I think that this semester was the semester I learned the most.
I appreciated the activities Seong Hye planned for us, such as vocabulary games, mini quizzes, and other fun assessments of where we were in our learning. I think that that is what I enjoy about SDLC; I enjoy the autonomy of how we are able to tailor what we are able to learn with the combination of a teacher who is able to teach us that.
This semester was the semester I became most confident about my ability to interact in public with Koreans. I think that I am generally uncomfortable speaking in Korean due to the fear that I will offend someone by not using formal language or vice versa. However, by being able to learn about certain situations where we learned how to specifically use the language and when to differentiate between the two, I became more confident in my ability to thrive in such an environment.
I think that I am looking forward to what I will be learning next semester. I think that I will be tailoring my language plan to help me learn the societal and language expectations for a variety of situations. I am happy that this semester I got to learn how to address cashiers, waiters, my grandparents, my parents, my siblings, and strangers.
I think that I improved in every area of Korean this semester. I improved in my ability to speak, and maneuver in social situations. I learned how to differentiate when to use formal and informal, a topic that I struggled with.
I improved in listening and understanding Korean with the various listening activities we did with our classmates. By being able to hear a variety of Korean level speakers, I believe it was helpful to learn and build upon those interactions.
Lastly, I would say that the only area where I don't see as many improvements is in writing. I think that while I have improved in my ability to form sentences more proficiently, I still am not very good at spelling. Therefore, that will be something I will ask my teacher to focus on for next semester. I think that it is difficult for me to differentiate when a certain way of speaking is just in its enunciation or if it applies to the spelling as well.
Overall, I am happy with my progress this semester. I am proud emotionally the place I have come with my bicultural identity, and learning Korean acts as a solidifying factor for me in my Korean identity.
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