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Hello and Goodbye in Korean
While going through school, I have had two separate language learning experiences (aside from my native language). However, the two learning processes were completely different and also at very different stages of my life. My first experience was while learning English at a fairly young age. I was born in Korea and while my school offered a class in English, my knowledge was very limited. When I moved to Texas in 3rd grade, I knew very little English outside of how to introduce myself. At the time, my parents decided that the best and fastest way for me to learn a new language would be to throw me into it.
Looking back, I agree it was definitely the best way for me to learn a new language. I honestly cannot remember having much of a difficult time learning the language. While I didn’t know any English, being surrounded by people who only speak English was a great, stress-free way for me to learn a new language. Especially because I was so young, I did not overthink the process, and it took less than 6 months to get to the level of my peers. By 4th grade, people generally could not tell English was not my first language. Therefore, like many people, I agree that the best and quickest way to learn a language is to throw yourself into it.
However, I do realize that doing this may not be difficult both logistically and mentally as an adult. However, for my personal experience, I cannot think of a con, as the process worked extremely well for me.
The second language learning experience I had was the 3 years of Latin I took in high school. Not only was I much older, Latin being a dead language made the learning process much harder. Because nobody actually converses in Latin, my learning was limited to reading my textbook, and doing written exercises on vocabulary and grammar. I have never been a fan of grammar, and this way of learning made the process even more difficult for me. Although I took three full years of Latin, currently four years, later, I can remember very little if not nothing of Latin. While it also has to do with my failure to keep up with the language after high school, my knowledge on the language was not as high as I had hoped after 3 years of learning.
Through my language-learning experiences, I can definitely say that I am an active learner. The learning style survey also tells me I am a kinesthetic learner. I am able to absorb more information by speaking to someone, actively learning in a hands-on way, or even watching a show rather than doing repetitive exercises from a textbook. While I do see the benefits of textbooks for the learning of vocabulary, writing, or basic grammar, I would prefer to limit textbook usage to the extent that I can.
In addition, because I have a background in Korean, I think it would work well for me to actually converse with people in Korean on a regular basis. Because I have the the basic knowledge, I feel that conversing would allow me to remember some of the Korean I may have forgotten over the past 10+ years.
Overall, this semester, my goal is to be able to comfortably speak in Korean to anyone, as well as expand my writing skills. With the right combination of active learning and textbook usage, I hope to improve my knowledge in Korean.
Over the course of my life, I have learned English as my first language and Spanish as a second language. I have been learning Spanish since the 3rd grade and I studied in Madrid for the Fall 2014 semester. Learning a new language is an incredibly difficult task and I have been working at it for over ten years. Over this time, I have learned aspects of the process that I enjoy and some that I do not enjoy. Also, I have been able to identify the kind of learning that best suits my mind and personality.
Because I have taken Spanish classes for a long time, I have begun to realize what I enjoy about learning a language. I have always loved learning new vocabulary in Spanish. It could be anything from vocabulary about sports to vocabulary about the culture’s cuisine. I enjoy incorporating the new vocabulary I learn into conversations I have in Spanish. Another aspect of learning a language that I enjoy is learning about the culture of a particular region of the country. When I studied in Madrid, I took a class that was centered on learning about various art in Spain. We learned about famous artists and particular pieces of work that they produced. My favorite artist we learned about was Francisco Goya because I enjoyed his one piece “The Third of May” tremendously. All in all, I love being able to immerse myself in a different culture and use different vocabulary in Spanish conversations.
Although I have loved learning Spanish, there are certain aspects of the process that I dislike. One part of learning a language that I do not enjoy is grammar and proper punctuation. Even as a young child, I have never liked learning about where to put a comma or what makes up a prepositional phrase. I have always found this piece boring and redundant. Although I recognize grammar is a crucial part of learning a language, I would rather spend this time learning new vocabulary or digging deeper into the culture. For this reason, I want to tailor most of my learning in the SDLC 105 class around the culture and vocabulary of Italy.
Over the course of my language learning, I have recognized what methods and strategies help me to learn the best. I rely most heavily on hearing and speaking when I am learning a language. One strategy I utilize is listening to the professor say a new piece of vocabulary and repeating the word back to myself. This helps me pick up new bits of vocabulary much easier than writing them or reading them to myself. When I took the “Learning Styles” survey, my results came back as an “aural learner”, which proves the fact that the best way for me to learn a language is by hearing and speaking.
