Language Study Strategies - Summaries

           One of the things that help me retain the lessons that I take with my teachers is to summarize the lesson after it ends. Basically, I summarize the grammar points that we talked about and if there are any new words that I learned in that lesson, I define it. I find that it helps cement an idea or grammar point and helps me find points that I may be shakey on so that I can ask my teacher for clarification or research it on my own. 

          One of the things that help me do that is to have a template for lesson summaries that I can always use. This means that my notes are always neat and I can keep them in one place which helps me find them later. I started out with a predesigned template from www.etsy.com but then found that they just didn't give me enough room to do what I need so I came up with my own version. 

          My template is quite simple. I have a page with the title "new words" where I add the new words that came up in the lesson and after defining them I write my own sentences using these words. This helps me see how that word is used and also helps me memorize it.  I can add as many pages after that as I need. The next page is "summary of grammar points" and this is where I summarize the grammar points for that lesson and write sentences that show how these grammar points are used. Again I can add as much pages as I need to complete my task. The final page is a "questions" page. This is where I add questions that I need to ask my teacher and then record the answers they give. I also add any corrections to my own sentences that they provide. 

          This template also works with self study books and Udemy classes. If you don't have a teacher to ask then you can go onto applications like HelloTalk and iTalki and ask people on there to look at your sentences or ask any questions you may have. I sometimes use these applications anyway because I'll get answers from native speakers and look for the natural organic way of saying something. I hope this helps you with your studies, and if you do use this strategy please let me know about the results.

Intermediate Language Studies - My Current Struggles

          Today I want to talk about something that I am currently struggling with where my Korean studies are concerned. I am not exactly a beginner but I'm not intermediate either...at least not exactly. I have enough grammar to be at level 3 in Talk To Me in Korean. I can make long sentences on my own if I think about them beforehand but I can't do it on the spot, although sometimes if it is everyday vocabulary I can. I can watch Superman Returns (a Korean reality show where celebrity men look after their babies) and understand everything because the dads are talking to their children so their vocabulary is geared towards their age. I have tried to watch Korean dramas and tried to understand what is going on before putting on the subtitles but I ended up understanding like 20 to 30 percent of what they are saying. So I was thinking about how to improve my vocabulary skills, my listening skills, and my on the spot answering skills.

This is what I am going to do based on my research and asking my Korean teacher. 

1. What dramas with Korean subtitles before watching it with English subtitles and see how much I can pick up with reading and listening.

2. Listen to Korean only podcasts and Youtube channels even if I don't understand anything at first to get more used to hearing the language and discerning words.

3. Read Korean books. I bought a bunch of beginner and intermediate reading books which I am going to start reading. 

4. Besides Kpop also listen to Ballads as they tend to be slower and use more common words than Kpop.

Hopefully, these things will help me advance a little more in my studies.