My Korean Summer 2013: Day 13, Overview of Language Class, Sogang Korean Immersion Program

[안녕하세요!]
Class! Four hours every weekday of nothing but Korean.

After getting placed into a level (1-5), Tuesday, July 9 was our first day in class. We were allowed to buy our books after class that day, just in case we were in the wrong level to begin with. The class sizes are actually quite small. I believe there are currently 13 people in my level. I was placed into an advanced 1A class which basically means we do some content of both 1A and 1B. 

Even though the level I was placed in is a beginner course, they expect you to know a fair amount of Korean. There is actually a course below my level for those that cannot read/pronounce Korean at all. That level eventually dips into true level 1A materials. Anyway, more about my class...

The teachers (Korean: 선생님) only talk in Korean to the students. The only real exception is if we are completely clueless about what they are saying but this is very rare. Most of the time the whole class can comprehend the directions and instructions the teachers give. 

My class has 3 different 선생님. They are all very kind and helpful and make class engaging. In fact, the university I am attending has a focus on speaking and verbal communication. Every class includes speaking with each other and the teacher. Many activities include getting up out of our seats to talk with everyone in the room about the day's topic (the 선생님 will also participate sometimes).

[Daily Schedule]

Most days start with the 1st 선생님 doing an introduction to the day's grammar concept. For example, present tense or past tense. We usually do a couple of verbal exercises with the teacher and a few written exercises. The 2nd 선생님 focuses on dialogue and speaking practice. She knows exactly what we went over with our 1st 선생님 and she continues the lesson with added vocabulary and role play situations. Our 3rd 선생님 focuses on listening comprehension as well as reading comprehension from time to time. Out of the three, the 3rd speaks the fastest and uses the most varied vocabulary for instruction. This may be by design but it could also just be the way she decides to interact with us.  

The hours from 9AM-1PM are broken up roughly as follows: 2 hours writing/speaking, 1 hour speaking, 1 hour listening/reading/speaking. We have a 10 minute break every hour however sometimes these are cut short depending on the schedule of the day.

Each day we have been covering one unit which makes the pace quite brisk. We can get anywhere from 30-40 "new" words. Some aren't so new to some of my classmates. This past unit was particularly challenging because of all the vocabulary and new grammar concepts.

[On Difficulty]

Honestly, if you come to class, participate, and do the workbook exercises you should have no problem keeping up. The only thing I have to do regularly is review vocabulary. There is way to much to simply look at it once and remember everything. I'm going to have to do a decent amount of studying some time this weekend in order not to forget everything for next week's quiz.

This kind of goes without saying but you have to be willing to speak and practice talking in Korean. The grammar is completely different from English and I have a hard time just assembling sentences in my head. The listening comprehension for me isn't too bad but I'm still challenged when it comes to speaking.

[Extra Information]

We get a lot of worksheets each class, I could probably start my own forest with all the paper I've gotten (just kidding ^^). This helps set the pace for the day and also gives up ample opportunity to practice in class and to review outside of class. They do not let us keep our quizzes however. We are able to check our score but we have to hand back the quizzes to the 선생님. 

The view from my classroom is above. We look out to the Gonzaga Plaza area which holds the campus bookstore and various restaurants/cafes.

The view down the hallway...

More to come later!

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