Wednesday, July 7, 2010

중급4반 (Intermediate 4 Class)

Last month I decided I needed a more organized approach to studying Korean. Between working during the day and studying for my master's evenings and weekends, I started to seriously neglect Korean. You might say that's not so bad considering my full time job and grad studies, but Korean is important to me.

So I started taking a class at the Korea Foundation near City Hall. It's once a week for two hours and it's entirely in Korean. Just what I need (actually no sarcasm here for once!). I took a level test on my first day and got placed in Intermediate 3 which was much higher than I expected. I studied level 3 for three weeks and then took another test. By some miracle I passed and now I'm in level 4. Movin' on up!

I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue after level 3, since that consisted of a lot of grammar patterns and not much actual speaking practice. I haven't had a problem learning the grammar on my own. What I need is a chance to speak in an environment where it's ok to make mistakes so I can really get some practice and confidence.

Well I went to the first class of level 4 tonight and was happy to see a new atmosphere. My teacher is really funny. She continually picks on everyone to speak, and I've made some new friends that I can only speak Korean with (from Mongolia, Japan, and China). After just one class, I left feeling like maybe I'm not so hopeless after all. I always thought my speaking was really low, but I can keep up in the class, so I got a major boost to my confidence.

The only downer is that the class is on Wednesday evenings. Wednesday is my hell day at work where I work back to back classes from 9-6:30 with only two 30 minute off-periods. My Korean class starts at 7 and is on the other side of the river, so immediately after work I have to jump in a cab and fight traffic to get to my class on time. I'm usually 10-15 minutes late which I hate, but I really can't get there any earlier. My class runs for two hours and then I find my way back home, put some food in face, and pass out.

But I'm a nerd and I love it and it's worth it.

Ashu

1 comment:

  1. Awesome! I love how you study Korean b.c it's important to you. Pass some of that motivation along this way please!!!

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