For the last week of classes, we recorded the podcast and talked about our most memorable lessons and asked some questions to our language partner. I mentioned how I liked the time when we read the news report on the weather in Korea and when we read through the dialogues our language partner created for us. Reading the news report was a great reminder of how much Korean I have forgotten. I also realized how different it is to read something in your head compared to reading something aloud. When you just read in your head, I think it’s easy to gloss over the text quickly and not pay attention to the pronunciation of the words. When I read the article aloud, I realized that I suddenly became more self-conscious. Not only do you focus on the pronunciation, but you also become aware of where the natural pauses are and when to raise your tone. I think it’s good practice if you don’t have someone to talk in Korean to. If you do have someone to practice with, I recommend going through scripted dialogue for a variety of different scenarios. I think these could benefit those who want to try to get a better feel of practical conversation.
I think this semester even though I at first wanted to use a textbook to learn harder vocabulary and grammar, I think it was a rewarding experience to also just take a step back and review the foundations of Korean. I learned a lot more than I expected to. It was also fun to learn in a group setting. Seeing through the eyes of others gives a whole another way of learning.
But there were times when I thought that I should be learning more. Compared to back in high school when I studied for the Korean SAT subject test, I have forgotten so much. Now reading long passages and articles are not very pleasant to look at it. Sometimes it feels like a mountain of text, and I also tend to run out of patience. It becomes easy to give up. I also felt this way when I was practicing my Korean typing skill. I was extremely slow at first. Even typing a sentence was very difficult and time consuming, but compared to now, I think I somewhat improved. Typing in Korean became a little bit easier. I still type relatively slowly, but I have memorized the layout of the Hangeul characters on the keyboard.
I think my original goal, which was to use textbooks to improve vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension, and writing can be my long term goal for the next semester since I will not be taking Korean. I have a change of plans this fall semester, but for next year, it might be a good idea to use a textbook so that I don’t have to constantly think of and find something to learn. Using a textbook can be a good way to keep myself in check.
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