Caveat: When I Trip With Doctor Who

I'm not, personally, a big Doctor Who fan. I was always a trekkie, when it came to inordinate otakuosity vis-a-vis sci-fi shows (and by the way, I just invented the word "otakuosity" so don't complain – look up the Japanese slang term "otaku" and you'll understand).

Nevertheles, I couldn't help but be very impressed and pleased to see an 8th grade Korean girl write the following speech composition for me in 2012 (and note that, as always, I will type what she wrote verbatim – without corrections – I think she did very well for her level):

[broken link! FIXME] ImagesHello my name is Yeongeun. I'm going to talk about my plan for camping trip. I want to go to Tardis. Because Tardis is a very interesting spaceship. Tardis can go anywhere even future and past, too. If I go to Tardis, I have to bring some food, water, a sleeping bag and clothes. I have to bring weapons, too, because when I trip with doctor, that I have many happens. Also, I will have to see many aliens, and they will attack me and doctor and I will be scared. But maybe doctor can't kill them. So, I have to attack aliens with weapons. This is my plan for camping trip. Thanks for listening.

Please note, I did not in any way plant this idea in her mind. It emerged utterly on its own, and in the hostile environment of Korean hagwon-based English education, which for the most part stultifies imagination and creativity and discourages interest in unusual cultural artifacts from foreign cultures, such as Doctor Who.

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