치맥
과일 빙수
Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie
샤브샤브
살사 치킨 버거
만두 순두부 찌개
Monday, June 30, 2014
Sunday, June 22, 2014
My Korean Life #6: 5 weeks in...
I am 5 weeks into my new life here in Korea and have been really enjoying it. I am now fully into my language studies at Sogang University and hopefully it won't become too overwhelming. I bought a set of flash cards to help review vocabulary since the list seems to be never ending. We are a little over halfway through the first part of level 2.
Besides school I've been going to a variety of events to meet new folks. Namely adoptee related events and the TTMIK/SeoulTube meet-up!
Yesterday (June 21, 2014) I went to the Talk to Me In Korean/SeoulTube meet-up at Han River Park in Seoul (http://www.talktomeinkorean.com)! I went with a friend from my time at Sogang University last summer. It was cool seeing all these YouTubers in real life. There were quite a few foreigners there but also a sprinkling of local Koreans. You can see the short video I took below. Many Korea-based YouTubers can be seen:
After the meet-up I went to the reception for ASK's 10 Year anniversary (Adoptee Solidarity in Korea) http://www.adopteesolidarity.org. It was hosted at The BEASTRO restaurant right across form the Hongdae Children's Park. The food was absolutely delicious and I got to meet even more folks from the adoptee community.
This coming week has almost become fully booked up for me as many other friends from overseas are visiting Korea during the summer. I am excited to meet them all and to continue to have fun (and study ^.^) in Korea.
~
Friday, June 13, 2014
My Korean Life #5: Common language
Besides immersion in a foreign language and culture, another way to really get your brain using a foreign language is when you don't share a language with another individual besides the foreign language you are learning. In my class we have many different nationalities represented. While there are some students that speak English, many do not. We rely on Korean to communicate as it is really the only way we can (besides charades of what we want to tell the other person). I often think of what I want to say in English, only realizing later it doesn't matter because my classmate wouldn't understand me anyway.
I then feel bad when I end up reverting to English with a classmate that does understand English...because then those that don't are left out of the conversation. At least in Korean everyone can more or less understand what is being discussed. It may be basic conversations now, but I hope by the end of the summer we will have upped our skill levels to have everyday conversations without too much struggle.
No one said it was going to be easy and I know I personally will have to put a lot of effort into memorizing vocabulary and using every opportunity I can to practice my Korean. I've started a cheat sheet with the vocabulary I have trouble with which now spans a full page and covers part of the backside. Another difficult task is remembering where I can use certain grammar patterns and verb conjugations.
More to come later!
~
I then feel bad when I end up reverting to English with a classmate that does understand English...because then those that don't are left out of the conversation. At least in Korean everyone can more or less understand what is being discussed. It may be basic conversations now, but I hope by the end of the summer we will have upped our skill levels to have everyday conversations without too much struggle.
No one said it was going to be easy and I know I personally will have to put a lot of effort into memorizing vocabulary and using every opportunity I can to practice my Korean. I've started a cheat sheet with the vocabulary I have trouble with which now spans a full page and covers part of the backside. Another difficult task is remembering where I can use certain grammar patterns and verb conjugations.
More to come later!
~
Friday, June 6, 2014
My Korean Life #4: First Day of School - Sogang Unversity Korean Level 2!
Tuesday was day 1 of my return to Sogang University's Korean Language Education Center. I will be in Level 2 for the summer term which goes until late August. Here's a quick rundown:
Day 1 was all supposed to be review of Level 1 material but as with any classroom, all the students are at different individual levels and most likely excel at different aspects of language learning (reading, speaking, etc). Sogang's program is focused on verbal communication and speaking so that's what is emphasized with every lesson.
We got lists of verbs, nouns, phrases, and such that we should already be familiar with and also played a game to review. It is still really difficult to explain a word to another person in a foreign language (at least for me). The game was similar to CatchPhrase...one student would sit with their back to the displayed word and then their team had to describe the word to them...in Korean.
After the word review and game there was a quiz on Level 1 grammar. Basically they said if you don't do well on it you should consider dropping down but I doubt anyone would do that since almost every student in my class had studied at Sogang previously.
We were instructed to preview the next day's lesson the night before so we would be able to use and converse about it within class. Also during orientation, the staff member said we should set aside 2-3 hours per night to review, study, and preview material. The program pace is fairly quick and intensive, sometimes covering a whole chapter of material in one day. I hope as the term continues I can become close with my classmates so we can all comfortably speak more Korean together.
On a side note - it rained cats and dogs all day which made for a very humid and wet first day of school...
~
Day 1 was all supposed to be review of Level 1 material but as with any classroom, all the students are at different individual levels and most likely excel at different aspects of language learning (reading, speaking, etc). Sogang's program is focused on verbal communication and speaking so that's what is emphasized with every lesson.
We got lists of verbs, nouns, phrases, and such that we should already be familiar with and also played a game to review. It is still really difficult to explain a word to another person in a foreign language (at least for me). The game was similar to CatchPhrase...one student would sit with their back to the displayed word and then their team had to describe the word to them...in Korean.
After the word review and game there was a quiz on Level 1 grammar. Basically they said if you don't do well on it you should consider dropping down but I doubt anyone would do that since almost every student in my class had studied at Sogang previously.
We were instructed to preview the next day's lesson the night before so we would be able to use and converse about it within class. Also during orientation, the staff member said we should set aside 2-3 hours per night to review, study, and preview material. The program pace is fairly quick and intensive, sometimes covering a whole chapter of material in one day. I hope as the term continues I can become close with my classmates so we can all comfortably speak more Korean together.
On a side note - it rained cats and dogs all day which made for a very humid and wet first day of school...
~
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