I started learning English when I was in the first grade of Elementary School. By the time of my third grade, I was way behind most of my classmates in English class. This triggered my mother to order a series of English tapes and CDs so that she could play them for me every morning when I wake up and every night before I go to bed. After two months of constantly listening to English tapes, my English listening skills improved dramatically. I was also able to pick up words and sentences, as well as memorizing vocabularies more easily. From this experience, I realize that in order to learn Korean efficiently, I have to expose myself into the Korean-language environment. Thus, I will listen to Korean radio or watch Korean drama for at least an hour a day.
I have been identified as a visual learner by the Learning Style Test in which suggests me to use symbols, charts, and arrangements to organize learning notes, draw and redraw images in different ways to enhance learning, and eventually practice turning visuals back to words. In addition, I dislike strict instructions on how to learn languages, thus, I will also take the Rational model of the FIRE model. I will learn the big picture concepts and work towards particular application, pursue “what-if” questions and answers to expand exploration and understanding, and explore interesting topics that inspire systematic and cause-and-effect thinking. I will also provide myself “open-ended tests which requires reflection on what I have learned.
In expanding learning activities, I will take useful advises from “12 Rules for Learning Foreign Languages in Record Time.” First, I will learn 300 most common words from memrise.com because as Tim Feriss wrote that “20% of effort” can help language learner achieve “80% comprehension in a language”. Then, I will learn the most common conversations from language partner and from YouTube. I will also search for the common words that was imported and transformed from China to ease my learning. Next, I will constantly listen to Tuneln.com radios, watch Korean drama, and cultural television shows to put myself in a correct circumstance. I will also practice speaking with Korean-study partner, with other Korean learning classmates, as well as practicing in italki.com.
In addition, I will create concrete goals for every week and set specific deadlines so that I can realize my study progress and evaluate effectively and decide on what else I should do to promote my Korean learning. My ultimate goal for this semester is to be able to communicate with a random Korean for at least five minutes.
In sum, I will take suggestions from the learning Style Test result, the FIRE Model, and the “12 Rules for Learning a Foreign Language in Recorded Time.” I will try to learn the most common words, conversations, put myself into a right circumstance, and keep practicing speaking.
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