Saturday, September 26, 2009

Placement Test Result and First Days of Class

The test results were posted on a big board; hordes of students crowded around, pushing and shoving to find their test result and class assignment. I finally found my name, my test result and class assignment - Level 2!! This was what I had hoped for - Level 2. All smiles, full of pride, I went to my first class.

Two days, 8 hours of class and buckets of sweat later, the teacher and I had a conversation (in Korean!) It went something like this (minus all the "what?" "please repeat" etc.)

Teacher: What is harder for you, vocabulary or grammar?
Me: Vocabulary
Teacher: I think both. Do you want to stay in this class, or do you want to move to Level 1?
Me: Should I move to Level 1?
Teacher: It's your choice.
Me: Let me think about it.

So I thought about it. Kato Lomb said - go for the challenge. I'm willing to work fairly hard at this. The Level 2 material is possibly within my reach - if I have enough time and will to study.

But - I did decide to move to Level 1. Kato Lomb sought challenge, but she also approached her language learning with joy and optimism. The Level 2 class was really stressful. We had the same teacher and same method (teacher-ask, student-respond) for 4 hours straight. We had to answer questions and perform in the class over and over again. My brain - (is it age? laziness? fatigue? insufficient motivation and confidence?) just couldn't concentrate that hard and that long, and I disliked the feeling of being put on the spot to perform each time the teacher demanded it. Perhaps my preparation really isn't up to par.

So tomorrow morning I will begin my Level 1 class - hopefully with joy and optimism. I think that there will be plenty of new material for me to learn, and I will try to supplement that with reading of my choice, real-life excursions, self-study, etc.

5 comments:

  1. Sounds like good reasoning to switch to level 1 in order to have a more enjoyable optimistic overall experience that is not so exhausting each day. Being immersed in a new culture can be hard enough already. However, congratulations on placing into level 2!!! I know how hard you were working for that and it's great to hear that all that study paid off. We're proud of you =)

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  2. LOL.. it's the oldage..

    I also can grasp grammatical concepts, Korean is pretty easy that way, but the words just slip-slide away.

    BTW - did you find adaptors, or should I pick a few up?

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  3. Kato Lomb is this "polyglot" who could translate in over 16 languages and wrote a book about how she learned - I posted something about it on this blog in mid-August. I'm kind of using her book as a starting point for finding my own method of learning. Yes, even though I'm taking Level 1, I feel a sense of accomplishment that I did make Level 2 on the test. Thanks for the words of encouragement. Yeah, vocabulary is really slippery (is that because of old age??)

    Charles - I haven't yet found the adaptors. If you pick up a few, I will buy them from you when I come to Dongkuk for those books one of these days soon. Thanks!

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  4. Congratulations on placing at level 2! But I agree that you should relax and enjoy the experience rather than pushing yourself too hard. I'd like to know who your classmates are. Are they immigrants? travelers? foreign students? Where are they from? It will be interesting to find out if all of the class sessions will be the old-fashioned "teacher calls on victims" format.

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