More on classes at Yonsei - the good!

So - the program is traditional, teacher-centered, and highly standardized. And - it's fast! The claim is that if a student takes all six levels one right after the other, which they can do in 6 quarters or 18 months, they can go from being a total beginner to being ready for Korean university courses. 18 months!! Does it work?

These things I have found quite positive:

• No time is wasted! Class starts on time and breaks are never longer than the alloted time. Each hour is packed! No time is spent trying to get the Internet to work or looking for sites, no time spent passing out handouts, getting students into groups, giving complicated directions, etc. It's just language, language, language.
• There is a great deal of recycling of material and varied practice with the same vocabulary and structures. The 3 books really support each other. We listen, repeat, memorize, copy, pronounce, and use as speaking or writing models the same or similar material over and over.
• Homework and study is efficient because we know exactly what we will need to know for the next class, exactly what will be on any tests or quizzes, and exactly how to do the exercises, since they're always done the same way. It isn't boring because we're always using new language, and that's enough novelty.
• The constant focus on individual daily performance (written homework, listening dictations, Q/A etc.) assures that all the students stay attentive and keep up.
• We use every page of every text. The texts were developed here at Yonsei, and there is clearly an enormous pride and confidence in the value of these books and in the methods used here. This helps us to accept the books and methods, to trust that if we do all we're asked, we'll learn!

There are certainly drawbacks, which I will try to list later. But actually, I am so deep into studying and trying to keep up right now that it's hard to sit back and make a detached judgment. It's too early to tell what the results are going to be. But I have lessened my resistance to a program like this. I'm sure I will take some of these advantages and try to work them more into my own teaching when I get back.

Classes at Yonsei

Sue Wilson asked some specific questions about what classes are like at Yonsei, and I did want to write about that. So here goes. About homework - yeah, we have a lot, so much that I haven't been posting as many blog entries lately. But now I'll describe - in detail (!) what the classes are like. Later I'll try to share more of my personal experience and reaction being a student in these classes.

Period 1: 9:00-9:50: Room 534 (see picture previous entry), first teacher

• The fourteen students sit in a semi-circle around the room with the teacher in front. There is a chalkboard and large TV monitor that plays CDS and videos - no other AV or Internet.
• The teacher begins by asking a few questions about the previous lesson and usually goes around the room asking each student in turn to answer a question.
• The new dialogue is introduced, always in the same way: teacher reads the dialog while students listen; teacher reads the dialogue line by line while students repeat; teacher goes around the room after each line and has each student speak the line; teacher speaks a line, students in unison speak the next line, etc; then roles are reversed; we repeat the dialogue with books closed; we go around the room as pairs perform the dialogue - student 1 and student 2 recite the dialogue, then student 2 and student 3 recite the dialogue with student 2 taking the second part, etc.
• The new vocabulary is explained (yes, after, not before, we memorize the dialogue).
• We go through various Q/A and book exercises practicing the new vocabulary.
• The teacher begins explaining the grammar, always in the same way: She writes the pattern of the new structure on the board with blank lines for the nouns and verbs, then gives lots of examples of different nouns and verbs that can fill in the blanks and use the new structure. We often have to take turns (going around the class one by one again) making sentences, answering questions, etc.
• We have to keep 2 homework notebooks; at the end of this period we hand in the notebook with the homework we've done for this day, and she returns the notebook we had turned in the day before with the homework corrected and maybe a short comment; otherwise she doesn't talk about the homework at all.

Period 2: 10:00-10:50 - same teacher, same room, same semi-circle, same seats

• It's pretty much a continuation of the first hour - more grammar, more practice questions, more workbook pages to do in class. The teacher has some printed material (vocabulary, prompts) that she shows the whole class - there are no handouts for individual students and the printed material is exactly the same for all the teachers of Level 1. She also has some pages with prepared questions and prompts to refer to for oral practice - again, exactly the same pages all the teachers have.

