Yesterday I took a taxi to Shinsege Department Store since I needed to restock a bit on my Clinique products. I hailed the first taxi I saw.
Me: "신세게 백화점 가 주세요" (Take me to Shinsege Dept. Store)
Driver: "에" (Yes)
Driver: "something 나라 something 왔어요?"
Me: Ohhhh....he's asking me where I'm from!!! 나라 means country. "미국" (America)
Driver: "something 영어 선생"
Me: Ohhh...now he wants to know what my job is in Korea. 영어 = English (lang) and 선생 = teacher. "에, 영어 선생" (Yes, English teacher).
Our conversation continued in this manner by me being able to decipher through the Korean jargon the simple words and sayings I now understand. We talked about my 미국 데학교 or my university back home and even about 댈래비전 EBS! He said he saw me on TV on the "Live Talk-n-Issue" program on EBS. Wow....I felt like a star finally being discovered! (댈래비전 = television)
It felt really good being able to respond with words and not just a silly grin on my face. I also had not realized how much my Korean had improved! This definitely gives me motivation to continue studying the Korean language. It is really not that difficult to learn, but like any new language being learned, there is a lot of memorizing to do at first! So I'm memorizing words away.
Also, I believe me taking up my books again to study has made me a better language teacher. I now understand that my students do need that extra time to process the words before being able to respond (classic "wait time" in the classroom); I understand that when I'm writing, I need to concentrate and form my letters perfectly well (I cannot understand written Korean or 한굴 unless the characters are formed perfectly well); I understand that repetition is key!
So it's true that being a teacher means being a student for all eternity! Gosh...and I don't even like school!
Me: "신세게 백화점 가 주세요" (Take me to Shinsege Dept. Store)
Driver: "에" (Yes)
Driver: "something 나라 something 왔어요?"
Me: Ohhhh....he's asking me where I'm from!!! 나라 means country. "미국" (America)
Driver: "something 영어 선생"
Me: Ohhh...now he wants to know what my job is in Korea. 영어 = English (lang) and 선생 = teacher. "에, 영어 선생" (Yes, English teacher).
Our conversation continued in this manner by me being able to decipher through the Korean jargon the simple words and sayings I now understand. We talked about my 미국 데학교 or my university back home and even about 댈래비전 EBS! He said he saw me on TV on the "Live Talk-n-Issue" program on EBS. Wow....I felt like a star finally being discovered! (댈래비전 = television)
It felt really good being able to respond with words and not just a silly grin on my face. I also had not realized how much my Korean had improved! This definitely gives me motivation to continue studying the Korean language. It is really not that difficult to learn, but like any new language being learned, there is a lot of memorizing to do at first! So I'm memorizing words away.
Also, I believe me taking up my books again to study has made me a better language teacher. I now understand that my students do need that extra time to process the words before being able to respond (classic "wait time" in the classroom); I understand that when I'm writing, I need to concentrate and form my letters perfectly well (I cannot understand written Korean or 한굴 unless the characters are formed perfectly well); I understand that repetition is key!
So it's true that being a teacher means being a student for all eternity! Gosh...and I don't even like school!
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