18
This year, I was given an opportunity to go for the KLP Language Immersion Programme after completing my LAK2201. We had options of choosing between three different universities and I chose to go to Sangmyung University (상상상상상) and I did not regret my choice at all! Along with 10 other students who had completed LAK2201, we went to Korea for a 3 weeks cultural immersion programme to experience the Korean culture, food, history and to also experience the way they live. When we touched down at Incheon Airport, Sangmyung University had sent representatives to welcome us and bring us to our dormitory in Seoul via a private hired van. The dorm was not what I expected it to be as it was very small. The room could barely fit a bed, a desk which had a TV and Wi-Fi, a clothing cupboard, a toilet including the shower and a mini fridge. There was no space to open our luggage’s in the room. However, the perks of the dorm is that it is about a 5 minutes’ walk away from Hyehwa Station (상상). It was also about a 5 minutes’ walk to where we were doing our program which was at the International Language and Culture Education Center, which was one of the secondary campuses of Sangmyung University. As there are many universities located around Hyehwa Station, there were many shops around the area catered for students that frequented the place. Marronnier Park ( 상상상상상상) was also nearby therefore the nightlife was vibrant as the park would be full of talented buskers, showcasing their singing abilities which was a joy to listen to and watch.

cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com · Web viewIt seemed difficult and impossible to do, however, your immersion friends would help one another which made the presentation easier to handle and

  • Upload
    others

  • View
    0

  • Download
    0

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com · Web viewIt seemed difficult and impossible to do, however, your immersion friends would help one another which made the presentation easier to handle and

This year, I was given an opportunity to go for the KLP Language Immersion Programme after completing my LAK2201. We had options of choosing between three different universities and I chose to go to Sangmyung University (상명대학교) and I did not regret my choice at all! Along with 10 other students who had completed LAK2201, we went to Korea for a 3 weeks cultural immersion programme to experience the Korean culture, food, history and to also experience the way they live.

When we touched down at Incheon Airport, Sangmyung University had sent representatives to welcome us and bring us to our dormitory in Seoul via a private hired van. The dorm was not what I expected it to be as it was very small. The room could barely fit a bed, a desk which had a TV and Wi-Fi, a clothing cupboard, a toilet including the shower and a mini fridge. There was no space to open our luggage’s in the room.

However, the perks of the dorm is that it is about a 5 minutes’ walk away from Hyehwa Station (혜화). It was also about a 5 minutes’ walk to where we were doing our program which was at the International Language and Culture Education Center, which was one of the secondary campuses of Sangmyung University. As there are many universities located around Hyehwa Station, there were many shops around the area catered for students that frequented the place. Marronnier Park (마로니에공원) was also nearby therefore the nightlife was vibrant as the park would be full of talented buskers, showcasing their singing abilities which was a joy to listen to and watch.

Page 2: cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com · Web viewIt seemed difficult and impossible to do, however, your immersion friends would help one another which made the presentation easier to handle and

View of Hyehwa from our dorm roof!

Moving on to the programme, we had a teacher guide us to the building that we were studying at and we all took a placement test on the first day. The test consisted of two portions, the written segment and the oral segment. The written segment tested our vocabulary and grammar. The oral segment was conducted by one of the teachers. It was just a casual conversation with the teacher who asked questions pertaining to our daily life. After the placement test, the results were given to us on the very same day and we were split into 3 different levels, 2,3 and 4. I was in level 2, however we asked for the option of us doing the same level together and the university kindly allowed us to do so. For someone who was banded into level 2 but did level 3 along with the rest, I would say that it was tough and challenging but it really helped me improve in speaking and reading Korean.

Subsequently for the rest of the programme, we had classes every day from 9am till noon. The class was split into 2 segments: the first one hour was about reading and the next two hours was on vocabulary and grammar. We were provided textbooks from the university to aid us in our learning.

