Since my class sessions with my learning partner has moved online, the ways we can learn are pretty limited compared to before. This is because my language partner and I operate on different time zones as we live in different countries. Despite this, we try our best to improve my Hangul. For the past two weeks, my learning was very reading intensive because I asked my language partner to provide me with difficult material to understand, analyze, and discuss. One of the articles I read was about South Korea's achievement in stabilizing the Coronavirus situation. The article summarizes a conversation between South Korean President Moon Jae In and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven. The Prime Minister congratulated and praised South Korea in its successful results in calming the situation. The President expressed worry about the situation in Europe at the time. The two leaders stressed the importance of bilateral cooperation to not only improve the economy, but also to produce a vaccine as quickly as possible.
The article was challenging to understand because there were a lot of vocabulary terms that I did not know. While I recognized some words from previously reading articles that deal with political issues, this article was simply on another level. It took me about an hour to read through the seven paragraphs. I made lots of mistakes when explaining to my language partner the meaning and main idea of the article. To test my knowledge further, I was given a questionnaire that would ask me specific questions about the article. I have to admit that I did not get a perfect score, but I was able to answer some questions about the two leaders' conversation. While I was proud that I received a decent score, I know that I need to work harder.
Another article I read talked about the United States increasing pressure on South Korea to agree to the increase in defense costs. This news was released shortly after the South Korean government furloughed employees from the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).The United States responded stating that it would compensate South Korea by stationing some of its troops there. This would only happen, however, if South Korea agreed to the Special Measures Agreement (SMA). The questionnaire for this article was challenging as well because I needed to understand what the military agreements were and their implications for the relations between the United States and South Korea. Unfortunately, I received a lower score on this questionnaire than the one mentioned in the previous paragraphs. Despite this, I'm glad that I am still being challenged despite living in uncertain times. While there are lots of room to relax, the intensity of study has not diminished as much as I thought it would.
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