Korean Language School 3 Month Experience Sharing.

sara

a year ago

Introduction to Korean Language Course Content:

Class time is from 9:10am to 1:00pm (morning class) with 13 classmates. Two teachers take turns teaching on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The teachers will also incorporate simple English, so there is no need to worry about not understanding.

I started learning from the first level (beginner), starting with vowels, followed by simple self-introduction sentences. On the first day of class, the teacher asked everyone to introduce themselves (in English). In the following lessons, we learned numbers, months, days of the week, and quantifiers - these are everyday expressions, but each lesson had a lot of grammar to learn. The texts before the mid-term exam were relatively less difficult. Three weeks before the mid-term exam, the teachers began to practice listening and vocabulary before each class to reinforce yesterday's class content. When we learned sentences or vocabulary that we would use in daily life, the teacher would review them the next day. For example, when we learned about time and days of the week, the teacher would ask what day it was today, what time it was, or where we went on the weekend. In each lesson, the teacher would provide a handout on grammar for everyone to practice writing. After writing, the students would practice speaking with each other. One of the teachers would swap the students' positions and have them practice with different classmates in class, which allowed us to get to know each other faster. The other teacher focused more on pronunciation and kept correcting everyone. In addition to multiple-choice questions, listening, and writing, the most difficult part of the mid-term and final exams was the oral test. The teacher would randomly select students to come to the classroom and have an oral test (which was recorded). There were two topics to choose from. The first was to read sentences, and the second was to answer questions about the picture. Finally, the teacher would ask some daily questions, such as where we went after class, how we got there, and what time we got home. After answering all the questions, the teacher would ask if we were interested in taking the second level or what our plans were (which did not count towards our grades). In fact, each person's test only lasted about 5 minutes, but I was very nervous at the time. There was one off-campus activity during the course, but I heard that other schools went to amusement parks. Our teacher took us to the National Museum to make stamps, which was also a good experience. Personally, I felt that the teacher's pace was quite fast because we had to learn almost two books' worth of content in less than three months. It was a bit difficult for students who had not self-studied or binge-watched dramas.

Extracurricular Activity - Seal Engraving

School information

As we all know, Ewha Womans University has a vast and beautiful campus. On the first day, I took a photo with my classmates. Fortunately, the Language Center is easy to find, so you don't have to worry about getting lost. If you live on campus, it's only a 5-minute walk away. After class, we usually go out to eat, so we don't spend much time on campus. Personally, I frequent the school's post office the most because I often need to send things home. There are also convenient stores, eyeglass shops, photocopying services, Starbucks, and a store that sells goods popular among language school students. Overall, it's very convenient, but the downside is that the campus is so big that it can be tiring to walk around.

This building is the language center.

Detailed information about life in South Korea

I think one important thing is accommodation. If you are going alone, I really recommend finding a single room. At that time, I couldn't apply for the dormitory, so I found one on Airbnb, which was very bad. Because I was leaving in 1-2 weeks, I thought the address on Google was very close to the school, but after signing the contract with the landlord, the location was completely different. This is not a problem as long as you wake up early. What bothered me was that I originally wanted to stay in a single room, but the landlord said there were only 3-person rooms left. I thought I could make friends with people from different countries, so I accepted it. I didn't expect that even the taxi driver couldn't find the address and drove in circles. When I got there, the scene really scared me. The entrance was full of shoes, and the kitchenware was not washed and the garbage was still outside the door without being put in the trash bag. There were four exchange students from different countries, all in their early 20s. I could deal with all of this and take out the garbage myself. What I couldn't stand was the noise. They were still chatting and listening to music at 12:00 at night without considering their roommates. Once I asked if they could keep it down because I had to do my homework, but one of them was unhappy and lowered the volume of the music and started talking loudly. After two weeks of staying there, someone came to see the room and said they wanted to sleep in my bed. I was very angry and wondered how this could happen. The landlord said I was supposed to sleep in a 3-person room, but on the first day, they took me to a 2-person room. I was already very angry, and after moving out, I decided to change my accommodation. The trigger was when my roommate went to bed at 10:00 PM, and I was sitting at my desk using my computer. I had already turned my desk lamp to the left and away from him, but when I went to take a shower, I found that my hairband was missing. When I came back to the room, I found that my desk lamp plug had been pulled out. I was so angry. After asking Taiwanese classmates in my class, they said I could ask Airbnb to handle it. In the end, the landlord only refunded me 5,000 TWD, which means I spent 22,000 TWD on accommodation and was very unhappy. Later, a classmate helped me find a new place to stay, and I moved out successfully.

On the first day of class, the teacher mentioned that we could apply for a study partner. I was fortunate enough to meet a serious study partner who taught me well, but unfortunately, my study partner didn't know English, so we had to rely on translation software. Also, my study partner was a senior student who had to attend classes and practice the piano, so they didn't have time to eat after our two-hour session. The only time we had a chance to eat together was during our one and only afternoon tea, but my study partner had to rush back to class. However, the advantage is that I now have a Korean friend if I ever travel to Korea in the future. Now if I have any problems reading Korean books, I can ask my study partner for help. After spending more than two months studying, I am familiar with the surroundings of the school, and I hope to have a chance to visit in the spring.

In October, I started a new life and was very happy to meet classmates from around the world. After class, we would eat together and then decide where to go. In the past two months, we have visited many tourist attractions, and every day has been very fulfilling. I experienced wearing Hanbok and took KTX with my classmates to the filming location of the ghost in Gangneung, as well as the location where BTS filmed their music video. In November, as my trip to Korea was coming to an end, I decided to go to Jeju Island and took a boat to Udo Island so as not to waste any remaining time. The most interesting thing was the street interview in Hongdae. At that time, I was wearing a mask and couldn't tell if I was Korean or not. I often encountered college students on the street who wanted to interview me. In order to improve my listening skills, I tried to understand them. Although some people thought that foreigners could not understand and refused me, others said it didn't matter and even complimented me, which made me very happy that studying hard and watching dramas were useful.

Also climbed Hallasan Mountain, although came down after 20 minutes because it was steep and cold.

I don't have much pursuit for food, so when I wasn't familiar with my classmates at first, I just walked into a restaurant that looked good, and many of them have a machine ordering system so you don't have to worry about not being able to speak the language, or I would go to a convenience store. For breakfast, I would buy bread and milk, but Korean prices are really high and bread is not cheap, so when I came back to Taiwan, I felt it was really cheap; There are a lot of cafes in Korea, and every time I go to one, I order a cake and a drink, and I gained 7 kilograms when I came back.

Coffee shop for the clock-in Goblin~

Although it took almost 3 months and a lot of money (300,000), including food, lodging, activities, shopping, airfare, tuition, and even shipping packages, life only comes once, so as long as you save up, you can go; it's also important to find like-minded classmates, because you can go to places you want to go together and have each other's company, even though you won't see each other after returning to your own country, you're already looking forward to going to each other's country to play.