Coming into this class, I had minimal knowledge of Korean culture and language. During studying abroad, I was actually able to take a Korean language class and really enjoyed it. Through that class, I got an introductory understanding of the Korean alphabet, grammar structures, and developed reading abilities. Although that class was only one semester long, I didn’t have enough time to learn everything I wanted to or develop my skills to the fullest potential. I actually had no idea about this class until some of my other friends told me they were going to enroll in it. After studying abroad in Korea, my interest in Korean culture I built a greater interest in the language and really wanted to continue learning. Although Richmond doesn’t provide any formal Korean language classes, I still thought having a language partner would be valuable.
I met with my language partner, Vivian first to develop a schedule around what times every week we would meet. We decided to meet every Wednesday for two hours in the evening. Then, we had to put together around eleven to twelve learning subjects and preliminary ideas in order to create a semester syllabus. Korean slangs, memorizing the Korean keyboard/improving my writing, reading Korean articles, learning more Korean vocabulary words relevant to everyday life, learning more about Korean culture through youtube videos and Korean dramas, texting in Korean practice, and practicing speaking scenarios in Korean were among these goals and ideas. Although our list was very extensive, we had to narrow down the ideas later to really emphasize what specific topics we wanted to focus on.
During the first couple of weeks, Vivian and I started with some review from what I learned when I was in Korea. This included the alphabet, reading simple words and sentences, and reviewing pronunciations. Vivian created a simple worksheet for me to review the alphabet and she quizzed me after. I also brought her my Korean textbook and workbook that I used in my beginner Korean language class. She was able to go through that with me and review the concepts that I had learned. It really made me realize just how important practicing and exposure to a language is important. Because I had stopped Korean lessons for about a month, I actually had forgotten some things, but didn’t even realize it. When I was in Korea, I was also surrounded by the language everyday. And coming back to America, it’s been harder to get that exposure just because the language is different now. Because of this, we spent some extra time on the basics to make sure I had the skills to move forward. This meant that I had to be comfortable with speaking and reading at least the alphabet and simple words. So at the end of every week, Vivian would test me on reading, speaking, and vocabulary. We did this for about two weeks after I had a more solid understanding and was more comfortable with the basics before we moved onto learning new things.
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