During week 1, Jimin and I sat down to discuss my learning goals and how to achieve them this semester. I emphasized that I wanted to read and analyze news articles, build my vocabulary even further from last semester, and incorporate more diverse learning materials and methods. We planned out the first few weeks of the semester and decided to build upon that as we went along. I thought having a planning session was very useful because it allowed me to truly individualize my learning experience and cater it to my needs and desires. I became rather excited about how much I would progress throughout the semester in terms of my Korean language speaking, cultural learning, and writing.
During week 2, Jimin and I took a different approach than normal. We decided for me to learn a chunk of a few different concepts during one tutoring session to provide a more diverse learning experience in which I would not be overwhelmed with just one topic. Therefore, we discussed Korean idioms, vocabulary, and casual conversation. Korean idioms are commonly used sayings that have a deeper meaning, and thus they allow people to amplify their point and draw others in. Some examples are “My tongue is heavy” or “I grind my teeth,” which mean that I can keep secrets well and that I am vengeful, respectively. These new idioms were rather useful for me to incorporate into my everyday speaking so that I would be able to express my thoughts and feelings more maturely. I recognized many of them because I had heard Korean adults speak them before but never really comprehended the intensity and depth of them. In addition, I learned more advanced vocabulary as I had wished for this semester. Although I may not use them in my everyday conversations, I thought they would be useful especially in writing essays or formal conversations. I plan on incorporating the vocabulary and idioms I learned during this session into my writing and conversations, especially with my Korean-speaking parents. We finished up the session by watching a Korean comedy show that featured many famous celebrities that I was familiar with and incorporated conversation and culture as we casually talked and commented while watching the show. I thought it was a very natural way of learning about Korean pop culture and food.
Comments