Page 3: cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com · Web viewIt seemed difficult and impossible to do, however, your immersion friends would help one another which made the presentation easier to handle and

We learnt many new vocabulary and grammar that were used conversationally by the natives. We were also encouraged to try using what we have learnt when we went out. Our teachers also shared with us many interesting Korean cultural practices, festivals and also Korean myths and its history! Nearing to the end of the programme, we were required to group up and do a presentation on one of our field trips and what we did over the weekend. We had to present everything in Korean and had only a mere few days to prepare. It seemed difficult and impossible to do, however, your immersion friends would help one another which made the presentation easier to handle and do! While doing the presentation, if we got stuck on a word we didn’t know, the teachers would guide us and correct our grammar so that the sentence that we were saying was right! I would say that it was an interesting experience and one that I will never forget!

We also had three cultural lessons on top of our lessons, which was learning how to cook a Korean dish, learning Nanta and learning K-Pop dances. Everything was equally enjoyable, and we all had a good time learning!

We learnt how to make a seafood pancake (해물파전) and also steamed chicken, which is known as jjimdak (찜닭). The instructor was very nice and caring towards us, speaking slowly so that we could catch what she was saying and practice our listening skills at the same time. The recipes were simple to follow, and the ingredients was already left there for us to cut, wash and cook. We also made the sauce ourselves. We had the opportunity to eat our own food for lunch and eating what we made by our own efforts made the food so much more delicious!

Page 4: cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com · Web viewIt seemed difficult and impossible to do, however, your immersion friends would help one another which made the presentation easier to handle and

jjimdak (찜닭) seafood pancake (해물파전)

(Meal after we finished cooking!)

We also learnt Nanta, which is a performance that is comedic in nature with the performers using a variety of instruments such as drum sticks, knifes and more to create an enjoyable percussion performance for the audience. We had two lessons for Nanta and all of us enjoyed it so much! In the first lesson, we learnt the basics of Nanta such as the beats of drum. The instructor was really funny as he made fun of most of us! He would mimic our serious faces when we couldn’t catch the beat and would comedically point at us when we couldn’t catch the beat! He would also imitate how stiff we were while we were trying to focus! Most of the time in class all of us would be laughing till we had tears leaking from our

Page 5: cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com · Web viewIt seemed difficult and impossible to do, however, your immersion friends would help one another which made the presentation easier to handle and

eyes. We played the drums following the tempo of songs that was chosen by the instructor. We also tried plate throwing which was common in a Nanta routine. It was really awesome, and I would recommend people to try this 10/10! For our second lesson, we had some time to revise the basic beats before we were split into two different groups to have a friendly competition. We were given a time limit and any props that we wanted to use. We also had to make the song choice so that our performance would be creative and comedic. We had fun beating the drums and other props and watching our friends perform their comedic routine! I would say hands down that this was the most fun lesson I had during the entire immersion!

Lastly, we were told that we had to perform for Sangmyung University’s Students’ Day. As most of us do not have any dance experience, we were shocked and doubted our ability if we could do the performance well. We learnt dances from “Bboom Bboom (뽐뽐) by Momoland (모모랜드) and “Forever Young” by Blackpink. Despite the pressure that we had to perform at the main campus in front of the other students studying at Sangmyung, we put in our best efforts to ensure that we would not regret not trying our best. The better dancers in our group also did a short dance routine as part of our performance. On Sangmyung University’s Students’ Day, we enjoyed many different performances from the other classes. We strutted our stuff when our time came to perform. It wasn’t perfect but having fun was all that mattered. We even got a complimentary prize for our performance!

Page 6: cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com · Web viewIt seemed difficult and impossible to do, however, your immersion friends would help one another which made the presentation easier to handle and

Warming Up!

Just before the performance jitters!

Page 7: cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com · Web viewIt seemed difficult and impossible to do, however, your immersion friends would help one another which made the presentation easier to handle and

After our performance!

We also went on two different field trips. One was to Icheon Doyoji and the other was to Nami Island.

The cultural field trip to Icheon Doyoji was very enriching and opened my eyes to the traditional Korean culture. We visited Icheon Ceramics Village (이천도예마을) and saw the many traditional potteries on display which really widened our eyes due to the vast numbers of potteries. Before heading into the place, we first went to a traditional Korean restaurant to experience what was it like to eat traditional Korean food. The food was very delicious and the way they served the food was really amazing!

