Seoul Korean Language Academy Pt. 2

I've been taking Korean classes at the Seoul Korean Language Academy three times a week since April.  This is what it is like:

Right now there are 4 people in the class: me, another American, and two Japanese. 

Typically we spend 1 1/2 -  2 classes on each chapter.  We start the chapter with the new grammar.  There are usually 3 grammar points in each chapter.  The teacher explains it, makes sample sentences, and we practice making sentences.  Either with the teacher giving us some starting point or hint for the sentence we should make, or just making our own sentences.  I hate making my own sentences and I'm really bad at it.  Even when I understand the grammar I usually can't think of anything to say with it.  If I actually have something I want to say it's much easier for me to make a sentence. 

After the grammar we look at the new vocabulary and  the teacher clarifies what the words mean and uses them in sentences, and sometimes we make sentences with the words.  After the vocab we read the dialog.  First we repeat after her, then we read it with a partner.

The class is in all Korean, even the grammar explanations. The teacher rarely uses English or Japanese.  And even then it's just like a word or two, usually to clarify something when we don't understand.  At the beginning of class before we start and throughout the class there is a lot of talking about random things, mostly between the teacher and us.  I'm glad it's all in Korean.  I'm not going there to speak or listen to English. 

Overall I enjoy it, but the class movies too fast and there's no review.  I understand the new grammar when it is presented, but after learning it and practicing it that day we never see it again in the classroom, unless it comes up during a conversation.

My Korean is coming along ok.  I wish I there were more times when I really had to use it, other than things like ordering food at a restaurant or something.  Most people I know speak English well enough that it's too easy to just be lazy and use English instead of Korean.

My speaking still lags way behind reading, writing and listening.  That's normal I guess, but annoying because so many times I can understand what someone says to me but cannot respond quick enough.  Or I can only respond in the most basic way.  

Below are pictures of the school:

 

Seoul Korean Language Academy

I'll be starting Korean language classes next week on Wednesday at Korean Language Academy in Gangnam, Seoul.  I'm going 3 times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I had planned on only going twice a week but my level class doesn't meet twice a week at the Gangnam location, only at the Jongno location, which is too far for me. 

I visited the place last week and sat in on a lower level class.  It seemed good, but we'll see. 

Studying Korean for 1 year

It's now been 1 year since I really started studying Korean regularly and keeping track of what I am doing.  I first started in fall 2009, but I was just studying on and off and it was poorly organized, so I really only consider myself to have started 1 year ago.  My study has been almost entirely on my own.  I haven't taken any classes, or had any tutors, but there are people I ask questions and practice talking with.  I'm disappointed in my abilities after 1 year, but I spent a lot of time trying different ways to study, different books, websites, etc, trying to figure out what's best.  Most of my study has been reading and writing, and talking to friends through Kakao Talk (which is hugely popular in Korea), so my reading and writing skills are so much better than my speaking and listening, which are terrible.  Recently I started meeting a language exchange partner to practice the speaking and listening. It sucks I mostly wasted my first year in Korea not studying much, but it keeps me motivated to study cause I don't want to waste another year.