I am currently working with my tutor Somyung Kim and classmate Rachel in learning Korean. I am focusing on the written portion: grammar and syntax. I want to focus on spelling, vocabulary as well as sentence structures. My level of speaking and comprehension is at a B1 level. My writing and reading skills are more at an A2 level. I would like to raise those two things up to B2 and if possible, C1.
I am currently working on a daily diary in Korean and getting those edited weekly. I also watch a show or movie and write a reflection of that in Korean. I plan on texting Somyung and my parents more in Korean than in English and they already text me in Korean so the reciprocating part is not a problem. I will try to speak only in Korean to my Korean classmates in SDLC and as well as Somyung. I will also write to them in Korean. I will text my Korean friends and family members more often and hopefully can get corrected and learn as a part of my daily life. I will try mock email Somyung an “official” email and letter as if in a company setting. I want to try reading children’s books in Korean, as in fictional books such as Harry Potter and gather new vocabulary words, but perhaps start off a little lower in difficulty. I also want to be able to translate from Korean to English and vice versa. I would also like to get culturally aware of Korea and learn Korean history as well.
I could do other activities as strategies to study language better such as making skits and or making a poem or song to help make it easier to learn or to challenge myself more. I could also try learning proverbs and idioms in Korean as a fun activity and translate the meaning. I could also get a rule to speak in Korean for a full 24 hours excluding sleep of course.
A way I could see how effective my learning is and how well I am retaining the information and lessons is to assess myself after a week of these activities and challenges. Either done by my tutor or simply done by myself, but the questions provided most likely by my tutor.
I will build on what I have already learned by reinforcing it by reading these books and then writing my diary and getting them edited and rewriting my diary with the edits and corrections. For my strategies, if I find that these activities don’t work, I will try the more traditional way of worksheets and workbooks and having them corrected by Somyung and redoing them until I get them correct by second nature.
So far, I’ve felt embarrassment from not being able to just know Korean like the rest of my Korean friends around me. I feel a little frustrated with the lack of knowledge of writing in Korean and how long it takes me and how many repetitions of getting it wrong before I get it correct! I lack patience, I am aware, but I didn’t realize it took me this long to learn something as I am used to picking things up pretty quickly…
I’m so far successful in sounding comfortable in Korean, but in terms of writing and typing and texting I am not so good at it… Which is what I am primarily trying to work on.
Comments
Hi Ariana! Your ideas for learning activities sound really cool! I’m also reading children’s books in Korean, but the one I’m reading now (잘 자요, 달님) is for toddlers (appropriate for my reading level :)). I wonder what it would be like to read a more advanced book like Harry Potter, if you have read it in English. That could be a good idea because you would already know the storyline, so that would definitely help with comprehension!