The Proper Way

This past Wednesday one of my middle school writing classes was learning about "procedures." We had to write a procedure of "how to grow tomatoes" or something equally boring. We had to come up with a goal (How To _"), list of requirements, steps, and test (Enjoy Your _!). One of the students suggested that we write about how to cook ramyeon, something they all knew. Now, here in SK they don't say ramen noodle (or even raymon noodle, which is how I've always said it) they spell and pronounce it ramyeon. This seemed an easy enough procedure and something that we could do together on the board as a group. South Koreans make ramyeon differently than we do back home. It tastes so much better! When they put the noodles in the water to boil they also put in the seasoning packets. In America we would usually wait until the noodles were cooked to put the packets in. Let me tell you, the taste is so very different. Apparently when you "cook" the spices into the water it almost becomes infused with the flavor and deepens it. They also add a raw egg to the soup after the noodles are cooked. They just pour it in and immediately stir it after they turn the heat off. Almost like an egg drop soup. Very yummy! After I had written our procedure on the board, I told the kids the way that I usually made it and, boy, were they shocked. They had playful horrified expressions on their face like I had destroyed the soup entirely by cooking it that way. It was actually a really good class overall, because they were engaged in what we were doing and we all laughed together. I usually take a while to get comfortable with new people (unlike Joshua, whom all the kids love), but this class showed that it's getting better. I was engaged too and laughing with them and making jokes. It's hard to make jokes with elementary kids who understand about 3 out of 10 words you're saying, and middle and high school kids so sullen their faces drip with boredom. I'm like the teacher we've all had who's kind of strict at the beginning of the year to establish rules and respect, but as the year progresses everyone has fun because the kids know boundaries and I'm more comfortable.

Next time you make ramen noodles at home think about this post and (as the "test" part of the procedure that we wrote in class says) "Enjoy Your Ramyeon!"