First of all, I want to say that I was not laughing at my students. Making mistakes is a normal part of learning, especially a language. Even children who will later become native speakers make mistakes (albeit logical ones, e.g. “Mommy, yesterday I goed to Disneyland.”). Also, learning English is very difficult for Korean speakers, as Korean is for English speakers.
My students were talking about Superstar K, which is similar to the American TV program American Idol. They were comparing and contrasting the winner, Huh Gak, with the runner-up, John Park.
Huh Gak can sing many kind of music, because his voice has wide range. On the other hand, John Park is suitable for Negro music like jazz and R&B because he is good at sing to the rhythm.
After laughing out loud (I couldn’t help it!), I apologized and told them that they shouldn’t say “Negro.”
Them: Why not?
Me: “Negro” is an old-fashioned word. Also, some people don’t like it.
Them: What should we say? “Black people’s music”?
Me: Umm … How about “music invented by African-Americans”?
Them: OK.
