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[written on Thursday June 10th, the election day for 1/4 of the country's local and regional authorities]
A few weeks ago I started working at a Korean college.
Not a full-time school, a place where kids go in the evenings for extra tuition (so the hours suit me much better!). The college is run by Koreans for Koreans, but they employ teachers of any nationality. It's slightly disorienting to walk around the place, as everything is written in a language I can't read, but it's not really a problem for teaching, because the kids who have been here a while (or were born here) speak perfect English anyway, and can translate for other students if necessary. And they all have really amazing electronic dictionaries, if they need them.
New Malden happens to have the UK's largest population of Korean immigrants, and it's growing. Most people here couldn't care less, because they're ok people, y'know? Hard working, polite - you don't get gangs of Korean teenagers hanging round on the buses abusing people or spitting on the pavements. Not like the $insert_other_perceived_racial_group_of_choice. (Yes, this is me writing in a deliberately provocative way, not what I really think.)
Today on my way to work, I was racially abused on the bus. Of course, it's possible he wasn't aiming it at me. I'm not sure that makes it any better.
( Read more... )
A few weeks ago I started working at a Korean college.
Not a full-time school, a place where kids go in the evenings for extra tuition (so the hours suit me much better!). The college is run by Koreans for Koreans, but they employ teachers of any nationality. It's slightly disorienting to walk around the place, as everything is written in a language I can't read, but it's not really a problem for teaching, because the kids who have been here a while (or were born here) speak perfect English anyway, and can translate for other students if necessary. And they all have really amazing electronic dictionaries, if they need them.
New Malden happens to have the UK's largest population of Korean immigrants, and it's growing. Most people here couldn't care less, because they're ok people, y'know? Hard working, polite - you don't get gangs of Korean teenagers hanging round on the buses abusing people or spitting on the pavements. Not like the $insert_other_perceived_racial_group_of_choice. (Yes, this is me writing in a deliberately provocative way, not what I really think.)
Today on my way to work, I was racially abused on the bus. Of course, it's possible he wasn't aiming it at me. I'm not sure that makes it any better.
( Read more... )
