class funnies

for my business conversation classes, i use a variety of topics to generate discussions. a few weeks ago, for the topic of ethics and morals, i asked my students to re-tell a fable or fairy-tale story to illustrate a lesson in knowing what's right and wrong. one of my students, yumi, began to tell the story of the little mermaid (unlike the disney movie, this version had a more pessimistic and unrequited, somber ending) and she couldn't remember the english word, "mermaid." i asked her to describe it to me, but since she struggled to find the words, another student, cool (yes, his name is cool! how rad is that?!?) volunteered. he told me that this creature was half fish, half human. but, BUT, he said that the top half was fish and bottom half was human! i immediately got this hilarious visual of a fish upper body with sexy legs and couldn't stop laughing. when cool realized his mistake, everyone joined in on the laughter.

another universal topic of discussion was stress. i asked my students how they coped or dealt with stress and one of my more outgoing students informed us that he usually releases stress by drinking soju, sleeping and then going to the sauna the next day. tickled, i said, "oh! you have the s-cubed method!" he looked puzzled so i explained his triple s stress relief. he got it, smiled and agreed.

this month, 5 of my business conversation students re-enrolled so we've already established a great connection. the new students are also engaging, so thankfully, these classes don't seem much like work. bonus!