I believe I can expand the way I learn a language by diving more into the pop culture of Italy. I am planning on learning the language by watching some Italian television shows. This aligns perfectly with the way in which I most effectively learn a language, through saying what I hear out loud to myself. Along with watching Italian television, I also plan to look into some Italian podcasts or radio shows. I believe these two forms of media will help me to learn Italian more quickly. I am excited for the opportunity to begin learning some Italian and diving into the culture and heritage of the country.
In my years of taking Spanish, I have learned what I like and dislike about language classes. Even though I have been taking Spanish since freshman year of high school, I definitely do not know the language, which is frustrating considering the amount of time and effort I put into the class. I did not learn the language as well as I had hoped for several different reasons. One reason is because the courses were set up for rote memorization. Everything was divided up into units, which made it seem like nothing was related. When I had to learn the various verb tenses last year, I kept every tense very separate. This made it very difficult to actually hold a conversation but in order to pass the tests, it was necessary to learn this way. I knew that on the test certain tenses would be in one category while others would be in another so that was the way I studied. I did enjoy the overall structure of the class. I liked that there were specific learning goals that we needed to accomplish; I did not like how everything was compartmentalized. It is important to me that I have goals I need to reach or I will feel like I have accomplished nothing at all. Developing my learning objectives for every meeting will probably be the hardest part for me. There is not necessarily something specific I want to learn; I just want to learn it all. I will need to refine my goals.
On the FIRE model I scored highest in the rational and evaluative sections. I prefer open-ended questions and I expect the material to be related to people’s experiences, lives, and stories. I am determined for the class to not be rote memorization but a more immersion process. I want to learn through casual conversation instead of note taking. I learned from the Learning Styles quiz that I do not learn well from notes so I’d like to structure the class in a way that is not dependent on my notes. However, I do realize that I need something to revise between my meetings. Learning how to develop my own “syllabus” will be essential for my learning style. I need structure but I also need some freedom to learn in a more immersive style. It is important I want the material I learn in class to also be useful to everyday life. I would like to be able to hold a conversation with my family members and friends that is meaningful and not strained.
This blog was mainly a way for me to think my way through what I want to get from this course during this semester. After rereading this very convoluted paper, it seems that I need a to do list of sorts. I need goals to reach so I can feel accomplished.
I’ve been learning a language since Freshman year of high school. In high school, it was Spanish. For the first two years here at UR, it was Arabic. For all the times I have learned a language, I have always enjoyed the cultural aspect of the language. Learning about how the society operates and how their language came into play within their society has always been intriguing. As well, music has always been an integral part of finding a common ground with the foreign language I’m learning or any language to be frank. I’m a music lover and being able to listen and understand what a musician is saying is really rewarding. Emotions are so easily conveyed in music and add understanding to it makes for an amazing experience.
I’m really big into auditory learning, especially when I am able to copy what they’re saying. Of course, it has to be my level of understanding or at least where I can gauge what I’m saying. I really want to watch kids shows and see if I can follow along with them. As well, I am sure there are videos and songs meant for little kids available online where I can memorize the alphabet and numbers so I am definitely going to do that. I am also a visual learner so flash cards will work really well. As well as just writing and memorizing vocabulary. Writing things out is a way I am able to see how the language works so I will be doing a lot of the language learning through hand and not through a word processor. I find speaking to be really intimidating, but I’ve learned that practice is all it takes to improve speaking. So with Korean, I will have no fear to continue to make mistakes in speaking in order to have some sort of fluency in it.
I’m also going to be intentional about seeking out communities and peers where Korean is spoken this semester so that I can have that extra exposure to the Korean culture and language. I learned Arabic that way in becoming conversationally fluent while abroad in Morocco, so I’m hoping my language learning experience with Arabic will fall into step with learning the Korean language.
Learning the Korean language, I am definitely a novice learner. Although I have watched Korean dramas and listened to Korean music for a long time, aside from understanding certain words and phrases, I don’t know the semantics of Korean to have a real conversation. My goals for this semester are very much similar to the novice learners’ mandatory goals for the semester just because when I go abroad, those are all the goals I wish to be able to communicate already when I arrive in South Korea. Directions, food, relationships, colors, numbers, and a ton of everyday vocabulary is something I am looking for this semester. I would say everyday occurrences would be ideal for conversation practice with my language partner. I also need to have the Korean alphabet memorized. Another goal is to understand the gist of the meaning in a Korean song. Since I love listening to Korean music, I think testing myself on a video without English subtitles then watching one with the subtitles would be a fun and interactive way of quizzing myself. I would work with my language partner on a song that would fit the vocabulary I have. My intent this semester is to just have the crucial travel language necessary to survive in South Korea before my classes start in South Korea. I want some comfort in my ability to speak and engage in Korean before I leave the States.
