During the first half of the semester, I have made good progress with and without my language partner.
I have been consistently meeting my partner once or twice a week to practice Korean conversation. I believe that our learning format was worked very well and is paying dividends. We start every session by simply conversing casually in Korean. I found that this works best when my partner begins by asking simple questions such as 'how is your day going,' 'what did you do this week', and 'what are your plans for the weekend.' I have been getting better at being comfortable with back-and-forth conversations only in Korean. Of course, because my level is still intermediate, I often take long pauses between words to formulate sentences accurately or I end up asking my partner to translate a word or phrase.
Throughout this conversation, my partner will take notes of new phrases and words for future reference. My partner will also suggest new words and phrases that would enhance my conversational ability. At the end of the lesson, my partner will have me go over the notes and try to make new examples of sentences with the new vocabulary.
In order to improve throughout the week between meetings, I review the notes to try and memorize new words and sentences. My partner will also assign simple homework such as reviewing vocabulary and making new sentences from the notes.
I enjoy our system and believe that it has been a great help for my Korean learning journey. In the future, I would like to also ask my partner to send my 1-2 pieces of Korean media a week for my to enjoy and learn from. For instance, content like Youtube videos or news articles would help me learn Korean on my own time, while also improving my knowledge of Korean culture.
Comments
You should start practicing your Korean conversation skills with me! Feel free to reach out whenever you need some practice. Watching shows and YouTube videos will help with finding new words and phrases that will enhance your converstaional ability! You should definitely look into some trending Korean Netflix shows.
Communicating with your language partner in Korean not only sounds enjoyable but also proves to be highly beneficial for learning the language. The idea of engaging in conversations with a native speaker who can provide real-time feedback and guidance is truly inspiring. I may start looking into ways to try this strategy myself.