113 Bi-Weekly 6

[Jacob Park]

For these final 2 weeks, we focused on our cultural presentations. I decided to do my cultural presentation on Kimchi. It was interesting to learn about this staple dish, because even though I grew up with it, I did not know much about it. After doing the research, I became more interested in Kimchi and Korean cuisine. I understand the importance and the cultural aspect of the dish. It was something that reflects the Korean culture. For example, Korean Kimchi was actually not spicy until the Japanese invasion when the American soldiers introduced the red pepper for the Koreans. The hardest part of this presentation was actually condensing the information into a presentation and finding reputable sources. Since most sources are just casual websites for people who do not really want to get too into the nitty gritty, it was hard to get actual insight on the dish. However, after digging around a little more, I found out the history of Kimchi and it gave me a broader understanding of food in Korea. Giving the presentation was actually helpful, because Youngmin and my classmates gave me critiques on the presentation. This was helpful because I did not know how my presentational skills are on Korean topics. Some critiques were that they wanted to know more about a certain topic. I have added these information to the cultural presentation and have greatly increased my knowledge on presenting in a foreign language.