Dominique Brown
Dr. Sharon Scinicariello
SDLC 105
1 September 2015
Assessment and Goals Summary
So according to my current language ability assessments, my proficiency and knowledge of the Korean language is very low. I am a novice level 0 beginner for all categories; thus, I would like to improve this by being able to converse about everyday activities freely and comfortably. Topics can range from greetings, time, food, music, TV, etc. In addition to this, I would like to be able to distinguish words and phrases that are being said in conversations between others. Knowing vocab about money, the names of other countries, and animals would also be beneficial.
Dominique Brown
Dr. Sharon Scinicariello
SDLC 105
1 September 2015
Reflection Paper #1
My first experience encountering another language other than English must have been when I was really young. I lived in a neighborhood that was very diverse. Not only was English widely heard, but I also frequently listened to my neighbors speaking Spanish, Chinese, and many other languages. This is not to say; however, that I understood a word they were saying. It was just, to me, something different. No, perhaps my real encounter with actually listening to and understanding another language would have to be from watching Dora the Explorer as a young kid. I really enjoyed that show. It is only through that show that I am able to possess the skills of counting to ten and saying ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ in Spanish…sadly, that is about all I can remember.
Besides my Dora the Explorer days, the next time I was immersed in a language learning setting was during my four years of high school and my first year of college. I was attempting to learn French. In high school, the experience was so-so for me. My French teacher often spoke to us in English, and the class was, for the most part, based on cramming as much vocabulary and grammar into our brains for the exams as possible, only to partially forget what we have learned a week later. In total, the class watched a French movie perhaps twice in all four years (there was only one French teacher). However, what I enjoyed most about the class was when we were given food projects, mostly because we got to eat delicious food for the whole class period. In addition to this, I really enjoyed learning not only about France as a Francophone speaking country, but also about other countries, such as those in Africa. During the last few days of senior year, we learned some belly dancing moves from one of these particular countries.
In college, I feel as though the method of teaching French was not all that different besides the fact that French, and not English, was mainly spoken by the teacher. I liked this aspect a lot; however, I felt really pressed for time moving from one topic to the next. I think my overall experience would have been better if I perhaps enrolled in the entry level French class freshman year, or if I took a refresher class to brush up on my French grammar. I could understand the majority of what was being said, but I did not, and still do not, possess the confidence to converse comfortably in the language without overthinking the possibility that I could be making/will make a mistake.
So because of my past language learning experiences, and according to the Fire Model of Integrative Thinking, I think that I learn best in an environment that has a slow pace and which is not too focused on completing specific language tasks immediately after the other. I am more interested on the cultural and everyday aspects of foreign regions. For example, my target language is Korean, and I hope not only to converse with native speakers and others freely, but to also be able to read and understand others aspects of their culture, such as their literatures, dramas, movies, music, and much more without fully relying on English translations and equivalents. It is also very interesting to me to compare aspects, different and similar, between Korean and American culture.
Thus, in order to accomplish this, I will try my best to incorporate the suggestions made to me by my Learning Styles Test results. According to this test, I am a reading/writing learner. So, I will definitely make use of habits such as using the dictionary to look up definitions, reading (hopefully I can find a Korean novel with the English translation on the next page), and writing my notes out by hand.
I’m a LALIS minor and I took Spanish in high school, but most of the Spanish I learned was in college. I very much enjoy being in the upper level Spanish classes, because they are more centered. I’ve read a lot of literature from Spain and Latin America and I really enjoy listening to Spanish music and watching TV shows in Spanish. I like to learn and practice the language in other ways than just reading a textbook and doing exercises in class. I do wish that I remembered vocabulary better, though. Some words I learn right off the bat and will remember them forever, but some words just don't stick with me. I wish I had more of a chance to interact with native Spanish speakers, but I think I have still learned pretty well without being fully immersed.
According to the FIRE model, I think I am normally a rational learner, but when it comes to learning a new language, I am closer to a factual leaner. When learning a new language, I like to know exactly what is expected of me and I want things to be very detailed. I am also a kinesthetic, hands-on learner. I like to use pictures and examples when learning new words and topics and it often helps me to remember something if I write it down two or three times. I really love using flashcards, which will be basically impossible to do with ASL, so I will have to figure out something new. I used to dance in high school and muscle memory is extremely important to remembering the steps. I think the same principal can be used with ASL. If I practice a sign enough times, eventually my hands will remember what to do without me actively thinking about it, which is the level I want to reach in all the languages I learn.
Reflect on your experiences as a language learner. What did you enjoy? What did you dislike? Think about the FIRE model and the surveys you have just completed. What kind of learner are you? What kinds of language learning activities suit your learning style? How do you think you should expand your learning activities?
