Wednesday, July 15, 2015
I've been wanting teaching Korean since years ago and suddenly I got a chance through a 4-day holiday program that my previous office held to teach group of K-Pop and K-drama lovers who are so curious about learning Korean and reading hangeul ( Korean characters ), not only simple annyeong haseyo ( Hello! ) or kamsahamnida ( Thank you ). I graduated two years ago from a reputable university in South Korea and I got used to communicate in Korean and interact with the local people. That's why I really want to try to distribute the knowledge to other people who are interested in it.
As I guessed, my students couldn't read hangeul, but they surprisingly knew some phrases in Korean that they admitted they heard it from K-Pop songs or K- dramas dialogue. Our class was started at 1PM. I came a bit early and headed right away to the class room after preparing some handouts.I saw a mid-aged woman who sat on the bench. She mustn't be one of my students. But then, she was! I was quite surprised! Wow, I wondered why she took a Korean class. She told me that she's a fan of Korean dramas for a long time. That's why she wills to learn Korean. Her name is Mrs.Ina. She's a fast learner and always has a lot of questions to ask.
Other students are Zahira, Mira, and Vrasya. Three teenagers who adore EXO so much brightened the classroom up with their jokes. Our first lesson was self-introduction and greeting phrases. I played a video that was taken from KBS World's Dugeun Dugeun Hangugeo, a TV program in KBS World that provides free Korean lesson weekly. My students were so thrilled when they knew that they were going to learn from a popular drama, Dream High. Kim Soo Hyun, Suzy, and Ok Taecyeon were the leads of this drama. My students learned how to introduce themselves in several versions, both formal and informal.
Our second day was still filled with learning simple phrases. But then I told them some stories that I experienced during my stay in South Korea. They were amused with my stories. I told them about Korean cultures as well. In the end of the lesson, I promised them to talk about shopping in South Korea on the next meeting. Yes, I know what they would talk about first, shopping for Korean boybands and girlbands' CDs. Heol ... hahaha
On the next day, I prepared stacks of fake money. I planned to have a 'shopping session' with my students. But before that, I told them about popular shopping spots in Seoul, such as Myeongdong, Dongdaemun, Namdaemun, Insadong, Ewha University, Hongdae, etc., and also about phrases that we use for shopping. I also showed them Korean Won cash that I have in my wallet. After that, I asked them to 'sell' their stuffs, such as pencil cases, stationery, books,etc. They took turn becoming customers and sellers. They were laughing when they called their friends as 'ahjumma' who sell the stuffs. It was so fun!
Our last day was wrapped by learning numbers in Korean and reviewing lessons we had learned. We took a lot of pictures, too. It was such a great success for me ! Even though there were a lot of mistakes here and there, but I salute my students' effort to learn Korean language in 4 days. Hope that I can get more chances to learn and teach Korean in the future. Annyeong!
