It has been a month since my last learning journal and I have learned quite a bit about the Korean language and culture during this time. Although I spent my first two weeks reviewing content that I learned the previous semester, that did not stop me from learning new things weekly. One of the main differences between this semester and the previous was that I now have a dedicated textbook for learning Korean and specific topics in the Korean language. This textbook is called Alive Korean: Speaking Korean for Beginners. My language partner, Jannette gave me a digital copy of this textbook so that I could follow along during lessons and also study independently. I have found that having a textbook, though digital, can be very useful for planning ahead in what I want to learn and is useful in leading discussions. Although it has become a sort of guidebook, I don't want everything I learn to solely originate from that book. What I have learned from the book has been self-introductions, countries, places, and prepositions, in that order. Self introductions have been more complex than just giving a name, we went over the specific occupations that might be mentioned in this scenario. Regarding countries, we went over the appropriate Korean names for the U.S, France, Russia, China, Japan, and Korea. Some occupations we went over were cooks, teacher, and doctors. During this self-introduction snippet, I found that combining these vocabularies in the sentences helped me retain the memory of them much better. In terms of prepositions, the textbook provided a diagram with a sphere in different positions around a hollow cube. For prepositions, I found that the easiest way to remember them was to map a pattern of prepositions in my head while imagining the sphere's position around the cube. This pattern was above, inside, below, beside, in front, behind, and between in Korean. The chapter about prepositions also introduced more grammar to complement this sentence formation and new relevant vocabulary that focused on furniture and items typically found within a bedroom. The next chapter that I am currently starting on will focus on purchasing items so there will be even more interesting sentences to build.
During this month I have also zoom chatted with other students learning Korean this semester with Jannette. I have found the experience to be quite fun and engaging. We have watched Sky Castle, a Korean drama, together, and have had Korean Fried Chicken as a cultural experience of sorts. A topic of concern has been the general increase of hate crimes against Asians and Pacific Islanders in America, not to mention the ongoing pandemic and how it had affected our lives on campus. Although these are trying times, I hope we will persevere through it and I hope that people will embrace cultures like the activity in the SDLC program. Looking forward to learning more Korean during this next month and onward!
P.S.: I wonder if Korean BBQ would be a good experience for SDLC students once this pandemic ends. I won't be here to experience that but I sounds like fun.
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