How studying Korean made me realize some mistakes I’d made teaching English
Warning: This post may be a bit ranty because I’m mad at myself for failing my Korean midterm. I also have a speaking test on Tuesday which I will inevitably fail, and to top it off, I’m fucking hungry, and our cafeteria doesn’t serve dinner for another 45 minutes. It’s been awhile since I’ve studied...
![I'm [sketching] on Tumblr now!](http://www.mappingwords.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/반씩-내다-290x290.jpg "I'm [sketching] on Tumblr now!")
I’m [sketching] on Tumblr now!
Just when I thought my brain would explode with sparks made of Twitter links and Facebook updates, I created a “Mapping Words: Sketches” Tumblr account. I was hesitant to delve into Tumblr for the longest time because I didn’t understand it; it seemed like a platform filled with overly-shared material and confusing threads with no “about me” page...
From city to country
I climbed onto the Seoul-bound bus in Inje. The only seat remaining was next to a pimply teenage boy leaning his head against the window. He avoided my gaze, reluctantly removing his backpack from the seat and placing it on the floor beneath his feet. It was summer. My friends and I had gone rafting...
How to get a scholarship to study Korean at Geumgang University
Next semester, I’ll be leaving my cushy public school job, but I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to Korea. A couple months ago, I applied for a Spring 2013 scholarship to study Korean at Geumgang University, a Buddhist university, located between Nonsan and Daejeon in Chungcheongnam-do, Korea. Yesterday, I received word that I was accepted...
7 ways to learn Korean for free
THIS IS FOR ALL YOU WAEGUKINS out there who’ve accidentally ordered a nose bleed (ko-pi) instead of a coffee (keo-pi), or tried to tell your Korean language partner your cat wanted to eat, but instead said you wanted to eat your cat. 1. Take advantage of online resources. Talk to me in Korean Pros: TTMIK has...
Learning Korean through sketches
My newest article titled, “Learning to read Korean through sketches” was published today on Matador Abroad! I’m a visual learner, and when I began taking Korean classes a year and a half ago, I wanted to incorporate my language learning into a creative project. I began sketching, which is time consuming, but a fun, alternative...
Hitting a Plateau with Korean Language Learning
I sighed. “It’s terrible. I mean—I can get around and make small talk, but I still can’t have a good conversation.” My friend Shannon and I were at a Korean bathhouse, sprawled on straw floor mats when she asked me about my Korean. “I’m so frustrated lately—and I feel guilty, but I stopped taking classes...
Korean Word Sketches
Lately, I’ve been frustrated with my Korean language skills, and I feel like I’ve hit a plateau with my motivation to study. (I’m going to blog about this later this week.) I’ve decided to kick-start some new language learning projects. First, I’m going to return to a project that began more than a year ago....
How Teaching English in Korea Actually Helped me Learn Korean
I’m terrible with kids. I substitute taught second graders who, in clusters, nagged me to go to the bathroom, and hellion seven-year-olds in my Saturday Art School classes in Brooklyn, New York, telling me that my pastel fish drawing project was “for babies.” I remember my lack of classroom management skills as paintbrushes were thrown across...
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