To improve my writing ability and become a better writer, I began writing journals every once in a while. This allowed me to work on my sentence structuring and the use of appropriate vocabulary. I tried to strictly use phrases and vocabulary that I learned over the semester, to force myself to get accustomed to using new word choices and widen by vocabulary. It also helped to force myself to use every-day slangs and expressions that I could use in common conversations.

Reflecting back, I was able to achieve all my learning goals for this semester. I wanted a deeper understanding of not only the language, but the culture and history as well. We covered a range of topics in the likes of vocabulary, idioms, history, art, geography, and entertainment. The 112 learnings set me up well for my final cultural project, and I look forward to sharing it with everybody.

In SDLC 110 and 111, I learned a various of different topics in the likes of Korean vocabulary, popular phrases, entertainment industry, cuisine, famous landmarks, historical landmarks, and contemporary culture. My cultural projects were on Korea's advanced technology in robotics, and the Hwaseong Fortress historical landmark. These learnings laid out a foundation in basic knowledge of Korean culture, which allowed 112 for more in-depth and advanced learnings. 

For our final meeting, we reviewed for the final exam. We went over all the materials covered throughout the semester and was briefed on the format of the exam. During the review, I realized how unaware I was to just how much we covered this semester, from Korean idioms, geography, and history. I was able to learn all the topics I was interested in at the beginning of the semester and definitely saw improvement in my Korean language abilities.

Last week marked the 5 year anniversary of the Sewol Ferry incident. On April 16, 2014, the Sewol Ferry departed the city of Incheon towards Jeju Island. The ferry was carrying over 400 people, whom most of them were high school students on a school trip. Due to ship malfunctions and sharp turns, the ferry began to list off the coast of Byeongpungdo and a distress signal was sent. Out of the 476 people on board, only 172 were saved. The sinking of the Sewol Ferry resulted in widespread social and political reaction from the South Korean people. The captain of the ship ordered passengers to stay put in their rooms while he and the crew members abandoned the vessel. With many resources available at the hands of the coast guard and military, their lack of organization and negligence of authorities was widely considered to be responsible for the death of over 300 passengers. This incident also shed light to President Park's corruption and negligence, ultimately leading to her impeachment on March 10, 2017.

Following through on my goal to read more Korean articles and watch Korean movies, I read a few articles on the recent charges focused on the popular entertainer Jung Joon-young and other well-known entertainers. These articles were a bit difficult to understand, since they used more advanced legal terminology. I searched up the translation for those terms and tried to make sense of the entire article doing so. For movies, I watched a movie called Intimate Strangers (완벽한 타인) which was dialogue-heavy. The entire movie was about a group of lifelong friends who have dinner at one's housewarming party, therefore I had to rely heavily on my understanding of such dialogues. Unlike the news articles, the movie was much easier to understand since they would use commonly-used terms in every-day conversations.

We watched a Korean movie called Extreme Job (극한직업). We watched the entire film without English subtitles and tried to understand the plot and dialogue. The dialogue wasn't that difficult to understand, and since it is an action movie, the plot was less dependent on the dialogue. Since one of my goals this semester was to keep assessing my capability of understanding conversations by watching Korean programs and movies, we had decided to schedule a movie week. We would stop and ask a question regarding a part which we couldn't understand, making the movie a learning process.

This week I learned how to cook 떡볶이 (Tteok-bokki). Stir-fried rice cakes is a popular Korean food made from small-sized garae-tteok called tteokmyeon or commonly tteok-bokki-tteok. My friend and I cooked it in my room with the use of an electric pot. We went to Grand Market to buy the necessary groceries such as rice cakes, fish cakes, sugar, pepper paste (gochujang), green onions, and sesame oil. First, you measure the appropriate amount of water and boil the water. Once the water is boiled, you can add the pepper paste and rice and fish cakes. As the rice and fish cakes get ready, you add sugar and sesame oil for flavor, topped with green onions on top. 

떡볶이 (video)

Learning Plan

How to cook 떡볶이 (tteokbokki), a spicy Korean rice cake dish:

First, you measure the appropriate amount of water and boil the water. Once the water is boiled, you can add the pepper paste and rice and fish cakes. As the rice and fish cakes get ready, you add sugar and sesame oil for flavor, topped with green onions on top. (From Bi-Weekly Report #4- Week 9).

This is another set of directions from an online website:

1. Combine water and anchovies in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for 10 minutes. Remove anchovies.
2. Combine chile paste, sugar, soy sauce, and corn syrup in a bowl to make the sauce.
3. Add rice cakes and onion to the anchovy water in the saucepan. Add sauce. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add spring onion and boil 3 minutes more.