Period 3: 11:10-12:00 - same room, same semi-circle, same seats - different teacher

• This is supposed to be our pronunciation/reading class, and we use a different companion book to the main text.
• First the teacher gives us back our corrected homework from the previous class and the corrected dictation we took in the previous class; then she gives us a new dictation, taken from the reading we studied the previous day. Then she collects the dictation and home work we had been assigned.
• A new short reading (short paragraph) from the text is introduced, always in the same way: teacher reads while students listen; we go around the room, each student in turn reading out loud all or part of the reading; new vocabulary is introduced (this teacher does not use any other prepared materials); we go around orally reading and answering questions from the textbook about the reading.
• Then we have a short pronunciation lesson, not so much to pronounce sounds correctly as to be able to read Korean orally. There are certain letters in Korean whose sounds change depending on what letter the following word begins with, so each day we learn a new rule about how to pronounce such words together. These words are in the book; we just listen and repeat.
• The teacher has "conversations" with us using vocabulary we've been learning - and a lot of new vocabulary as it comes up - just to help us practice oral conversation (and probably to keep herself from being bored silly).
• She assigns the homework which is always the same: copy the new reading twice; write all the sentences from the previous day's dictation in which we made errors, and study the new reading for the next day's dictation.

Period 4: same room, same semi-circle, same seats, back to the first teacher again.

• Pretty much a continuation of the first and second classes. We have a third book that accompanies the other two - a workbook - and if we have finished all the grammar and practice from the first book we do workbook pages - sometimes on the spot, and sometimes she gives us time to read and write the answers first, and then answer one by one.
• She assigns the homework, which is always the same: copy the dialogue we learned in the first period twice, write the dialogue a third time substituting different verbs and nouns, write sentences using the new grammar structures but our own nouns and verbs 3X each, and then either more workbook pages or a short paragraph to write - or both.

After every four lessons we have a vocabulary test - we are given the words in our language and have to write the Korean word. The same test is given to every Level 1 student.

We will have a 2-day midterm exam in two weeks; I believe there are separate listening, writing, reading and speaking parts. It will be the same test for all Level 1 students.

Both our teachers know English, as well as most of the students in the class (and there are students to translate for those who don't), and they occasionally give a meaning in English, but 99% of the class is conducted in Korean: directions, grammar explanations, side comments and jokes, announcements, whatever.

There is no lab. There are CDs that come with our books with the dialogues we have to learn and other listening exercises; they are not assigned, and those with good listening skills probably never listen to them at home (but I spend a great deal of time with them!)

There are 14 Level 1 classes, and students were placed in their Level 1 class according to their placement test. Our class is Class 14, which is a "high" Level 1 class. Everyone in the class had taken at least some Korean before, and several are quite good (ethnic Koreans who have heard Korean all their lives, etc.). I think this is why we get the extra conversation practice, side comments etc. - and why our teachers speak extremely fast!! I cannot even imagine how the students who have not had any Korean before could keep up; most of us in this class, even the good ones (not me!), are mentally exhausted by the end of the four hours.

And that's how I spend my morning, 5 days a week.

My classmates

There are 14 of us in the class - 4 Americans, 7 Japanese, 1 from Singapore, 1 from Hong Kong and 1 from Indonesia. About half are young college-age "kids," about half are young (late 20's to mid-30's) career professionals - and then there's me. A couple shots in class and out:

So far ---- it's been great! Every single classmate is friendly. I've had lunch with classmates, gone sightseeing with classmates, and been included in various activities with them. I had been fearful that my age might make it hard for me to develop relationships with classmates, but such seems not to be the case. We all have different reasons for studying Korean, but at this stage we're all in the same boat, struggling with basic communication and taking our baby steps into Korean life; age seems not to make much difference...

3-week Observations

Good friend Sue Wilson asked how things were going now that 3 weeks have passed. A few observations:

• The first week was pretty hard. There were so many decisions to make with so little knowledge. Many times I felt lonely and anxious. I questioned whether I would be able to do this Korean adventure. How could I approach people, and present myself, and get what I needed? Each foray out was was filled with anxiety. Each time I felt that way, I thought about the newcomers in San Jose and how they must feel when they first get here and don't know how to do things and can't speak the language. Each smile, each word of encouragement, meant so much to me. I will always be grateful to Young Kim-Park and Mrs. Park, the contacts provided by John Song and his wife Clara, who I was able to visit with during those first few days, to Kyoung-min You, the real estate agent who showed me how to set up everything, and to Charles Montgomery and Yvonne Dominguez, who provided real company and friendship at the end of that long week. Without their help, I don't know what I would have done. How much power each of us has to make or break a newcomer's day. Even the smallest bit of help or encouragement means so much.

