같이 가자!

3 weeks Intensive Korean Language Program (Special Program)

August 1 - 19, 2011 

Korean Language Education Center (KLEC) / Language Education Institute SNU (서울대학교 언어교육원), Seoul National University, Gwanak-gu Seoul

I have always wanted to try out studying Korean language in its own country and this year I am given the chance (and funding lol) when my application to SNU was accepted in June 2011. SNU happens to be the top university in South Korea and the tuition fee for this 3 weeks program is cheaper in comparison to other universities offering similar program.

Upon acceptance to the program (email being sent out in bulk to applicants to inform they have been accepted into the summer 3 weeks program) we were expected to take a placement test which was supposed to be held on August 1st (in which I assumed should have been while we reported for 1st day class in SNU) but suddenly was moved forward and became an online placement test instead. We were being informed through email on this around 2 weeks prior to the start of the program. The online placement test consists of multiple choice question (testing vocabulary and grammar) and 3 sets of short essays.  Your scores shall determine your level admittance into the program. 

There are 4 levels. You can obtain more information on the levels and some detailed information by checking out the above link to the program. What I would like to talk about instead is the fact that we were being put into Level 5. Yes you read it right- Level 5. What is Level 5? We don’t know as well until the first day of class in which we found ourselves surrounded by classmates who are speaking fluently in Korean and most of them majoring in some Korean studies for their degrees =.=; So based on the placement test results, apparently there were too many of us scoring unusual high marks thus resulting in the creation of Level 5. The academic structure of this Level 5 would be based on the Regular Program Level 4. (You can read up more on Regular Program Curriculum here). 

Unfortunately quite a number of us felt we are not on that level yet and as such requested to transfer to Level 4 (which is the highest in the Special Program). And I do believe we fit in just fine in terms of revision on things (grammar/vocabulary) we may have known of but at the same time still get to learn something new and practicing of Writing skills since we have homework of one essay per chapter learned each day. There is also Listening and Reading skill involved. Not much on Speaking skill though the teachers only speak in Korean to the students (in between once a while explaining with additional information in English when the students looking as if they don’t understand at all what were being conveyed). I do like the revision session which occurs once every 3 chapters learned (thereafter on the same day at the end of the final hour there would be a simple test of multiple choice questions & fill in the blanks). Apart from the standard revision of quick go through what were learned, we get to have brief role play session in learning to use what were learned, and also flashcards games practice in which we get to learn how to explain a certain word and be able to guess the word correctly. These activities proved to be helpful in ensuring the learned lessons are put to use and remained fresh in mind - well at least for me in some ways~ XD

BTW, there are 3 teachers for our class of 14 students. The teaching session depended a lot on powerpoint presentation aside from following the flow of the activity book used. We are using Active Korean 4 book. (You can check out the book here). It comes along with a CD and the content/instruction is in English. I thought we could use more on interactive session in which we practice the grammars/vocabulary learned on each chapter instead of just running through the book content accordingly. My opinion is that perhaps by subjecting the students to interactive session which requires us to make use what are to be learned hopefully the interactions stayed much longer and able to be of much more use when similar situation is encountered in future. Anyway, each day the lesson starts at 9am and ends at 1pm (making up approx. 4hrs per session not counting the 5-10mins breaks in between, I think maybe twice or thrice). At the end of the program, students will have to sit for speaking test (just maybe 10mins of random speaking based on topics provided one on one with the teacher) and paper test consisting of multiple choice questions, fill in the blanks and essay writing (testing reading, listening, writing skills). During the whole program, each student is scheduled to have to do a presentation (on chosen topic- you can select from couple of topics provided) of around 5mins in Korean in front of the class. You are graded for this presentation as well. I talked about Internet Shopping XD

As part of the SNU student, the school provided you with access to their library (though our barcode scan doesn’t seem to work with the main library which we tried to visit and we never got the chance to figure out why haha) and also the SNU tshirt as graduation commemorative item. Students graduating from this program who scored A (average of 90marks and above as total grade) will receive an extra Certificate of Excellence apart from the standard Certificate of Completion (stating your grade and marks breakdown for each skill) and Certificate of Attendance. The last day of the program was the Graduation Ceremony. Prior to the Ceremony, back in each class, we had somewhat a last attempt to get to know each other through the Message Writing activity (each student leave a simple message on papers belonging to another student - teachers are included). For the Graduation Ceremony, each Level class had a student representative elected to do a brief presentation (in Korean or English) and thereafter some Closing speech from teacher representative before we were treated to Papa John’s pizza & chicken nuggets for lunch.

As for me, I am happy and have no regrets taking up this program though even though frustration and worries were clearly there at the initial of the program when we had to choose whether to continue with Level 5 or downgraded to Level 4. Although we could have survived Level 5 by working extra hard but most probably we ended up hating this whole trip and experience XD Nonetheless, it gives a good chance to have a taste of Korean University Student life, more or less Korean practices and we did meet interesting people. Well from this experience I must say that my listening skill improves by a lot thanks to the numerous day-to-day usable vocabulary learned. This program or at least Level 4 topics main selling point would have to be the fact that they are teaching you things you can use on daily basis which is just about enough if you want to improve yourself and be a little bit more Korean when you interact with the locals ;)

Oh and just to add a bit on SNU… it’s a huge campus and the surrounding Gwanak-san (Mountain Gwanak) is quite a popular place for mountain climbing activities. There are free shuttle buses going back forth the campus from the bus station nearby exit 3 of Seoul National University Subway Station (서울대입구역). (To know more about the shuttle bus, check out here). And don’t miss the chance to eat at the cafeteria/canteen! The food turns out to be quite delicious and you only pay so little for big portion *_* I even saw some people getting refill on the side dishes (반찬). You get to choose between 2 different meals each day. You will need to buy the token money first from the cashier counter before able to buy your meal. I had 깐풍기 (Chopped roasted chicken) that came with red bean rice, side dishes of kimchi, eggplant and soup all for just 3000won. I am also so impressed with how everything is so systematically in order when clearing away used utensils etc lol! Everyone just do their part in ensuring cleanliness and nothing is left behind after using them ;)

I can’t think of what else to share anymore but if there is anything you would like to know more on the program please feel free to ask me ^^ I shall end with a brief breakdown in terms of number of days throughout this program because I am anal like that haha~ As you can see actual number of lessons (not including revision) is only 9 days matching with the number of chapters in the Activity Book 4 XD And the total number of days of attendance (not including final exam and graduation) is only 10.5 days! So this is what you are signing up for if you are looking to taking the 3 weeks course and during SUMMER! :P

1 – 3/8/11 (3days) = Chapter 1 – 3

4/8/11 (1 day) = Revision Chapter 1 – 3 + Quiz/Test

5/8/11 (1 day) = Chapter 4

8 – 9/8/11 (2 days) = Chapter 5 – 6

10/8/22 (1 day) = Revision Chapter 4 – 6  + Quiz/Test

11 – 12/8/11 (1 day) = Chapter 7 – 8

15/8/11 (1 day) = Public Holiday: South Korea Independence Day

16/8/11 (1 day) = Chapter 9

17/8/11 (1 day) = Revision Chapter 7 – 9  + Speaking Exam

18/8/11 (1 day) = Reading, Listening and Writing Exam

19/8/11 (1 day) = Get-to-know Session + Graduation Ceremony