1. What comes to mind when you hear the word retirement?
2. What do you think youll do in your retirement?
3. What is the age for mandatory retirement in your country?
4. Five years from now, what do you think would be the improvements in your career?
5. Teachers
What would be a perfect retirement School
for you?
6. Do you intend to look for another job after you retire? Why?
7. Learning
In your culture, do the children have toMaterial
support their parents financially after they
retire?
8. Do you think you would be able to save enough for your retirement years?
9. What are the three 3 things you would like to accomplish/have before and after
you retire?
10. What problems does a country have if too many of its citizens are in retirement?
Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 14. Conscientious objectors

Conscientious objection refers to the refusal to serve in the military on
the basis of moral or religious reasons. Those who follow this belief
are called conscientious objectors, or COs. Under the Korean law, all Korean
males are required to serve 24 months in the military. Those who refuse
this compulsory service may be sentenced to a maximum of three years in
prison. According to the Military Manpower Administration, 1.300
conscientious objectors were serving time in prison, as of December 2014.
Almost all of these individuals were members of a Christian sect called the
Jehovah's Witnesses, a group that does not believe in taking up arms.
The Korean courts have consistently ruled that the current law that
punishes COs as criminals is, in fact, constitutional. The Korean Supreme
Court stated: Given the division of the country, the duty of
national defense, being the most basic guarantee of the state's existence.
takes precedence over freedom of conscience. A poll of Koreans showed
that 72.3% support this view.
In spite of the Court's position, the National Human Rights Commission
recommended that the Korean government recognize the status of conscientious
objectors and to work out some form of alternative service.

Talk About This!

1. Is being a soldier compulsory in your country?
2. Does a person have to believe in god to be a conscientious objector?
3. Would you volunteer to become a soldier?
4. Is there a special day to honor veterans in your country?
5. What is your opinion about Teachers
conscientiousSchool
objectors? Do you support their side?
6. What if your brother or friend says that he doesnt want to join the army because
Learning
he does not want to be a part of war orMaterial
killing the enemy? What would you say?
7. What are the benefits given to Korean men for completing military service
successfully?
8. Do you think women should also fulfill military duty same as men?
9. What is it like to be in Korean military service based on your experience or the
stories that youve heard of?
Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 15. Cancer and the city

A report issued by the Korean Ministry of
Environment stated that. out of every 1.000 residents of Seoul, 21 were
likely to suffer from cancer in their lifetime due to environmental
pollution. This statistic compares with other cities as follows:
Seoul 21.0
Daegu 14.2
Ulsan 4.7
Incheon 3.9
Daejon 0.9

The data shows that a resident of Seoul is 23 times more likely to get
cancer from environmental pollution than a resident of Daejon.
When the top ten industrial complexes in Korea were compared.
Sungso industrial zone in Daegu was found to have the highest cancer
risk. with an average of 12.9 out of every 1,000 residents expected to fall
prey to cancer.
The major carcinogens varied from place to place. In Seoul and Daegu,
benzenes compounds were likely to be found. While in other cities,
cadmium was more prevalent.
The data for the study was collected by three private research teams
that formed a joint effort. They studied the relations between
environmental pollution and cancer at 17 cites in Korea.

Talk About This!

1. Do you know anyone who suffers from cancer?
2. The report above shows the relations between pollution and cancer obviously, why
do you think people still want to live in a big city?
3. If you can still have the same opportunities in the countryside, would you like to
move out of the city? Why or Teachers
why not? School
4. What would be your reaction if one of your best friends found out that she/he has
cancer? Learning Material
5. Is the cost for dealing with cancer high in your country?
6. When do you think you should have a health medical examination?
7. If you are diagnosed with cancer which has 10% survival rate, would you still
accept the medical treatment or spend the rest of life with family?
8. What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in a city?
 Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 16. Korean students abroad

Koreans are well known for their love of education. As evidence of this
fact, Koreans spent a total of $5.15 billion in educating their children overseas,
according to the Trade Research Institute. This figure represented a 10.5%
increase from the previous year.
On the other hand, students who came to Korea for study spent a very
small sum, by comparison, totaling only $260 million.
The number of Korean students who studied abroad in 2015 totaled
1.5 million.
The figures include students in high school, college and graduate programs,
as well as students in short-term language programs. In addition to these
older students, the Institute estimated that approximately 10,000 Korean
students of middle school age and younger also go abroad annually for
study.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), Korea has the highest education-related trade
deficit within the OECD.

