I've always loved to travel and learn new languages and cultures. Korean was my first language and I started learning English in second grade. I picked up Chinese in middle school and learned a little bit of Japanese through movies and dramas. I also learned some key phrases and words in Spanish through my summer internship my freshman year.
When I was learning Chinese, I really enjoyed practicing conversions in our textbooks out loud. I also enjoyed practicing with a native speaker, so I could make sure I was pronouncing the words correctly. I personally disliked just memorizing the characters and pinyin, because I would forget the words quickly. So when I learned new characters, I would try to learn it by sounding them out or by giving them a "story" that went along with the individual strokes of the characters. I had the opportunity to go to Beijing, China my sophomore year of high school through a Chinese Language Summer Study Abroad Program. The students were paired up with a native Chinese school student, and I was able to improve and work on my Chinese with her. It was also a great cultural learning experience for we were able to tour all the famous and historical sites in Beijing during our stay.
Last summer, I interned at a health clinic where there were many Spanish-speaking patients. When I was learning Spanish, I learned the most quickly by listening to the native speakers and then repeating it to myself. That's when I realized that I learned best by listening and conversing out loud.
Although I grew up in a Korean household, my usage of Korean decreased throughout the years. I often converse with my parents in Konglish (mixture of Korean and English), and there was one point in time when I could not read Korean without stopping after every two words and stuttering. I could listen and understand Korean, but speaking and writing was always difficult. I hope to improve in these areas throughout the semester.
According to the survey, I'm a mixture between a Visual Learner and Reading/Writing Learner. When learning Korean, I plan to organize diagrams and charts into statements and practice writing out and sounding out the words again and again. I also plan to converse with a native speaker so I can improve my fluency and pronunciation. I also think I should expand my learning activities by conversing back and forth and reading and speaking out loud. Also, I learn very well by teaching others, so I hope to participate in group learning sessions so we can all learn together.
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