My students are writing things that resemble blog entries – my blog entries.
Here is the work of a 5th grader who goes by the English nickname of Kevin. I transcribe what he wrote, following my usual policy of not making any corrections in the transcription – he lost points because he didn't make any effort to even romanize much less try to translate the names of the places he visited (I've provided romanizations in square brackets and translations following).
exploration
I got up at 6 o'clock, Because I went exploration. I ate breakfast. Then I rode bus. I went to seoul. First, I went to '탑골공원' [tapgolgongwon]. There is '원각사지십층석탑' [wongaksajisipcheungseoktap]. Then I went to '안중근 김구 기념관' [anjunggeun gimgu ginyeomgwan]. I saw 안중근's work. And I went to '백범 김구 기념관' [baekbeom gimgu ginyeomgwan]. I saw 김구's work. Finally, I went to '서대문 형무소' [seodaemun hyeongmuso]. I saw prison, execution ground. It was horrible. Then I reached home. And, I ate bread. It was delicious. I am proud of hero. If hero not there Japan get rid of Korea. Thank you, hero.
This tiny essay is chock-full of cultural content. So I provide notes – including many links to the fabulous wikithing.
'탑골공원' [tapgolgongwon] – Pagoda Park
'원각사지십층석탑' [wongaksajisipcheungseoktap] – Wongaksa Pagoda (A Joseon era pagoda built in 1467 and partially restored by American military engineers in 1947)
'안중근 김구 기념관' [anjunggeun gimgu ginyeomgwan] – Memorial to Ahn Jung-geum and Kim Gu.
안중근 [anjunggeum] Ahn Jung-geum – a leader of the Korean independence movement against the Japanese colonial occupation.
김구 [gimgu] Kim Gu – a leader of the Korean independence movement against the Japanese colonial occupation.
'백범 김구 기념관' [baekbeom gimgu ginyeomgwan] – A memorial to Kim Gu, referencing his pen name 백범 [baekbeom] which I think seems to mean something like 'everyman' or 'ordinary person.'
'서대문 형무소' [seodaemun hyeongmuso] – The Seodaemun (Western Gate) Prison.
'I ate bread' – Koreans call pastries 빵 which they then inevitably translate literally as 'bread.' In fact, when they say 'bread' they almost never mean what we mean by 'bread' in the West – they mean pastries.
A good nationalist-leaning, hero-worshipping, colonialist-bashing education is an important part of every child's upbringing, doncha think? I don't think this is any different than, say, an American fifth-grader going to the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, etc., in Philadelphia, for example. But it's a different perspective to see the propagandization in action from a cultural distance.