Shall we find the cheapest hotel? Walking through a strange city in total darkness is a frightening experience. This happened to us when we had to visit Pusan in South Korea. The ferry boat pulled into the harbour in the early morning. The scene which greeted us was a surprising one. The only building which seemed substantial was the Catholic Church which was perched on the hill looking down. The rest looked like a collection of wooden huts and broken down concrete buildings. Surrounding the city were mountains, but unlike the mountains in Japan these were totally bare. The reason for this, we were told, was because they were stripped of vegetation during the Korean War so the enemy had no place to hide. We made our way to the taxi rank and strangely a taxi driver physically pushed his car up to the rank. Why he did this instead of driving it we don t know. Please take us to the centre of town. After looking around for a while we went in search of a hotel. The hotels all seemed to have Japanese names and when we enquired how much the room cost for the night we found that they all had Japanese prices. These hotels were for the foreigners who visited this country. I don t want to pay this amount of money. I bet we can find something much cheaper. Off we went to the back streets and quite quickly came upon a Korean hotel. It was rather grotty, but was a fifth of the price of the ones in the centre. Great! we ll stay here. I announced. Are you sure. It doesn t look very nice. Misa responded. We unpacked. Can we at least find a nice place to eat, Misa said I suppose so, I replied So off we set to find a nice restaurant. We kept away from the downtown area and eventually found this rather cozy little local place. The meal was very good. We had baked fish with the spicy Korean cabbage and soup. Then half way through the meal something very strange happened. The manager of the restaurant came over to each table and whispered a few words. Whereupon, one by one, each of the seated customers got up and walked out leaving their meals unfinished. He then came over to us and pointed to the door and said something in Korean, which we didn t understand. He repeated it rather earnestly and we were forced to abandon the delicious meal and make
our way on to the street. We kept walking, being rather confused. Why did we have to leave the restaurant? I don t know. Shall we find somewhere else? But before we had time to decide the lights of the shops seemed to go out and people no longer were leisurely pacing the pavement, but seemed to be scurrying off somewhere. Then as we continued walking suddenly the street lights went out and an absolute darkness fell upon us. Have you ever tried to walk along a pavement without any moonlight or starlight? It is very difficult. We could barely make out the shape of the buildings on each side of the street and even if we did know where to go, in this kind of darkness you can have no sense of direction. What is this? Misa gasped. And what do we do? I don t know, but I suppose we should try to make our way back to the hotel. It wasn t easy and we had to use both our hands and feet to feel our way along. Eventually we came to the main road. I remember that footbridge. We went over it when we came this way. Yes, come on. It must be the way. But as we started to ascend the bridge a police car came screaming by without its lights on. A policeman got out, blew his whistle and shouted something at us. We scrambled up the steps and down the other side and quickly disappeared into a side road to get out of the way of the furious policeman. How we managed to find our way back to the hotel we will never know but as we entered it we were met by a lady with a candle who took us up to our room and left us there in darkness. And then the sirens started. We looked out of the window. All was dark except for one tiny window a long way from us and from which shone a very pale light. We sat like this for about two hours and then the sirens started again and suddenly the lights all came back on. What had happened? Have you guessed? It was an air-raid drill. They were practicing for the day when North Korea would send their bombers over and try to destroy their cities. If there were no lights to be seen then the enemy would have difficulty knowing where to drop their bombs. The drill had to be without warning and the lights had to be off quickly as the bombers could reach the city in a very short space of time. Of course if we had paid the extra money and stayed in one of the hotels for foreigners we would have known what was happening. Probably our evening meal would not have been interrupted. As it was we went to bed shaken and hungry.
Vocabulary What do these words mean? Substantial, perched, vegetation, grotty, whispered, earnestly, scurrying, pavement, scramble. Use these words from the text (in bold) to make a sentence I bet (wait long time before we can see the doctor) Pacing (while my baby was being born) Absolute darkness fell upon us (the mist on the mountain) Comprehension 1. Why were the mountains in Korea bare? 2. Why do you think the driver physically pushed his car instead of driving it? 3. Why do you think the Korean hotels were one fifth of the price of the Japanese ones? 4. Have you ever tried to walk in absolute darkness? Was it difficult? 5. Any idea when this story actually happened? Discussion 1. We were certainly not expecting to be thrown into total darkness. And being in a strange country makes it all the more difficult. Has anything ever happen to you that was strange or surprising while you were in a foreign country? 2. The hotels for Koreans were one fifth of the price of the hotels for foreigners. Do you think if you were in this situation you might be tempted to stay in one of the cheaper hotels?
