For these last two week of SDLAP 112 lecture, I met with my language partner Somyung and Joon over Zoom on Friday. We started off our lesson by talking about how our weeks were in Korean. This was in an effort to start practicing one of our goals for this semester which is to speak in only Korean to help retain the language and keep practicing our skills. We also started off last week by watching a few video clips from the show 슈퍼맨이 돌아왔다 which translates literally to “The Return of Superman” and is also known as “Superman is Back.” It was a nice way to start to watch a little bit of 예능, a korean variety show, and see Korean used in a normal setting talking about day-to-day life in a parent and child relationship and to be able to continue interpreting Korean so my skills could improve. Right after that, we also started reading articles in our lessons to improve our literacy skills and practice Korean comprehension.
Because it was also around Chuseok, we learned and talked more about the history of Chuseok which is essentially Korean Thanksgiving during the first week. We were able to learn that this is a holiday that is typically celebrated over 3 days and the official date is on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar new year. It is typically a time for people to go back to their families from other provinces in Korea to spend time with family and catch up while also taking some time to honor their ancestors. In addition, the origins of this tradition are believed to be from about 2,000 years ago during the reign of the third king of Silla.
This time around, we practiced speaking about careers and future plans and goals that we have in mind for the school year so that we could practice our Korean language skills and vocabulary that is not as normally used. After the second week’s class, I also checked in at home by calling my mom and we held our whole conversation in Korean like I usually do with her. This was a very beneficial experience for me because it helped me further practice Korean language and the practice that was done in class really helped with my enunciation and making fluid conversation as well.
This week we also decided to start watching the Korean drama 응답하라 1988 which translates to Reply 1988. It revolves around a family and friends who live in the same neighborhood of Ssangmun-dong, Dobong District, Northern Seoul. After watching this episode we were tasked with reflecting on the episode and writing a reflection on the episode so that we could talk about it next week, in addition to being able to practice hearing korean, and using Korean language skills to practice interpreting the Korean language/culture. One big thing about this drama is that it portrays an accurate representation of how Korea was in 1988 and the communal environment which shows how close families and friends were. I mentioned this drama on a call with my mom and she was very enthusiastic about it because it was a pretty solid representation of her childhood and she was happy that I would be able to learn more about how she grew up.
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