Caveat: Truman’s Talent Show

It's that time of year again. The annual Karma English Academy Talent Show is coming up in May. So we're working on our various skits, songs and other things that we will be doing for the show, with our various cohorts of kids. My student Myeongha is in fifth grade. He's new to Karma, so he doesn't have a memory of the Talent Show, as some of the other kids who have been around longer do.

Out of the blue, he said to me, "I don't know Talent Show. But I know Truman Show." 

I found this implausible, so I began quizzing him as to what The Truman Show is. For those reading this who don't know, you can see on the wikipedia that it's a fairly well-regarded US movie, from 1998. It's hardly recent, therefore, and it's hard fare for even native English-speaking kids, much less fifth grade Koreans. But it was clear he'd actually watched the movie. He was able to explain the plot, in his limited way.

I was puzzled why he'd watched it. I asked, "Did you see it with your parents?"

He shook his head. "Youtube," he offered, laconically.

"You watched it by yourself?"

He shrugged. 

"Did you like it?" I asked, curious.

"No."

"Why did you watch it?" 

Myeongha shrugged again. "Boring."

I understood. Korean students mix up "Boring" and "bored" – their language doesn't make that particular distinction, and it must be guessed from context. He didn't mean the movie was boring – though in fact he might have meant that, too – rather, he meant he was bored, so he watched it. 

Perhaps it was a circular relation.

[daily log: walking, 7km]

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