• Each of the last two weeks has been better (and certainly easier) than the first one. Settling in the apartment was huge; getting started in class, and finding the right class, was a big boost too. Now a routine is starting to settle in. I know where to shop for food. I'm slowly getting pans and plates and making most meals at home. I've found where to get scotch tape and a dictionary and contact solution and an iron and all the little things. I'm getting to know the city better each week. I have friends for an occasional outing or meal. I have something important to do (ie homework!) every day when I come home. And the weather has been great!

• However, I am not immersing into Korean as much as I had anticipated. Actually, the need for company is too great. I really don't know how to make Korean friends right now, so I have been spending most of my human-contact time with the English-speaking folks I have come to know. It is so comforting! How sympathetic I feel towards our ESL students back home who continue to hang around with each other, even when they know that it is at the expense of their learning English. I hope I will find a way for more Korean contact as time progresses, but for now I am grateful for the English-speaking company.

• About learning Korean: Actually, it is coming along, certainly at a much faster pace than at home. This Yonsei Level 1 class seems perfect for me. Most of the material is at least familiar, but only now do I feel that I am really absorbing and using it - at least in class. We spend the whole 4 hours hearing and using Korean - at my level. This was the pitfall of the 2 places where I studied Korean at home. At De Anza, the classes were conducted primarily in English, so I had little practice with speaking and listening. At Adroit College, the teachers used Korean in class, but it was usually at too high a level for me, and so I couldn't learn efficiently from it. I think Krashen is right (sorry, Kato Lomb!) - the value of just-right slightly challenging input (as opposed to overly challenging input) is enormous - so it seems to me now. The words and meanings just stick in my brain in ways they didn't before. And I feel so proud to be able to sit through 4 hours of class almost totally in Korean. And even though I'm not speaking a lot of Korean, I am surrounded by conversations I overhear, signs and notices I try to sound out, TV shows I watch - the whole environment certainly helps reinforce whatever learning is taking place in class.

• The best part of all: the endless surprises. Three weeks ago I could not possibly have imagined all that has fallen my way. Each discovery, each success, each kindness, each "aha" moment - each one brings a thrill of excitement. Wow!!! Like just this minute!!!! Clara Song just called this minute - she's in Korea, and has invited me to meet her and a Korean friend for dinner tonight!!!......................... I just got back from the dinner. Wow! One of the best surprises of all just happened as I was writing!!! We had a great dinner and great conversation; I met a wonderful Korean (!!) friend of Clara's and we have plans to go to a concert together on Thursday night. I will end this entry as I bask in the wonder of this evening.

A Professor in Korea

This is what it's like to be an English professor at a university here in Korea. This single office is about the size of 3 or 4 double faculty offices at SJCC (here you only see the back end of it.) There's a sink in there. The professor's nameplate is on a plaque by the door. Those from SJCC would recognize the name- yes, it's Charles Montgomery! He's teaching English and writing literature reviews for Korean English-language magazines and doing all kinds of amazing things. I've already written about the first time I got together with Charles and his fiancee Yvonne here in Seoul - since then we've gotten together two more times. Through them, I've gotten introduced to...bookstores!! with books in English!! Why am I so excited about that? Didn't I come here to learn Korean?? But it feels really nice to hobnob with folks from home. And they have been so helpful with advice about living here, and things to read, and food to eat, and..... it all fits in, and I am very grateful for their friendship here.

Being a Tourist

I've had two fun outings going around to some of the tourist spots with recent friends I've made in my classes at Yonsei. It's great to have some friends (of course!) and people to go around with. They are from France, Hong Kong and Japan - and all speak English perfectly! So did we practice Korean??? Well... a little! Not exactly immersion, but a good time. We walked around, saw palaces and traditionally-garbed Koreans and learned a lot of history and saw and heard some traditional music and dance performances - and best of all, I had someone to go to restaurants with (a real treat!) As I look at these pictures, I realize that in both these and earlier pictures, I have on the same shirt! I think I'd better go clothes shopping!

LARGER apartment view pics - per request

Here's a shot facing up toward the school (up the tree-lined street just left of center):

And one facing south toward the Han River (just follow the curve of the road between the buildings; a couple poles of a bridge and a bit of water are just visible):

That's the best I can do for now. Trying to select and position pictures and add text on this blog seems to get harder all the time! Is it Korea?? Anyway, come and visit and see the views for yourself!!