American English

• One of the lecturers we had today was totally boss. First of all, he was dressed fantastically - he looked very attractive and way younger than 39 (totally shocked when he said that was how old he was). Secondly, he talked about a really fascinating subject: basically, the conventions that we take for granted as English-as-a-first-language speakers can be huge roadblocks for ESL or EFL speakers. Thirdly, he had the best stories:
• He met his first friend and Charles spoke Korean and his friend spoke English, but they just laughed and played together anyways.
• After his family moved from Korea to Hawaii, his teacher read him Where the Wild Things Are. He said that as a 6-yr-old who didn't know English, it was the most amazing sensation...and then clarified: "Up until then...not since. But I won't go into details." Hahaha :)
• On learning semantics over pronunciation: He learned "So?" after an older student came to his group of friends bragging about his new Gameboy. When Charles' bigger friend said "So?" to him, he realized that that was a tough phrase, a good one to know. "From then on, I became a very cocky boy." He also learned "What about it?" when the same older student came back a second time. Charles said "So?" to him, so his friends were patting him on the back and saying to the boy, "Yeah! What about it?" He used it as "Whataboutit?" but used it nonetheless and "became an even cockier boy."
• (At the end of the lecture) Now you might be thinking "'Ah, I have the goodies for the rest of the year!' And yes, you do."