Grammar WOULD, COULD, SHOULD, MIGHT Look at this sentence from the text: They were practicing for the day when North Korea would send their bombers over. Would is correct because it is the word we use when we imagine something. Select the correct word for these sentences: 1. you be able to come to my house? 2. If it is possible you complete the work by Saturday? 3. I m not sure. I be able to get there by about 3 o clock. 4. you pass the sugar please. 5. If you are not happy with it then you not do it. 6. If you do this for me then I come round. 7. we take up his offer or we find a better alternative? Connecting words Look at this sentence from the text Whereupon each of the customers got up. Can you make a sentence starting with each of these connecting words? (therefore) (furthermore) (however) (consequently) (nevertheless)
Confused words We inquired how much the room cost. We enquired how much the room cost. Which one is correct? The answer is enquired is correct because it has the meaning of to ask about something. Inquire is the act of investigating as in the police started to inquire as the police do when they inquire in to an investigation. Which is correct? Here are two sentences. 1. The weather will affect my plans. The weather will effect my plans. 2. Take my advice and go to bed. Take my advise and go to bed. 3. Rise your hand. Raise your hand. 4. Could I lend your bicycle? Could I borrow your bicycle? 5. I can t think of his telephone number. Could you remember me? I can t think of his telephone number. Could you remind me? 6. Please take me the red pen. Please bring me the red pen. Here is some famous Korean food Which food do you think you would like? Japchae (stir fried noodles) kimchi (spicy fermented cabbage) Soondubu Jigga (torfu stew) Tteok (steamed rice cake) hoeddoek (syrup pancake) yangnyoem tongdak (fried chicken)
HOW TO MAKE VICTORIA SPONGE Ingredients For the cake 200g caster sugar 200g softened butter 4 eggs, beaten 200g self-raising flour 1 tsp baking powder 2 tbsp milk For the filling 100g butter, softened 140g icing sugar, sifted drop vanilla extract (optional) 340g jar good-quality strawberry jam ( we used Tiptree Little Scarlet) icing sugar, to decorate Method 1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line 2 x 20cm sandwich tins. Beat the butter and sugar together with an electric whisk until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, followed by the flour and baking powder. Add enough milk to the mixture so that it falls off a spoon easily. Divide between the tins and bake for 20 mins. Turn the cakes out onto a wire rack and cool. 2. To make the filling, beat the butter until smooth, then gradually beat in icing sugar. Spread butter cream on one cake up to the edges. Spread a layer of strawberry jam on top. Put the second cake on top and squash it down so the butter cream sticks out a bit. Press hundreds and thousands onto the butter cream with a teaspoon. Dust the top with icing sugar, if you like. Do you have a favourite recipe? Can you tell us how to make it?
Teacher s notes My wife and I had to make a quick visit to South Korea. We certainly did not expect to find ourselves caught up in this air raid practice. Read the story checking that the students understand it Comprehension and discussion The only real clue to question five is in the fact that all lights were turned off so that the bombers could not find the city. Nowadays, a city can be spotted by using infra-red detection equipment. So it this story has to be at least forty years ago. Grammar WOULD COULD SHOULD MIGHT Students can be confused on the use of these words and they are likely to ask you why a certain word is used rather than another. Be prepared. You might want to bring in further exercises. Connecting words These words are used at the beginning of a sentence instead of conjunctions. Students may know some and not others. Confusing words The answer to question one is that the first sentence is correct. Affect is a verb. Effect is usually a noun. Korean food Here is a brief description of each dish. Japchae (stir fried noodles) sweet potato starch noodles stir fried with vegetables and meat kimchi (spicy fermented cabbage) like sauerkraut but in a paste of red pepper, garlic, ginger, sugar, and fish Soondubu Jigga (torfu stew) Spicy soft tofu stew with kimchi and pork belly Tteok (steamed rice cake) Glutinous rice steamed. Eaten with a sweet or spicy sauce hoeddoek (syrup pancake) Popular Korean street food. yangnyoem tongdak (fried chicken) chicken cut into chunks, coated in batter, fried, and mixed with a sweet, sour, and spicy sauce. The recipe Although students may not be able to come up with a complicated recipe like that given for Victoria Sponge they should at least be able tell you something simple such as, how to make an omelette or even a cup of tea. You might like to ask students to convert the method given for making the Victoria sponge from the IMPERITVE to the PASSIVE. The PASSIVE is used to describe a process. This is a
tricky exercise mainly because the word order in the IMPERITIVE and PASSIVE is different. With the IMPERITIVE the sentence usually starts with the verb but with the PASSIVE the construction is OBJECT-VERB. In both there is no SUBJECT. The first sentence would then read, the oven is heated to 180c. Then a 2 by 20 inch baking tin is lined the butter and sugar are beaten together. Whenever I have taught the passive I have given the example of explaining how a car is made: The sheets of metal are pressed. They are then shaped and painted with a primer coat. The frame of the car is put together. The engine is then lowered on to the frame. After that the sheets of metal are attached.