Do you believe in ghosts, and spirits? Have you ever encountered any ghosts and spirits, while teaching TEFL in Korea?

I do believe in ghosts and spirits, but what most of my students believe in is a sort of The Fourth Wall phenomenon. They believe that the characters on the front of their textbooks are real and the teachers in front of them are "only actors".

In a recent class, one of my students even asked me to sign his book! Yes, I signed a Korean book (no doubt with a lot of difficulty), but a book?! What's up with that? Is it possible that the man behind the material has left his mark on the students? Well, I can only speak for myself.

I was taught that in Korea, teachers aren't "real". I believe that both in Korea and outside of it, that spirit, the yangban, are still very much present. This is why I so much love Korea*****: The old mind and the Korean mind will always be there, and together they are something to learn.


What wouldyou do if you saw a ghost?

***** not including 2.1 million won starting TEFL salary.

I'm not a believer myself but some Vietnamese students seem to be prone to these supernatural type experiences. A student of mine once had one in our classroom while I was on my lunchbreak. When I returned she was in such a state with the other students trying to calm her down. In the end I had to involve the academic director to change classrooms as it became apparent that continuing in the present one was no longer feasible.  It was one stranger experience I've had in the classroom.

In my case the Vietnamese student in question was in her early 20s. She was in an ELICOS program.

Just go to your local church. Don't these bible types think
that jesus or god, or whatever, is  the "Big Kahuna" of ghosts?

Do you believe in ghosts, and spirits? Have you ever encountered any ghosts and spirits, while teaching TEFL in Korea?

I'm always reluctant to tell this tale, as people think I'm nuts, but what I'm about to tell you is all true.

At one hakwan I worked I replaced a teacher who had disappeared from Korea upon a midnight.  She was the teacher of a pre-K morning class and she had the same kids all morning.  From what I was able to piece together from various witnesses she was reluctant to move out of her chair for hours on end and often brought candies for the kids as a way for them to be quiet.  She also had quite an appetite and would be sure to mark all the kids birthdays, new student arrivals, old student departures and important days on her calendar by ordering pizza for the class and having an impromptu pizza party.  I , on the other hand made the kids do their work and was strict in class.  I didn't once have a pizza party or bring candy.  That was when I first encountered, through the possession of the upset students and their gnashing of teeth and wailing when homework was checked, the ghost of the foreign teacher past.  Still gives me chills.  Glad I got that off my chest. 

Guys...kids everywhere think their stuffed animals are real and that toy cars have souls and a bunch of other crap and an animated character is real. They think the policeman is some sort of superhero (or villain) and a bunch of other people are just 'characters'.

FFS an entire massive movie franchise is based on the concept.

Kids' brains evolved to survive devlopment into breeding age, not to be logical.

It always boggles me how many teachers out there are absolutely wretched at understanding how children see the world and how they behave and think.

well aren't you just a bundle of fun.

Guys...kids everywhere think their stuffed animals are real and that toy cars have souls and a bunch of other crap and an animated character is real. They think the policeman is some sort of superhero (or villain) and a bunch of other people are just 'characters'.

FFS an entire massive movie franchise is based on the concept.

Kids' brains evolved to survive devlopment into breeding age, not to be logical.

It always boggles me how many teachers out there are absolutely wretched at understanding how children see the world and how they behave and think.

I'm teaching in a university, actually. Yoiu can't spell "ASSUME" without "ASS... U"

I'm always reluctant to tell this tale, as people think I'm nuts, but what I'm about to tell you is all true.

At one hakwan I worked I replaced a teacher who had disappeared from Korea upon a midnight.  She was the teacher of a pre-K morning class and she had the same kids all morning.  From what I was able to piece together from various witnesses she was reluctant to move out of her chair for hours on end and often brought candies for the kids as a way for them to be quiet.  She also had quite an appetite and would be sure to mark all the kids birthdays, new student arrivals, old student departures and important days on her calendar by ordering pizza for the class and having an impromptu pizza party.  I , on the other hand made the kids do their work and was strict in class.  I didn't once have a pizza party or bring candy.  That was when I first encountered, through the possession of the upset students and their gnashing of teeth and wailing when homework was checked, the ghost of the foreign teacher past.  Still gives me chills.  Glad I got that off my chest. 

Sounds like a crazy 학완. Never heard of such a place.

My upstairs neighbors had Korean exorcisms every once and awhile.

There are no supernatural phenomena, all just stories and exposure to drugs.

It’s a sad but true reality

Wow. Just wow.

I remember as a 12 year old sneaking into an 'R' rated movie at Odeon theaters in downtown Kamloops, Canada. I remember vividly being FREAKED OUT when the naked woman on the bed turned around and her skull face shocked the man to crash back through the hotel window and down a long way to death below.

Part of it is captured in this preview: https://youtu.be/upGQpr5CwMA

I never realized Fred Astaire was in that film!

I have numerous times cited it as the only ghost story which scared me. I have never believed in ghosts and usually scoff at such stories but that movie at that age freaked me the f out!