Learning a Foreign Language in a Foreign Land: February 2012

Thursday 23 February 2012

My first step to resume my foreign language acquisition is to enroll in a class. Why not self-study? I fear that without any tangible commitment, my drive will die down soon. Thus, I shelled out one-third of my monthly salary to enroll in a language course at Singapore Korean International School Ltd (SKIS). I started from the first level, since most of what I’ve acquired when I was in the Philippines was already forgotten.

I used Google to search for Korean Language centers/schools in Singapore. I chose based on the duration and the content of the course. I crossed out short courses and once-a-week classes. The price maybe very affordable but attending a class once in a week with few sessions, is quite slow and not enough for me. I feel that I may get bored and eventually give up.

SKIS, NUS Extension, Deahan and Ganada are the ones left on my list. The last factor that I considered was the location. Thus, I choose SKIS. Compared to other language centers, it’s the nearest from my workplace. Just one bus ride away for 15mins. Even though they have a shuttle bus service, I don’t feel like waiting for it since the pick-up time is 6:30pm in Clementi MRT. I knock off from work around 5:30pm, take the bus 115 in front of our building then alight in the nearest bus stop to school at Dunearn Road. It’s not really near because I still need to walk from the main road to school for another 15-20mins. That’s 2km away. I like to walk or jog as it burns off some 92 calories according to my sports tracker apps. I always bring an extra shirt with me so I can change and freshen up before attending class at 7pm.

The first time I stepped inside the classroom, I felt like I’m a pre-school student. It has small chairs & tables that occupies most of the floor space, hand drawn colored pictures posted on the big board at the back, lots of colorful children’s books and a teacher’s desk in front of the big whiteboard. Inside the well-lit and air conditioned classroom, you will notice the big projector screen at the corner, the multimedia projector hanging on the ceiling in front of it and another desk beside the screen with a computer and lots of teacher’s stuffs on it.

During our first few meetings, we’re like pre-school students. We sang Arirang. We watched and followed along children’s songs in Korean. We played “Kai Bai Bo” the Korean version of “Rock-Paper-Scissors.” It was fun.

Our native Korean instructor always provides Powerpoint handouts per unit. To keep my handouts in order, I bought a 40 pocket clear book. With regards to the main lessons, she follows the textbook as is. During sessions, she injects popular Korean greetings, culture or some facts about Korea and the compares it with what she noticed here in Singapore. Her command in the English language is average but she complements it by being animated and engaging.

The textbook that we are using is the English version Yonsei Korean Level 1-1 & 1-2 with accompanying Audio CD’s. We also have the thick Yonsei workbook with Audio CD. The textbook looks nice and of high quality since the pages are made of white glossy papers. It’s quite heavy and bulky when it’s inside my backpack but I got use to carrying it twice a week. The lessons are well organized. The layout is well arranged and spacious and the pictures are in full color. It looks like a children’s book. There are main characters and the dialogue are about everyday topics. Each unit starts with a dialogue and you can listen to the same conversation in Audio CD. Using iTunes, I converted the CD to MP3 files and transferred it to my iPad for easy access.

Main vocabularies are always associated with pictures. There are simple activities like choosing the right answer and filling in the blanks to name a few. I only use pencil to answer the given activities as I still want it to be neat as possible. Grammar and other notes are included at the end of each lesson.

Learning in Singapore

I first thought that it’s kind of odd learning Korean in Singapore. I should be learning the official languages while I'm here, right? I should be studying Chinese Mandarin, Malay or Tamil language instead of Korean.

Well, I have plans studying Chinese Mandarin and Japanese but not after 2-3 years. Since I already acquired basic foundation with the Korean language, I might as well resume studying it. But this time, the motivation is different. If previously, my drive was to study the foreign language as one of the prerequisite to land a job in Korea; this time, it’s more of a personal goal. I plan to go Korea as a tourist when I’m confident enough to carry a conversation in their language.

However, if there will be a right opportunity for me to work in Korea, I might consider it as it will also be an opportunity to be totally immerse in the language. I might consider it because aside from learning the spoken language, I also want to learn the visual language of the Deaf in Korea. Why the interest in sign language?

Prior to learning the Korean language, I have learned the visual-gestural language of the Deaf community when I was in the Philippines. The opportunity came when sign language interpreters volunteered to teach the visual language in our hometown. The curriculum lasted 2 years but I learned the language mostly by immersion within the Deaf Community. Since then, I joined various Deaf awareness programs, accepted interpreting gigs and promoted Filipino Sign Language for many years.

Therefore, Korean language is my 4th foreign language. American English is the first, since it’s always our subject from Elementary to College. Second is Filipino Sign Language & third is American Sign Language, studied both simultaneously.

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