The Classes
With no prior Korean Language experience, I was out of my leauge when arriving in Korea. Within a day of our arrival, we were sitting in the Fishbowl waiting for our Korean language exam. I, as expertly as I could, (with a few things misspelt) wrote "안녕하세요. 저는 알래산드라 입니다. 감사합니다." Then, we had the listening portion of the exam. My teacher asked me a few questions. I gave her a
Then, in English, she asked me if I knew the Korean alphabet. I almost said "aniyo" (no), because it sounds more like yes to me than nae (yes). Luckily I changed my answer correctly, but I don't think she was impressed.
Imagine my surprise when I turned out to be in "Advanced beginner" instead of normal beginner. And so began my hardest week of classes.
With no prior Korean Language experience, I was out of my leauge when arriving in Korea. Within a day of our arrival, we were sitting in the Fishbowl waiting for our Korean language exam. I, as expertly as I could, (with a few things misspelt) wrote "안녕하세요. 저는 알래산드라 입니다. 감사합니다." Then, we had the listening portion of the exam. My teacher asked me a few questions. I gave her a
Then, in English, she asked me if I knew the Korean alphabet. I almost said "aniyo" (no), because it sounds more like yes to me than nae (yes). Luckily I changed my answer correctly, but I don't think she was impressed.
Imagine my surprise when I turned out to be in "Advanced beginner" instead of normal beginner. And so began my hardest week of classes.
The Teachers
My first week of classes felt like a constant Mulan montage where the teachers took one look at me and said, "This is what you give me to work with? Well honey, I've seen worse."
Kim 선생님 (teacher) and Park 선생님 were very patient with me, considering my understanding of the Korean alphabet was much lower than most of the students. Luckily, in true Korean fashion, I studied very hard. After the first week, when I left class with a headache everyday and dreading returning, it became easier. Soon, I was no longer the worst student in the class. Then, I was one of the first to understand grammar rules. Both the teachers seemed to enjoy talking to me more frequently rather than seeing me as the student who knows nothing. In our midterm evaluation, both teachers recognized that pronunciation was (and is) still hard for me. However, by the end of the 5 week class, I felt slightly competent. Obviously, I have years of work ahead of me if I want to be even somewhat fluent in Korean, but at least I'm not completly hopeless. Thank you 선생님!
My first week of classes felt like a constant Mulan montage where the teachers took one look at me and said, "This is what you give me to work with? Well honey, I've seen worse."
Kim 선생님 (teacher) and Park 선생님 were very patient with me, considering my understanding of the Korean alphabet was much lower than most of the students. Luckily, in true Korean fashion, I studied very hard. After the first week, when I left class with a headache everyday and dreading returning, it became easier. Soon, I was no longer the worst student in the class. Then, I was one of the first to understand grammar rules. Both the teachers seemed to enjoy talking to me more frequently rather than seeing me as the student who knows nothing. In our midterm evaluation, both teachers recognized that pronunciation was (and is) still hard for me. However, by the end of the 5 week class, I felt slightly competent. Obviously, I have years of work ahead of me if I want to be even somewhat fluent in Korean, but at least I'm not completly hopeless. Thank you 선생님!
Going out with the Teachers
As a formal thank you to our teachers, we took them out to dinner. We had Samgyeopsal 삼겸살(pork belly) at a Korean barbecue. The barbecue is done in front of you. It is DELICIOUS. Our teacher tried to make us converse in Korean during the entire dinner. We ended up doing pretty well. Our conversations were FAR from perfect, but we kind of had them. After dinner, we went to our favorite bar to drink. Our teachers taught us some Korean drinking games. We taught them a simple version of Kings. It was a blast.
Also, on a practical note, our teachers tried to show us some of drinking culture in Korea. Whose glass to pour and when, when you can drink, who can drink in front of who... There are a lot of rules and breaking them can be rude. Of course, I broke all of them at least 3 times...but who's counting?
GraduationAs a formal thank you to our teachers, we took them out to dinner. We had Samgyeopsal 삼겸살(pork belly) at a Korean barbecue. The barbecue is done in front of you. It is DELICIOUS. Our teacher tried to make us converse in Korean during the entire dinner. We ended up doing pretty well. Our conversations were FAR from perfect, but we kind of had them. After dinner, we went to our favorite bar to drink. Our teachers taught us some Korean drinking games. We taught them a simple version of Kings. It was a blast.
Also, on a practical note, our teachers tried to show us some of drinking culture in Korea. Whose glass to pour and when, when you can drink, who can drink in front of who... There are a lot of rules and breaking them can be rude. Of course, I broke all of them at least 3 times...but who's counting?
At the end of Seoul weekend, we had a graduation ceremony. I don't have any pictures of the ceremony now, but when I find some, I will post them. The ceremony was very entertaining and boring at the same time. Each student received a diploma in a felt case from the head of the Korea University Language Program. Honestly, the red case was probably nicer than my diploma case from UVM. Since all of us passed, everyone got to graduate. They also gave us a gift (a towel with the Korea University symbol on it).
After the diplomas were given, some students won awards for diligent studying and highest grades. Then, it was time for the final presentations. Every class had to make a final presentation. Half the classes did plays, half did movies. The advanced class did a series of speeches.
Our movie prompt was "A day in the life of an ETA." We decided to do a soap opera theme and I starred in "ETA Days of Our Lives." Other skits included an ill-fated mountain adventure, Hugh Jackman's visit to Jungwon, The Jungwon Wizard of Oz and many others.
I'm not sure if this link will work, but this is our video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM8VQ4fWbTI&feature=youtu.be
No comments:
Post a Comment