I hoped to learn more useful vocabulary, phrases, and grammar for basic conversation. I think I was able to complete these goals these past two weeks.
The class two weeks ago was unfortunately cancelled because Professor Kim was sick. For our Korean class this past week, we reviewed the material we learned before. She tested us on some of the vocabulary we learned last time. The vocabulary was mainly about the days of the week, the seasons, and some other random vocabulary we learned. After taking the test, she asked us how we were in Korean. I think I’ve been able to express a little more about what I’ve done the past week, which is a good sign. It’s good that I am able to improve little by little and express more about myself. She also asked us questions about the date, such as “What day is it today?” and “When is your birthday?”. This was a good review of when we learned how to say the date. I was surprised that it stuck pretty well and I was able to recall it pretty easily. After reviewing the material about telling the date, we moved onto a new subject. The rest of the class, we learned about how to say if things are in a room or not. Professor Kim gave us a packet full of dialogue and practice activities and we went through it. First, we read the dialogue and tried to understand what it was saying. I think I was able to understand a good amount of it, but I still didn’t know everything. Then we did the activities in the packet. We were given a picture of a classroom and were tasked to say what was in the classroom. This was a good activity, but it made us practice our grammar, as well as learn some more vocabulary. We learned words like “seat”, “map”, “desk”, “chalkboard”, and other vocabulary that has to do with a classroom. We also did an activity that taught us some adjectives. For example, it gave us a picture with a big bag and a small bag, and we had to say if the bag was big or small. A grammar point we learned was how to say something in agreement. It was a pretty simple grammar point, since we just had to add an ending to the sentence. I think we were able to learn a lot these past two weeks.
I’ve also met with Jannette these past two weeks. I have used this time to review and practice the things that I learn with Professor Kim. Along the way, Jannette also teaches me more useful vocabulary and phrases that have to do with the topic I learn in the Hagwon class. Like our previous meetings, we will have practice conversations to have a more real-world experience with Korean. I think having these practice conversations is helpful and allows me an opportunity to speak to someone as if I met them on the street. It’s always a little hard to come up with things to say on the spot though. Once I get through all the phrases that I know, it’s difficult to think of other things to say and sort of improvise. I hope that this skill will continue to develop as my knowledge of Korean increases. These practice conversations give me more confidence to speak Korean to more people.
In order to practice what I’ve learned these past two weeks; I will continue to look over the packets that Professor Kim has given me and try the activities again. I will continue to try to incorporate Korean into my everyday life as much as possible, whether it’s with friends or even just to myself. I also hope to continue having practice conversations with Jannette in our future meetings.
I think my strategies have been effective so far. I like that I’ve been learning more vocabulary, because that allows me to say a lot more things. My reading skills are getting better and my speaking skills are slowly improving as well. I think the activities and lessons I’ve learned so far have been helpful in my journey to learn Korean.
In order to build on what I’ve learned so far, I hope to learn more useful vocabulary and new grammar points. I want to move towards more complex conversations, as well as cement my knowledge in the basics.
Comments
Great post Mr. Foo! I actually just finished reading your fifth learning journal and I must say, it seems like you are making real progress in your learning experience. I also encourage you to keep speaking to people on the streets even though you have a hard time coming up with things on the spot. I completely agree with you when you say that engaging in conversations increases confidence!