Monthly TOEFL Essay #1 : Sebae, beautiful custom of Korea

Sebae, beautiful custom of Korea

 Every year, on January first (lunar), Koreans meet with their family members and celebrate the start of the New Year. It is very similar to that of Thanksgiving Day in America, but it is quite unique in its own way. When the family members get together in one's house, usually the oldest member's house, the younger ones do an act called 'Sebae', a form of bowing until your forehead touches the ground. This act is what I would like people from other countries to adopt, since it gives one an opportunity to meet with family members, and respect towards the older members of the family.

 To begin with, the sebae ceremony gives people a precious opportunity to meet with his/her family members. These days, as the society became more individualistic, chances of meeting your relatives have reduced in great amount. Unless you live with your relatives, or live very near them, the only time when one could meet family members other than his/her parents and siblings are the rare and occasional annual ceremonies. And sebae ceremony is one of them. Usually, when family members get together, they celebrate one's success, encourage one's failure, and just generally give love to every members of the family. Such activities have even been proven scientifically to have positive effects on one's emotions. Thus, sebae does not only simply provide an opportunity to meet with his/her relatives, but also gives emotional support.

 In addition, carrying out the sebae ceremony can give a sense of respect towards the older members of the family. Again, in today’s world, this sense of respect towards the elders of the society is disappearing. Especially, teenagers’ disrespect and rebellious attitude has become a global social problem. Numerous articles are pouring out even at this moment to alert people about the problems concerning disrespect. At this present situation, I believe sebae can help solve the problem. Sebae is basically an act of showing respect and love towards the elders. You kneel down, roll yourself tightly, put both of your hands on your forehead, and lower your head down until it meets the ground. It is very different from a simple shake of hands, or bending of your back. It requires you to really think about what you are doing and to whom you are 'sebaeing' to. In this way, sebae makes you have respect towards the elders of your family members, and to the elders of your society in whole.

 In a nutshell, I believe ‘sebae’ has limitless possibilities in its positive factors, and think that giving people opportunities to meet with their family members and a sense of respect towards the elders are the start. Even though some say that such act of lowering yourself and kneeling down goes against the human rights regarding equality and freedom, I can strongly argue that it is something done to the your parents, and to your parents’ parents with love at the core of everything. Thus, sebae is an act of showing your respect in a formal, and official fashion, but with overflowing love in your heart. 

Introduction for Mr. Menard's English Class

Introduction for Mr. Menard’s English class.

Hello, Mr. Menard, I am Cho Woo Hyun 조우현, and my English name is Alex. I am very glad to be studying with you, since I have heard about your fun and ‘awesome’ classes from the senior groups in KMLA.

What I hope to achieve in your class is becoming a ‘writer’, not a TOEFL essay writer. For all my years in middle school, I have only written essays in the format that the ets TOEFL essay requires us to write in. At that time, I thought every essay had to be written in TOEFL format. However, recently, I found out that what I had learned from studying TOEFL was not very useful. Even, it gave me a bad habit of starting every paragraph with transitions like first, second, and third, etc. I figured this out by reading a book called the “Riverside Reader” before coming into KMLA. Now that I have the opportunity to learn ‘real’ essays by taking Mr. Menard’s classes, I get excited every time I stand in front of a door that has a sign “Mr. Menard”.