My language learner experience started from my elementary school. At the beginning, I learned English mostly by the lecture. I did not have enough chances to practice with English-speakers since I did not have any English-speaker friends. Hence, I could handle grammars and writing. However, I did not do well in my speaking and listening part. And now, I enjoyed applying languages such as speaking with locals in University and writing paper as a language learner. As a result, my English is getting better and better.
From the survey, I am a Kinesthetic learner. I should use all of my senses when learning a new language. Spending time watching Korean video and listening to Korean songs will improve my languages skills.
During this semester, I will create my own study plan and specific weekly goals to improve my language skills. I plan to watch Korean Drama twice a week and take advantage of applications(mango language, Diigo ) to continuously promote my language learning.
In the future, I plan to visit Korea or attend a program in Korea in one summer. When I immerse into a Korean-speaking environment, I will be fully exposed to Korean. It will be efficient for me, a Kinesthetic learner according to the survey results.
110 - What is your interest in 'your' language and what do you hope to accomplish this semester?
My interest in American Sign Language started with meeting one of my best friends when I studied in Israel and she happened to be deaf. After a week or two of communicating on passing a phone back and forth and typing in Notes, I decided to take up learning ASL from her. Since then I have grown to love the language, deaf culture, and some of the issues that I have learned about in the deaf community.
Based on the "Level of Competence" document, I would place myself at an Intermediate level of Developing 2. I have the basics of conversation down to a level of comfort, but I need to learn more grammar and structure of signing, improve my ability to understand others outside of just my one friend that I learned from, and I would hope to work towards a level of competence that I could seek interpreting certification by years end. I could also expand into learning some universal sign potentially as well (ASL is specific to America; other countries have differences)
105 - Reflect on your experiences as a language learner. What did you enjoy? What did you dislike? Think about the FIRE model and the surveys you have just completed. What kind of learner are you? What kinds of language learning activities suit your learning style? How do you think you should expand your learning activities?
I enjoy learning languages, but I definitely work better as a learner when I can have hands on practice (pun intended). Constant repetition, correction from whomever is teaching me, learning through messing up is the best way I have found myself improving as a language learner.I am definitely a kinesthetic learner, which is why I love sign language so much. Learning the nuances of facial expression as being a part of grammar is something that I struggle with at times, because that is something you cannot really learn unless you are immersed in a deaf community. I would consider it as being similar to getting down pronunciation within spoken languages. I need to find someone in the Richmond Area that I could meet and talk (sign) with regularly if I am going to improve, though I had a friend suggest that I find larger groups to practice with because that is where I tend to have issues in understanding.
(I think I misunderstood the "self-assessment" section as meaning whether I think it was a realistic goal/how to assess myself instead of being used at the end of the semester for actually assessing myself. I have left it as is, and have done my self assessment in my last reflection paper.) LearningPlanPravaas.docx
Sources are at the end of the presentation.
Ahmadiyya%20in%20Pakistan.pptx
Summary (what is not on the slides)
Slide 1-
When he was 14 years old he scored the highest ever recorded marks for the matriculation exam at the Punjab University (matriculation exam is exam taken as a sort of placement test for movement into tertiary education.) He received his first Bachelors in Mathematics at age 18 and master’s degree at age 20. Three years later he completed his second Bachelor’s at Cambridge with double first-class distinction in Math and Physics. He completed his doctorate by age 25, with his thesis earning him the Adams Prize.
Slide 2-
The broad estimates of numbers are due to the difficulty discerning just how many Ahmadi there are because of the sect's discriminated status in Islamic countries.
Distinct beliefs include the interpretation of "Jihad" and some Ahmadi's belief that Mirza Ahmad (the founder of the sect) was a prophet.
Slide 3-
Bhutto passed the bill in 1974, even though he resisted for a while, those non-Ahmadi Muslim who were disenchanted became more and more violent until he had to cede to their wishes.
There are currently laws against Ahmadiyya claiming to be Muslims, for them to call their places of worhship “mosques”, to use the common greeting of “Asalamu alaikum”, publicly quote the Quran or disseminate their beliefs.
Slide 8-
Being a part of a religious group seems to play a larger part for being the categories through which one might primarily identify themselves (as compared to nationality, social class etc.)
Though general feeling towards Ahmadi remain negative in Pakistan, there is evidence of a movement towards acceptance (or at least non-discrimination/oppression).
There is an interesting number of words that appear in Urdu that have religious meaning that is of specific importance to Islam, while at the same time there are some words with religious meaning in English that are not found in Urdu, like "cult".
