Sometimes it pays to be able to speak and understand Korean. In this case, it may have prevented me from being fired (and thrown into jail).

A little background:

I’m currently teaching at a foreign language high school in Anyang, but I also teach three hours a week at the girls’ high school adjacent to our school.

This morning in the girls’ class the theme was clothing and accessories, and I decided to combine it with a lesson on the simple present vs. the present continuous tense. I walked around the class asking the girls various forms of “Do you…?” and “Are you -ing…?” questions in order to point out the difference. For example: Do you wear glasses? Yes, I do. Are you wearing glasses? No, I’m not.

I approached one girl wearing the typical school uniform of jacket, blouse, and skirt and asked her,

“Do you wear pants?”

“Yes, I do,” she replied.

Alright, she seemed to get it. Next question,

“Are you wearing pants?”

“Yes, I am,” she said.

“Hmm,” I thought, “maybe she’s not catching on,” so feigning surprise I inquired again,

“You’re wearing pants?” - hoping she would pick up on the clue.

“Yes, I am,” she said again matter-of-factly. So I switched over to Korean and asked her again if she was wearing pants.

“Ohhhhhh. No, I’m not,” she answered, then, giggling, turned to her classmates and said (in Korean),

“I thought he asked me if I was wearing panties.”

Rare is the occassion when I blush, but I felt the blood rush to my cheeks upon hearing that. I asked her in Korean, “Do you think I would ask you that???” It turned into a good laugh for everyone, but I shudder to imagine the conversations that would have taken place throughout the day had I not clarified myself in Korean. Also, I was surprised by how calmly she provided an answer to the question she thought I was asking. Whew!