Experiential Module Overview and Rationale
My experiential module introduces a new way to teach the Korean alphabet and explains why the approach is effective.
When my two children were young, I taught them how to read and write both English and Korean. At that time, my children were 3 and 5. I introduced a couple of Korean basic vowels and consonants in under 30 minutes and they started to sound out words. I ended up spending 2 hours in the morning teaching them all 10 basic vowels and 14 consonants. After lunch, my children started to read Korean picture books and understood the content with the help of drawings presented in the book. Because I had a positive personal experience, I was very confident that my adult Korean students could do the same thing.
As a teaching team leader at the Defense Language Institute, I have the discretion to deviate from traditional pedagogy in order to more effectively and creatively teach my Korean language students under the open architecture approach. I recently started teaching a new class and decided to teach the Korean sound and script system differently than how DLI has been teaching it for many years. Although this decision was met with both positive support and concerns from teaching team members, the student feedback has been very positive.
For many years, DLI Korean teachers have been teaching the Korean sound and script system, Hangul, by focusing on language elements in isolation. The first four consonants are introduced in the first hour of instruction and students practice writing the letters and repeating the associated sounds. The second hour introduces the next four consonants. Subsequent hours introduce vowels. Then after covering enough vowels and consonants students start sounding out syllables and words.
I believe this is a tedious and uninspiring way for students to start what will soon become an extremely challenging course. In fact, I think spending the first seven instructional days like this, 49 instructional hours, is severely detrimental to student motivation and a profuse waste of time. It may lull them into believing the course moves slowly; that belief will be crushed immediately upon completion of those first seven days. Furthermore, learning language features in isolation is not meaningful, nor does it prepare them for the extreme challenge of vocabulary memorization to the degree that is required to survive the course.
Another problem with this approach is that as soon as students learn the last set of Korean letters, they start to learn the vocabulary and grammar from a short dialogue. However, there is little time to practice the last set of double vowels and consonants so students struggle sounding out words that appear in the dialogue, slowing down learning.
My approach is to teach Hangul in conjunction with vocabulary and phrases that will be introduced in the first unit. This way, students have memorized unit one vocabulary prior to the beginning of unit one. If students maintain the habit of learning vocabulary prior to instruction, all classroom activities will serve to reinforce their lexical knowledge, as opposed to the typical student approach of sitting in class confused until the vocabulary becomes familiar to them.
Since Hangul was very scientifically designed to be extremely easy to learn, and there are very effective resources to do so online, I thought that If I provide materials where students can teach themselves the Korean alphabet in advance, then the sound and script week can be used to reinforce the Korean alphabet through picture books, while memorizing upcoming vocabulary words. This enables students to build confidence and enjoy learning Korean.
I was further encouraged to take this approach by my husband. He completed the DLI Korean Basic Course many years ago and told me that, back then, old-school Korean teachers simply presented Hangul in its entirety in the first hour of the course and demanded that students be able to use it exclusively after lunch. My husband assured me that everyone was able to do it. Students can do amazing things if challenged, and they are never more motivated to work than during those first few uncomfortable and scary hours.
Prior to starting a basic course at DLI, students spend a week in pre-language studies that focus on English grammar terminology, target country culture, learning styles and learning strategies. As a team leader, I have the opportunity to briefly speak with incoming students before their pre-language week begins. I told my new students to learn Hangul during that week and gave them several website links to enable them to effectively and autonomously accomplish this.
My experiential module is composed of the materials I developed, along with assessments and student projects. [EM Materials]
My experiential module introduces a new way to teach the Korean alphabet and explains why the approach is effective.
When my two children were young, I taught them how to read and write both English and Korean. At that time, my children were 3 and 5. I introduced a couple of Korean basic vowels and consonants in under 30 minutes and they started to sound out words. I ended up spending 2 hours in the morning teaching them all 10 basic vowels and 14 consonants. After lunch, my children started to read Korean picture books and understood the content with the help of drawings presented in the book. Because I had a positive personal experience, I was very confident that my adult Korean students could do the same thing.
As a teaching team leader at the Defense Language Institute, I have the discretion to deviate from traditional pedagogy in order to more effectively and creatively teach my Korean language students under the open architecture approach. I recently started teaching a new class and decided to teach the Korean sound and script system differently than how DLI has been teaching it for many years. Although this decision was met with both positive support and concerns from teaching team members, the student feedback has been very positive.
For many years, DLI Korean teachers have been teaching the Korean sound and script system, Hangul, by focusing on language elements in isolation. The first four consonants are introduced in the first hour of instruction and students practice writing the letters and repeating the associated sounds. The second hour introduces the next four consonants. Subsequent hours introduce vowels. Then after covering enough vowels and consonants students start sounding out syllables and words.
I believe this is a tedious and uninspiring way for students to start what will soon become an extremely challenging course. In fact, I think spending the first seven instructional days like this, 49 instructional hours, is severely detrimental to student motivation and a profuse waste of time. It may lull them into believing the course moves slowly; that belief will be crushed immediately upon completion of those first seven days. Furthermore, learning language features in isolation is not meaningful, nor does it prepare them for the extreme challenge of vocabulary memorization to the degree that is required to survive the course.
Another problem with this approach is that as soon as students learn the last set of Korean letters, they start to learn the vocabulary and grammar from a short dialogue. However, there is little time to practice the last set of double vowels and consonants so students struggle sounding out words that appear in the dialogue, slowing down learning.
My approach is to teach Hangul in conjunction with vocabulary and phrases that will be introduced in the first unit. This way, students have memorized unit one vocabulary prior to the beginning of unit one. If students maintain the habit of learning vocabulary prior to instruction, all classroom activities will serve to reinforce their lexical knowledge, as opposed to the typical student approach of sitting in class confused until the vocabulary becomes familiar to them.
Since Hangul was very scientifically designed to be extremely easy to learn, and there are very effective resources to do so online, I thought that If I provide materials where students can teach themselves the Korean alphabet in advance, then the sound and script week can be used to reinforce the Korean alphabet through picture books, while memorizing upcoming vocabulary words. This enables students to build confidence and enjoy learning Korean.
I was further encouraged to take this approach by my husband. He completed the DLI Korean Basic Course many years ago and told me that, back then, old-school Korean teachers simply presented Hangul in its entirety in the first hour of the course and demanded that students be able to use it exclusively after lunch. My husband assured me that everyone was able to do it. Students can do amazing things if challenged, and they are never more motivated to work than during those first few uncomfortable and scary hours.
Prior to starting a basic course at DLI, students spend a week in pre-language studies that focus on English grammar terminology, target country culture, learning styles and learning strategies. As a team leader, I have the opportunity to briefly speak with incoming students before their pre-language week begins. I told my new students to learn Hangul during that week and gave them several website links to enable them to effectively and autonomously accomplish this.
My experiential module is composed of the materials I developed, along with assessments and student projects. [EM Materials]
