I organized my learning plan in terms of the specific goals I hoped to accomplish such as learning the alphabet, certain sets of vocabulary knowledge (food, weather, greetings, etc.), enough writing ability to have a simple text conversation with my mom, the reading ability to read a children's book in Korean, etc. Then I laid out the tasks I needed to do in order to accomplish these goals. That consists mostly of splitting up the different vocabulary sets into their own tasks. For example, "Learn how to talk about myself: introducing myself, saying where I'm from, how old I am, what I do for a living, etc.," which also implies that I learn the verbs and grammatical structure that come with this task. Then I wrote down some tools I had at my disposable that I thought would be most effective for me, knowing what kind of learner I am. Some of these include Korean television and music to get used to hearing the language spoken, my mom, a native speaker who will always be willing to text or call to work on my writing and speaking skills, and online tools such as Mango and Duolingo, which I know work for me because I like their structure and the technology engages me more than trying to study a textbook. Then I laid out a calendar for myself to follow, which includes a set number of hours spent using my various online resources, meeting with my language partner, keeping up with SDLC 105/110 assignments, and more. I included a specific focus for each week such as vocab about family, greetings and farewells, asking for directions, etc. Having this checklist will help me keep track of how much time I'm working on Korean and making sure I accomplish the goals I set out for myself.
These studies will allow me to investigate my target language because I will be engaging in it for at least 10 hours a week. As for the culture, I will learn specifically about parts of Korean culture with my final project for the class. In addition, I've already began learning things about the culture just learning about the language, for example, that it is customary to bow slightly during greetings and farewells, or that there are specific formal and informal ways to say most things, because respect to elders is a large part of Korean culture. Korean dramas and music are huge elements of its culture, so spending time listening to those will also help me engage further in the culture.
My interest in learning the language stemmed from my mom being from Korea. She taught me and my sisters a couple phrases when we were younger, but always regretted not forcing us to learn the language. Her immediate family is in the U.S. and has been for decades, but when we have family gatherings with her side, they still always speak Korean. I would love to be able to participate in those conversations. In addition, my grandmother barely speaks any English even though she's lived here for the past 35 years, so I've never had a real conversation with her without my mom as a translator. Lastly, I would love to go visit Korea with my mom soon and having some language knowledge would help me appreciate the trip and the country even more.
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