Talk About This!

1. Have you ever studied abroad?
2. Why do you think more students are leaving Korea?
3. If you studied abroad, is getting a job easier than other students who grew up in
Korea?
4. Teachers
Do you think it is easy for people School
who studied abroad to adjust to the culture of
Korea?
5. If you could choose to studyLearning
in Korea orMaterial
Canada, where would you study and why?
6. If your child wants to study abroad, would you allow him/her to go?
7. Do you think growing up while seeing parents everyday is more meaningful than
studying abroad?
8. Have you ever thought of living in another country? Where and why is that?
Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 17. Is your netiquette good?

It is a well-known fact that Korea is one of the world's most wired
nation. However, do Koreans show proper Internet etiquette when
surfing and chatting online? To answer this question, the Korean Ministry
of Communication and Information conducted a survey of 1,000 people,
aged from 13 to 65. The survey was carried out by the Ministry's
Communication Ethics Committee.
The results of the survey were startling. The rankings were as follows:
45% of Koreans gave Korean Internet users 41-60 marks; 25% gave them
61-80 marks; and only 2% gave them 81-100 marks. The result of the
survey showed that the average score was only 55 marks out of a possible
perfect score of 100. It appears then that most Koreans believe that
Korean Internet users have much to learn about proper online etiquette,
which is sometimes called "netiquette."
When asked to identify the most annoying aspects of online behavior,
respondents cited the following:
50%+ cited abuse and insults
48% cited invasion of privacy
Others cited defamation of character through dissemination of false
information and sexual harassment

Talk About This!

1. Have you ever had any bad experience while using internet or SNS?
2. Why do you think people on the internet are often rude to each other?
3. Do you like commenting on the internet news?
4. How many hours do you spend for checking Facebook, Twitter or Instagram?
5. Teachers
What do you think is the negative School
effect of SNS?
6. Some celebrities have committed suicide due to the malicious comments or cyber
bullying, do you think theyLearning Material
should accept this as a part of their job?
7. Do you think using the real name on the internet can help people decrease the
number of cyber bully incidents?
8. In your opinion, what sort of penalty should internet abusers face?
Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 18. Discrimination on appearance

Korean women who apply for a job are used to being evaluated
according to age and beauty. Some applicants even hear such
comments as:

It would be good if you could lose some weight after entering the
company.
How old are you? You should try to look younger than your real age.

A survey conducted by the Committee recently revealed that an

overwhelming majority of Koreans believe that discrimination based on
appearance clearly exists in job placement: 94.2% of unemployed women
agreed that such discrimination exists and even 78% of personnel
managers agreed that it exists.
In addition, 80% of public agencies and 85.4% of private companies
asked job applicants to include a photo and personal information,
including height and weight.
The Committee plans to revise public servants' recruitment rules,
establish guidelines to prevent sexual discrimination, and provide private
companies with sample job application forms that emphasize the
applicant's skills

Talk About This!

1. What kind of discrimination exists in your country?
2. Do you ever have thoughts that are discriminatory?
3. Do you think the company hiring employees must know the height and weight of
the applicants?
4. Teachers
Have you ever been discriminated School
because of how you look or what you wear?
5. If you are the owner of a company, would the appearance of applicants be a
Learning
matter to your decision making? Why orMaterial
why not?
6. Do you think being fat gives a negative impression to people in Korea?
7. Which countries around the world have shocking levels of discrimination?
8. Is discriminating against a certain group of people ever justified?
9. Why do you think there are times that we treat people differently?
Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 19. The physically disabled in Korea

According to a survey conducted by the Korea National Statistical
Office, 74.6% of Koreans stated that they believed that
the handicapped were seriously discriminated against in Korea. However,
89.1 % of those surveyed denied that they themselves were discriminatory
toward the physically challenged.