In preparation for our next class, our language partner instructed us to find a news article on a topic of our choosing, read it, and come prepared to explain what it consisted of. I chose a news article on my favorite Korean actor, 하정우 (Ha Jung-Woo), which covered his preparation for an upcoming movie. The article discussed the challenge of having to learn English for his role, and how he practiced and learned English four months prior to starting production. It also provided details on his co-star 이선균 (Lee Sun-Gyun), who had the role of a North Korean. I was able to understand most of what the article talked about, and hope to start reading Korean articles on a more regular basis.

article: http://m.hankookilbo.com/news/read/201812191876042023?backAd=1

Staying on the topic of Korean history, our language partner provided us a section of a Korean learning textbook from the library. We read a section on Horace Grant Underwood, a missionary who helped develop Korean society and Christianity. Underwood founded the Chosun Christian College, which later became Yonsei University, a well-known top-3 educational institution in the country. We then looked at famous Korean paintings called the 일월 and 연화도. Each section was followed by a short quiz (fill-in-the-blank, multiple choice, true or false). The activity required a dense amount of reading and analysis of the texts to answer the questions correctly. 

Moving on the the topic of Korean history, our language partner found a Korean comic book that covered the history of 3/1 절, the day that commemorates the March 1st Movement in 1919. The national holiday passed recently and I did not know of its significance or the historical context behind it, so as a Korean, it was definitely important for me to learn about it. On March 1 of this year, 33 Korean nationalists and students declared their nation's independence in Seoul from colonizing Japan. It started a nationwide civil protest and was a catalyst for the establishment of the Korean government. Although it was a comic book, the context and dialogue were factual statements on the history. As we went through the comic book, we asked questions on the meanings and events, simultaneously jotting down notes of the timeline, events, and notable people in preparation of the final exam.

IMG_2838.HEIC

Although South Korea's geography is very simple, I wanted to know more about the cultural offerings and what each province or city was known for. My language learning partner put together a powerpoint slide that covered each province's notable facts such as the size of the population, agricultural/industrial contribution, tourist attractions, and history. I learned that although very close to one another, each province was very distinct and had different things to offer. For instance, the southern province of 전라복도 (Jeollabuk-do) is widely known for its food. People from that province are known to be great cooks and have deep knowledge in Korean cuisine. In the south east, the province of 겸상남도 (Gyeongsangnam-do) is known to have 420 little islands off its coast. The province of 강원도 (Kangwon-do) is home to the country's best quality Korean beef called 한우 (Hanwoo). It is interesting to see how each province differs from one another despite the small size of the country, and it is equally as important to know the significance of the cities outside of the capital of Seoul. 

To study the idioms (광용어), our language partner came up with a list of idioms and we carefully went through each one trying to guess what they mean by looking for familiar letters. We wrote down the idioms and its meanings right next to it. Following the idioms, we worked to expand our vocabulary by doing the same thing. Our language partner provided us with examples in sentences to see when it would be appropriate to use such terms. We are looking to be quizzed on these terms and idioms. 

What are your cultural learning goals for this semester?

For my last semester in SDLC, I hope to keep expanding my general knowledge of the Korean language and culture. Beyond the basic study of the Korean language, I wish to learn about the every-day communicational style such as commonly used slangs and idioms. To expand my knowledge of South Korea as a country, I am looking forward to learning more about the history, geography, college culture, social relationships, and hierarchy system. 

This semester I learned about grammar, sentence structure, movies, slangs, song lyrics, history, politics, and landmarks. While 110 focused on conversational Korean, in 111 we went more in-depth with Korean culture. This was a semester full of new knowledge as I knew very little about Korea's history. From important democracy movements to major political events, I came to realize the milestones in Korean history.

A learning task of mine this semester was to learn more about Korea's culture in regard to its historical landmarks as well as politics. Listening to my classmates' presentations on topics such as Taekwondo, Kimchi, the June Struggle (democracy movement), and other national landmarks satisfied my curiosity. 

Hand gestures:

"Come here" - Korea: palm down (never palm up or fingering), US: does not matter

money - Korea: circle with your index and thumb, like the "OK" sign, US: nowadays... index and middle finger rubbing against the thumb

posing for pictures - Korea: cheese sign, "V" victory sign, hide your face, flower face, US: pointing, "1"

For the cultural presentation, I presented on South Korean national symbols. I talked about the flag (taegukki), the tiger, the rose of sharon, and Admiral Lee Soon-Shin. Attached is my powerpoint for my presentation.

SDLC%20Korean%20Culture%20Presentation.pptx