(토요모임) December 28, 2013 Saturday Meeting Topic

[주영이]

Topic1) Nearly 80% of Young Koreans Run a Blog

Nearly eight out of every 10 Koreans in their teens and early 20s have their own blog.
 
According to data from Statistics Korea on Tuesday, the percentage of high school students who said they run their own blog jumped from 75.5 percent (1,171 out of 1,551 surveyed) in 2008 to 79.1 percent (2,278 out of 2,880) in 2009.
 
Nearly all students read blogs regardless of whether they run their own, with a high percentage of high school and university students saying they visit other people's blogs.
 
Among young people aged between 15 and 24, 81.1 percent said they read news articles on the Internet at least once every two weeks.

Question

1. How about you? Do you have your own blog? What do you usually post on your blog?

2. Do you think why blog is so popular especially among the young generation?

3. When it comes to freedom of expression‎‍!, blogging sites are always opened. What do you think is good or bad?

4. Nowadays, Twitter is also very popular. What's that? What can we do doing Twitter?(or,, You can talk about Facebook n etc...)

Topic2) Tolerance for individual hobby

Shall We Tap Dance?

``Stamp, shuffle, step, stamp, shuffle, step…’’

Boisterous music accompanied by the deafening sounds of tens of heels and toes smacking the floor. Every Sunday afternoon, about 20 to 30 young people holding big bags with a change of clothes and their drumming instruments gather in a small dance studio in Yoksam-dong, southern Seoul. Some of them occasionally carry plastic bags full of oranges or baked sweet potatoes in hand. They are those who like to tap dance.

``It’s not like you wake up one morning and decide to learn how to tap dance,’’ said Chong Sung-il, the founder of ``Liketap,’’ an Internet dancing fraternity, who give lessons on the basic steps for beginners.

``For those who search on the Net for tap-dancing and come here to learn and practice it, it is like their dreams have come true. Ever since seeing movies like `Singing in the Rain,’ or `White Nights’ or ‘90’s world-hit dance shows such as `Riverdance,’ `Tap Dogs’ and `The Lord of the Dance,’ many people have wanted to learn how to tap dance.’’

There are certainly many fascinating things about tap dancing: the light and nimble steps, the jazzy and buoyant rhythm, and that cheerful tapping sound of the shoes. While repeatedly watching ``White Nights’’ on TV during the 1980’s, which may have been broadcast for ideological reasons, many Koreans found it charming to see Gregory Hines make dexterous and rhythmic music with his body. But there aren’t many places that could fulfill their yearning to learn the dance themselves, as it’s not easy to find a tap dance workshop here. Chung, who started to learn tap dancing early last year, opened a Web site community about a year ago to find others to practice tap dancing with. It started with a few people sharing the same interest and introducing their new steps and practicing together. In several months, however, other people who want to learn tap dancing visited their site and came to join them. Now ``Liketap’’ claims over 200 members while there are 30 regular participants at the weekly workshops.

During a break, some people flocked and chatted lightheartedly in a corner with baked sweet potatoes, oranges and cakes, while others massaged their legs.

``First, I like the sound. Tap dancing to music is quite refreshing. Meeting other people is another great pleasure of coming here. I think, most of all, I like the idea that I am tap dancing,’’ said Yun Myong-hye, a student from Puchon, Kyonggi Province, who started tap dancing in February.

But it takes a while before you feel like you really are tap dancing. Like any other learning process, tap dancing is difficult for beginners and somewhat tedious because of the repetition of simple steps. As beginners need to use muscles they do not use much in their ordinary life, they may feel their calf muscles and other parts of their body grow bigger and stronger.

``For me, it took a month to get over the total exhaustion from practicing. And it was no fun repeating the basic steps.’’ said Paek Sung-hwa, an office worker in his mid-30s, and the oldest in the studio. ``I had wanted to learn tap dancing from my school days. Yes, it was `White Nights’ which made me get interested in it.’’

It satisfies him in at least two ways _ health and artistic desire. He lost 4 kilograms in the first month, an unexpected bonus from pursuing an artistic desire.

Yu Ji-young, a Korean traditional dance performer and teacher, finds tap dancing thrilling. ``It’s the first time for me to join this kind of community. It’s fun.’’

The most favored practicing site by these enthusiastic novices is the subway platform, where they can practice while waiting for the train. An elevator is also a good practicing space when there’s no one else in it.

``The tap dancing population is increasing fast among youngsters. I guess it is because they are ready to accept this multi-faceted genre. That we can make rhythmic music while dancing is a great attraction,’’ said Chung.

Kim Tae-hi, an office worker who’s been learning tap dancing for three months, was the most zealous one in the studio. ``I love this so much,’’ she said. She seemed to have really fallen in love with tap dancing.

To join ``Liketap,’’ visit www.liketap.pe.kr. The monthly 20,000-won fee is used to rent the studio and prepare a yearly charity performance.

Question

1. It is very stressful society, so what do you usually do for releasing stress?

2. What kind of hobby do you have? Why do you like your hobby, please share yours with other people.

3. Different from 80's 90's, there are a lot of new leports and new hobbies like paragliding, inline skating, Yoga. What kind of up to date hobby have you seen? If you have time, what unique hobby do you want to start?

4. Learing dance like Ballroom dance; Swing, Tango would be one of new trends. How do you think of learning dance? If your coworkers, friends, or a boy/girl friend ask you to learn dancing, what is your decision?

5. Normally when a man and a woman do ballroom dance, it is very natural to touch each other. After marrige, if your partner indulges in dancing, how will you react?

[CHANMAN]

감사 합니다 어제가 목요일 인줄 알엇는데 시간이 빠르군요