Week 8
This week our plan is to learn how to tell time. I learned this a little bit for my second artifact when saying the time to go to lunch. Time is interesting because the Korean language has 2 different ways to say numbers depending on what you are counting. The hours use one number system and minutes uses the other number system. I learned this through a youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSnqli_Md2s. The instructor's accent was a little difficult to understand. I also found a different PDF online to help me learn visually. http://images.passva91.multiply.multiplycontent.com/attachment/0/R6ooZgoKCBkAAFPaK1I1/Lesson%2012%20Telling%20Time.pdf?key=passva91:journal:7&nmid=80949331
I found both resources equally helpful.
At this point in the semester, I am realizing the difficulty is memorizing so many topics. It is more complicated than I thought it would be. I am learning a lot, but I also forget some of the words I learned at the beginning of the semester. My greatest accomplishment thus far is understanding the culture more. I learned a lot about life in Korea and priorities of the people that live in Korea. There is a lot of research that goes behind language learning especially when I am not simply following one text book or using one learning resource. The variety of resources all help me in different ways. Videos help my pronunciation, but reading articles helps me learn the culture and reason why people say things in certain ways.
I am attaching the lesson I created for a friend in a photo on my page. It was very effective because my friend learned how to say numbers 1 through 10 in less than 5 minutes. First, I went through the numbers and helped her pronunciate each word. Then I gave her a worksheet I made that you can see on my page.
Week 9
This week the goal was to learn numbers and dates. There are two different counting systems that are used depending on the situation. One is known as pure korean and the other is known as sino-Korean because it is based on Chinese numerals. As I wrote in the discussion post, time uses both counting systems, one for hours and one for minutes. I practiced numbers by a few online activity sites I found. I learned about the counting systems on this website: http://www.learn-korean.net/learn-korean-classes-viewarticle-16.html.
I also discovered Chisanbop, a Korean counting game. It is known as finger math and helps with addition. The instructions can be found at this website: http://www.ehow.com/how_4861020_finger-math-basic-addition-counting.html. There was also flashcards on the Before You Know It application on my computer. Numbers are important to learn also because of the culture of Korea's heavy reliance on comparing ages. I find it hard to keep from mixing up the two counting systems.
Week 10
Food is an essential part of many conversations in Korea. I worked food into my second artifact conversation with my mom to reflect this. It is the most common thing to plan one's day around in Korea. If you go to a friend's house, one of the first things people do is make sure everyone is well fed. I decided to incorporate food into my cultural presentation because of how often I find food coming up in my research. Every festival also revolves around a certain meal or type of food. A rice cake soup is served at many festivals. Korea is also known for their barbecue which is the basis of many traditional restaurants. Bulgogi is a thinly sliced grilled beef that is a popular menu item. There is also gimbap which is served as a snack or quick meal. I thought the concept was interesting because it is basically like Japanese sushi but not considered a meal. Gimbap is seasoned riced with fried egg, julienned carrots, julienned ham, seasoned ground beef or fish cakes, pickled radish, seasoned spinach, and cucumber. It seems like a very interesting combination. The most shocking food I learned about was how restaurants will serve live octopus while it is still moving. The culture of eating at Korean was something I researched as well. The eldest male is always served first and no one should pick up their chopsticks until everyone is served. Drinking etiquette is also interesting. Each diner is supposed to face away from the eldest male and cover his or her mouth when drinking alcohol. The first drink should also never be refused when the host offers it. I am going to research more about restaurant behavior before I go to Korea to make sure I don't seem rude.
Week 11
The personal goal I have for this week is transportation. I wanted to understand how transportation works before I travel in the area. We will be taking planes to travel throughout Korea and probably walking a lot so I thought it would be smart to learn about directions. I started by researching what popular types of transportation are in Korea before looking up the vocabulary. There is an extensive network of railroads, highways, bus routes, ferry services, and air routes. There is also a subway system in Seoul and the other 5 large cities. I also watched this video to learn more https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt9-dWqyjxA. I found another website that has "pre-made" flashcards. It's called flash card exchange and had an entire list of Korean transportation vocabulary. After studying this for a while, I concentrated more on giving and following directions. I found a website with an interactive game to learn left/right, up/down, etc. http://genkienglish.net/speakkorean/koreanleftandright.htm This was good for hearing and identifying the word. I think is a good way to learn so I know I am pronouncing the words correctly before trying to read them on my own.
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