Teaching English in Korea - ESL blog

Korean intercultural communication conflicts

I asked my students to come up with roleplay topics they would like to cover in our Intercultural Communication class. I wanted them to think about differences between Korean culture and other cultures. Here's what they came up with:

1. Korean/Tahiti greeting expectations
2. Korean/Indian food culture (beef)
3. Korean/French food culture (dog meat)
4. Korean student/Canadian teacher (Korean embarrassed that her parents are divorced)
5. Korean/American food culture (America buys a hot dog on the street and Korean doesn’t understand)
6. Canadian man/Korean woman (Korean expects the man to pay her bill in a restaurant – she expects to buy coffee and a gift)
7. Korean/American exchange student (American says Professor Kim and Korean has to explain Korean culture and help the American apologize to his professor)
8. Old Korean/foreigner (foreigner doesn’t bow)
9. Korean/American (after a group discussion the American finds the Korean alone and crying – the American doesn’t understand why the Korean didn’t express her feelings during the discussion)
10. Korean/Indian bus driver (the Korean has to wait 40 minutes for the bus to come and complains to the driver)
11. Korean/American (American tries to tip in a Korean restaurant)
12. Korean/American (Korean doesn’t think girls should be smoking on a public street)
13. Korean/American (American doesn’t want to share a bowl of soup with everyone at the table).
14. Korean/American (Korean does not think people should make out in public)
15. Korean/American (Korean doesn’t understand the way Americans line up in public restrooms)
16. Korean/Indian (Korean person can not get chopsticks in India and must eat with hands)
17. Korean/British (British person blows her nose during dinner)
18. American/Korean (professor and students go out to dinner and Koreans are surprised that the professor doesn’t pay for them)
19. Korean/American (American brings alcohol to a party and the Korean host is insulted)
20. Korean/American (Korean touches the American’s baby)
21. Korean/Japanese (Korean gives an umbrella)
22. Korean/Arab (Korean eats all the food on his plate embarrassing the Arab host)
23. Korean/Spanish (Korean visits during siesta)
24. Korean/American (2 Korean women get mistaken for lesbians)
25. Korean/American (old Korean wants American’s seat on the subway)
26. Korean/Japanese (Korean girls wants to hug the Japanese girl, hold her hand, and walk to the bathroom together)
27. Korean/American (Korean asks about age and salary)

The class then voted on their favorites and numbers 6, 13, and 27 appealed to the most people. I will be posting details on each or linking to completed roleplay cards at some point, with the possible exception of #19. Most students in my class said that Koreans would not ahve been insulted in a situation where a guest brought something over to a dinner party. The student who made this suggestion felt that the Korean would be insulted because the gift insinuated the Korean was too poor to provide for the guest.