Publishing the series 'Korean Short Stories with Question Marks'
preface

Reading the work: "Stone Bridge" by Lee Tae-jun

Reading Deeply: Reading "Stone Bridge" Through Questions and Answers

1.
Background in the work
Where is Sammal?
What are the fields of Neungjinon and Doksijangbat?
What are the high and low prices?
Is appendicitis a fatal disease?
Were you able to rent a bike?

2.
father and son
What kind of person is your father?
Why does father repair the stone bridge?
What kind of person is Changseop?
How did you become a doctor then?
How much money was ten thousand won at that time?

3.
Desire and Belief
Why is the title 'Stone Bridge'?
What kind of poetry is Baek Nak-cheon?
What is the author trying to say?

Reading Broadly: A Look Beyond the Work

Author Story - A Chronology of Lee Tae-jun's Life and Works, Learn More About the Author
A Tale of the Times - 1930s
Reading Together - Changing World and Value Orientation
Reader's Stories - A Literary Heritage Tour

1.
I dream of a literature class overflowing with whimsical imagination and lively questions.

The 'Korean Short Stories with Question Marks' series is a book planned and written by teachers from the National Association of Korean Language Teachers who dream of 'exciting and fun literature classes.'
It began with a reflection on literature classes designed for entrance exams and examinations, that is, literature classes that provide students with uniform and mechanical information about works, and was created with the intention of informing students about what they actually wonder about after reading the works.
Through this, we aimed to break away from one-sided literature classes that were consistent with fragmentary understanding and forced memorization, and to establish a foundation for a user-centered literature class that allows students to understand and empathize with the work.

The "Question Marks Guide to Korean Short Stories" series features short stories that have been widely read for a long time among those included in middle and high school Korean language and literature textbooks.
After reading these selected works directly to the students, I collected all the questions they had.
Among them, we selected those that were frequent, meaningful, novel, and original.
Then, the Korean language teachers looked up books and papers and answered the questions based on what they had studied.
It was explained in simple language so that students can read it easily, and pictures, photos, and reference materials were also included.
In this way, I tried to approach the more universal meaning of the work.

The 'Question Marks Guide to Korean Short Stories' series is unprecedented content that can elicit diverse and profound thoughts.
This series will not only open up a new horizon of "student-centered novel appreciation," but will also serve as a stepping stone for students to become more familiar with literary works.

2.
Read representative Korean short stories from textbooks in a single volume, deeply and broadly.

The 'Question Marks to Find Korean Short Stories' series originated from the regret over the current educational reality where students are increasingly moving away from literature due to memorization-based, problem-solving-based literature classes.
And it is being created with the will and passion of teachers who want to make literary works come alive and breathe close to students.

This book goes far beyond the fragmentary interpretation and understanding of novels found in existing textbooks or reference books.
Because it covers historical, cultural, social, and literary information in an easy and fun way based on questions that students actually ask when reading the work, it is of great help in fully understanding a single work.


This book is structured as 'reading the work - reading deeply - reading broadly'.
'Reading the Work' is literally a section that contains the entire novel.
It is composed with pictures that can stimulate fun and imagination.
'Deep Reading' is filled with meaningful questions that students have while reading the work, selected from among them, and teachers' answers to them.
It focuses on the background, characters, events, and themes related to the work itself, allowing readers to internalize the work in various ways while reading.
'Reading Broadly' allows for a broader understanding of the work by examining the elements surrounding the work, the author's life, and the circumstances of the time.
Additionally, by including the results of students reading and working on the work, we were able to get a glimpse into the thoughts of their peers on the work.
And by introducing other works with similar materials or themes through ‘linked reading,’ we were able to broaden the reading experience and the scope of literary appreciation.