This week we had our first Korean lesson with our language partner. Since it was the first one, our language partner focused on teaching the basics. We started off learning how to introduce ourselves in Korean. This included saying the greeting and names. We practiced saying it aloud. Since I already knew how to introduce myself in Korean, I added other details in my introduction such as my age, where I came from, etc. Even though I can already speak Korean to a certain degree, speaking in Korean with those other than my family made me a little bit nervous. It seems a bit awkward and difficult to suddenly speak in another language especially when you are used to speaking in English with those people. But this is just the beginning, so I am sure that I will become adjusted to it soon.
After leaning self-introductions, we moved onto learning some vocabulary, which consisted of the Korean version of words like Korea, China, Japan, weather, cold, hot, warm, dog, cat, and more. I have already learned these words when I was a child, so this wasn’t much of a challenge, but watching Maggie, the other student in our class, also learn was an enjoyable experience.
After vocabulary, we learned basic grammar. The grammar structure was the Korean way of expressing am/is along with the negative counterpart and also like/dislike. Like earlier, this was anything particularly new, but we were told to write down some sentences using the grammar points, and it was a great refresher. I haven’t handwritten something in Korean since about 4 or five years ago. As I was writing down the sentences, I asked my language partner a question about the spelling of the word for vegetables. After she told me the correct spelling, she also explained that usually for most nouns, they typically use the ㅐ vowel instead of ㅔ , which is commonly used more for verbs. This was eyeopening. I never realized it. I was always terrible at writing in Korean because Korean spelling can be very confusing. Doing this grammar and writing exercise was easy yet meaningful.
Also, we watched a YouTube video clip from a Korean variety show. It incorporated some of the vocabulary we learned, and it was just a very funny video that showed natural Korean conversation. I thinking watching videos is a great way to learn a language because being able to listen to the language and consciously or even unconsciously pick up details about some word that was used, a pun/joke, etc. gives insight about the culture and also tests my level of understanding. Even though the video we watched had English subtitles, I realized that I would have understood it the same without them.
After the lesson was over, I talked with my language partner about learning about things I already knew from the lesson, and she decided that she would get some reading comprehension material for me. I also thought about checking one of the Korean books at the Global Studio. I think incorporating other learning materials with the class would be a good challenge and practice.
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