The survey also asked respondents how they would feel about a facility
for the physically disabled being built near their homes. The result was as
follows:

53% stated that they would not object.

47% stated that they would be displeased about such a facility.

Talk About This!

1. Is Korea a good country to live for disabled people?
2. What problems do people with disabilities face in your country?
3. What daily problems do you think wheelchair users have in your town?
4. What misunderstandings do people have about disability?
5. Teachers
What can disabled people teach School
those without disabilities?
6. Do you think science will be able to end disability one day?
7. Do you tend to think that Learning Material
disabled people always need your help?
8. How would you feel to find out you were going blind or deaf?
9. Would you object to having facilities for the disabled in your town?
10. How many hours do you think it would take for you to feel uncomfortable if you
cannot hear any sound for one day?
Teachers School Learning Material

Unit 20. About fake goods

Fake goods have long been a problem in various countries, including
Asian countries such as China, Thailand, and Korea. The United
States and other western countries have continued to pressure the source
countries concerning such fake goods, demanding that they eradicate the
factories that are producing them. These fake goods violate intellectual
property rights and cost the real brand holders billions of dollars each
year.
Recently, Korean Intellectual Property Office stepped up its
attacks on this illegal practice and stated that it would offer a reward of
10 million won to individuals who report violators to the agency, the
police. or to local prosecutors. The reward will be paid if the information
leads to a conviction in court. In addition, the tipsters' identities will
remain confidential.

Talk About This!

1. Why do you think the fake goods market is constantly getting bigger?
2. Would you buy a fake good of high-end brand or original product of affordable
brand?
3. A lot of the fake bags are made in Korea, do you think it means that the skills and
abilities of Korean fake bag makers are actually as good as the original makers?
4. Do you also get attracted to buy luxury products from famous brand?
5. How often do you buy imported products?
6. When it comes to domestic products, what are the ones that are even well-known
in other countries?
7. Do you think what we wear and what we use somehow show the quality of life we
have?
8. If you are a skillful bag maker and someone offers a job for the fake goods market,
will you accept the offer?
Teachers School Learning Material

Additional Unit 1. Gender gap

According to the World Economic Forum website, their researchers
undertook a study of the global gender gap in order to facilitate the
work of governments, aid agencies, and NGOs. They hope to accomplish
this goal by providing a benchmarking tool to assess the size of the gender
gap by ranking countries according to the level of advancement of their
female population.
The Gender Gap Report quantifies the size of the gender gap in 58
countries, including all 30 OECD countries and 28 other emerging
markets. The study measures the extent to which women have achieved
full equality with men in five critical areas:

economic participation
political empowerment
health and well-being
economic opportunity
educational attainment

In the 2014 report, Korea was ranked number 58. Many other Asian
nations were ahead of Korea, including China (33). Japan (38). Malaysia
(40). and Indonesia (46). The only countries ranked lower than Korea were
Jordan, Pakistan, Turkey, and Egypt.

Talk About This!

1. Are you happy being the gender that you are?
2. What would you like to do that you cant do now if you changed gender?
3. Are there more male or female managers and executives in typical Korean
companies? Why do you think this is?
4. What behaviors are deemedTeachers School
as appropriate for men but inappropriate for women?
5. Do you think men are happier than women in Korea? Why or why not?
6. Learning
When it comes to marriage, are men and Material
women fairly involved in paying the cost?
7. What problems are there for women in other countries that do not exist in your
country?
8. How would the world change if there was perfect sexual equality?
9. When it comes to economic opportunity, do you think women are limited compared
to men? Why or why not?