English on Korean TV

One of the things I like about TV in Korea is the amount of foreign (mostly American) stuff there is. I watched the Director's Cut of Aliens the other day, and I've seen Minority Report several times without even trying. The History Channel was showing the Horatio Hornblower series (with Korean subtitles) for a while, and I've always got the Cartoon Network, which is always in English.

I do have a couple of issues with English movies on Korean TV, though. First off, they don't filter out the bad language.

Bad language doesn't bother me, per se; what I don't like is the way it affects my students. Kids watch TV and pick up it through the subtitles, and then repeat it in their classes. I've heard of students who've told their teachers, "F*** you," and gotten in trouble for it. Did they understand it was rude? Probably, but to what degree?

This poses a problem for me -- it's offensive (naturally), but how do I deal with it? Should I assume the student knows what it means, and be harsh, or should I ignore it? For the most part I ignore it, but with the students who've gotten over the novelty of knowing how to swear in English, I explain it better.

The other problem is that, aside from the rare good ones, the movies generally suck. For every gem, there are several Chucky 3s, a Last Ninja, a couple Johnny Mnemonics, and a Solo (starring Mario van Peeples). Wholly forgetable, trashy, pulp films.

Tell you what, though -- having the Cartoon Network makes up for all the stupid junk. Day or night, I can get mindless entertainment on channel 64. Biiiiiiiirrrrrrd Man!