Page 8: cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com · Web viewIt seemed difficult and impossible to do, however, your immersion friends would help one another which made the presentation easier to handle and

We then went into the Icheon Ceramic Village to try out pottery making under the guidance of the instructor there. Upon our arrival, instructions were given to us and we were given pre-made cups to design. We were also given a chance to experience making pottery from the pottery wheel to make items that we wanted such as bowls and flower vases. After we had finished making the pottery, we designed our own pottery before the instructors helped us made our clay pottery into something solid which they sent over to the university about 2 weeks later.

(picture of making pottery etc)

Our other field trip was to Nami Island (남이선). Nami Island became famous due to a Korean drama “Winter Sonata” and it was not surprising to see many tourists around. Although we were pressed for time, we managed to take a lot of pictures around Nami Island and its beautiful trails which were lined with lush greenery. We also ate the famous dakgalbi (닭갈비) from the region, Chuncheon (충천).

Page 9: cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com · Web viewIt seemed difficult and impossible to do, however, your immersion friends would help one another which made the presentation easier to handle and
Page 10: cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com · Web viewIt seemed difficult and impossible to do, however, your immersion friends would help one another which made the presentation easier to handle and
Page 11: cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com · Web viewIt seemed difficult and impossible to do, however, your immersion friends would help one another which made the presentation easier to handle and

After visiting Nami Island, we went to Gapyeong Rail Park (가평레일파크). We took a 4-seater rail bike and toured the scenery of Gapyeong. We could admire the beautiful view of the seas, the neighbourhood and greenery along the rail bike trail. At the rest point before we were supposed to head back, our teacher treated all of us to ice-cream as the weather was blazing hot and we were very thankful for it.

Page 12: cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com · Web viewIt seemed difficult and impossible to do, however, your immersion friends would help one another which made the presentation easier to handle and
Page 13: cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com · Web viewIt seemed difficult and impossible to do, however, your immersion friends would help one another which made the presentation easier to handle and

We were assigned buddies, who were students from the main campus of Sangmyung University, for us to interact with and learn more about the lifestyle of Korean university students. Although we were all busy with many activities, we eventually made time to meetup for dinner, shopping and even visited the noraebang for some of us.

Page 14: cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com · Web viewIt seemed difficult and impossible to do, however, your immersion friends would help one another which made the presentation easier to handle and

My Korean buddy!!!!

Another highlight would be the homestay on the last day before heading back to Singapore. A few teachers were kind enough to let us sleep over at their place. My friend and I decided to homestay together. For us, our homestay teacher brought us around Hongdae to have dinner and a chat over coffee before heading back to his home. His house wasn’t an apartment but was a terrace therefore we were considered “lucky” among our friends to be able to stayover in such a big house. We were warmly welcomed by him and although there was a language barrier whereby our Korean was very limited, and his English was also very limited, we managed to hold a conversation to talk to each other more. We also brought him gifts such as Kaya and Milo to show how thankful we were that he allowed us to stayover at his place. The next morning, he prepared freshly cut fruits and breakfast for us. As I had not had a proper breakfast other than buying bread from convenience stores, it was a very welcome change for me. I enjoyed the homestay experience due to his hospitality and his willingness to step out of his comfort zone to try to find out more about us and correcting our Korean while we were speaking to him to help us improve.

Page 15: cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com · Web viewIt seemed difficult and impossible to do, however, your immersion friends would help one another which made the presentation easier to handle and

Overall, it was an eye-opening experience for me! I really enjoyed my time there! I made lots of new friends, both Singaporeans and Koreans, and learnt a lot about the Korean culture. I became even more confident conversing in Korean, I hope! I would encourage those that even if you think that you are not doing well, going through this programme will reignite your interest in the language and its culture!

Page 16: cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com · Web viewIt seemed difficult and impossible to do, however, your immersion friends would help one another which made the presentation easier to handle and