Language learning journal 250126
To begin with, I presented my goal to my language partner Claire so that we can discuss class structure, activities, and assignments for this class. My goals for the class were 1. To understand Korean culture and history in depth through modern Korean literature, 2. to improve the ability to express opinions and discuss various interpretations from Korean literature pieces, 3. and to learn Korean politics and society in terms of historical context through reading news articles.
For this Claire recommended the book she had: Human Acts (소년이 온다) by Hang Kang (한강), the Korean author who recently received Nobel Prize. I thought this was a clever choice of literature since I have been willing to read Han Kang’s book as she has been pretty popular in Korea but not as much as recent days after she received the prize. Luckily, Claire had the book that I could borrow, so we talked about how we can discuss its storyline and historical backgrounds as I keep reading throughout the semester. The book also serves as a good starting point to learn more about modern Korean history since it is based off of 5.18 Democratic Movement (5.18 민주화운동, or Gwangju Uprising) in 1980, which was one of the major events that shaped Korea into the country it is now. In that sense, reading the book seems to cover both of my first two goals.
Interestingly, this is related to the third goal since Martial Law in Korea last December has been a great issue, which people seem as major threat to Korean Democracy. This comes back to the Democratic Movements in modern Korean history which paved the way for firm democracy in Korea. However, although people who do not affect much from Korean politics may think the legal battle of impeachment of President Yoon is clearly the way to settle down the political turmoil, Korean people often see this as a combination of more complex problems, which includes questions like “Who is ultimately responsible of this issue?”, “Would everything settle down and become normal after impeaching the president?”, or “Who will be running for the election and who should I vote for if President Yoon gets actually impeached?”. Thus, it seems to me that more discussions would be needed even after the possible impeachment, and this is the great time for me to become more knowledgeable in Korean politics as I have the voting right in Korea and I feel the responsibility of being a part of Korean politics.
For this reason, we also discussed that I could keep reading news articles throughout this semester to get more familiar with jargons in politics and economics on the news app she recommended. This app called “Newneek” publishes bite-sized news articles which makes it more beginner-friendly. Although I will have to look up a few words while reading them, it would not feel challenging or unnecessary since I have been willing to become more able to read and understand news articles easily. I am looking forward to how much I am gaining this semester!
To begin with, I presented my goal to my language partner Claire so that we can discuss class structure, activities, and assignments for this class. My goals for the class were 1. To understand Korean culture and history in depth through modern Korean literature, 2. to improve the ability to express opinions and discuss various interpretations from Korean literature pieces, 3. and to learn Korean politics and society in terms of historical context through reading news articles.
For this Claire recommended the book she had: Human Acts (소년이 온다) by Hang Kang (한강), the Korean author who recently received Nobel Prize. I thought this was a clever choice of literature since I have been willing to read Han Kang’s book as she has been pretty popular in Korea but not as much as recent days after she received the prize. Luckily, Claire had the book that I could borrow, so we talked about how we can discuss its storyline and historical backgrounds as I keep reading throughout the semester. The book also serves as a good starting point to learn more about modern Korean history since it is based off of 5.18 Democratic Movement (5.18 민주화운동, or Gwangju Uprising) in 1980, which was one of the major events that shaped Korea into the country it is now. In that sense, reading the book seems to cover both of my first two goals.
Interestingly, this is related to the third goal since Martial Law in Korea last December has been a great issue, which people seem as major threat to Korean Democracy. This comes back to the Democratic Movements in modern Korean history which paved the way for firm democracy in Korea. However, although people who do not affect much from Korean politics may think the legal battle of impeachment of President Yoon is clearly the way to settle down the political turmoil, Korean people often see this as a combination of more complex problems, which includes questions like “Who is ultimately responsible of this issue?”, “Would everything settle down and become normal after impeaching the president?”, or “Who will be running for the election and who should I vote for if President Yoon gets actually impeached?”. Thus, it seems to me that more discussions would be needed even after the possible impeachment, and this is the great time for me to become more knowledgeable in Korean politics as I have the voting right in Korea and I feel the responsibility of being a part of Korean politics.
For this reason, we also discussed that I could keep reading news articles throughout this semester to get more familiar with jargons in politics and economics on the news app she recommended. This app called “Newneek” publishes bite-sized news articles which makes it more beginner-friendly. Although I will have to look up a few words while reading them, it would not feel challenging or unnecessary since I have been willing to become more able to read and understand news articles easily. I am looking forward to how much I am gaining this semester!
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