Mood:
downI feel the fairytales are too hard. I don't know why they didn't seem hard before. I feel kind of depressed about learning Korean. It's a hard slog studying by yourself. It's quite lonely. I don't know about this ad for teaching me Korean conversation. I don't know if it will work out. I think the major problem is finding something interesting to talk about. The people I've interviewed are kind of not that interesting really. I will just persist and try and learn basic Korean. I think the first lady was OK. She was sweet. She went to Hanguk School of Foreign Languages and learned Indonesian and Malay. She is also an accomplished pianist and attended the music conservatory. She was talkative which was good. I like her. The second lady was a bit hesitant. I have a feeling she won't last. I don't know why she answered the ad. Then there was the science teacher. She was OK. I had to push her a bit to talk but once we started talking, she was OK. Then there was the math teacher. She smiled a lot but didn't really speak that much Korean. I think it's obvious she wants to pick up English from me.
Still I will give all these people a tryout. I should stop being too picky and demanding and expecting a lot for 10.000 won. Maybe I should pay more? I don't know. I think I should really pick someone off the street who REALLY needs the money ....
I think all of these people had ulterior motives, I really do.
But anyway I spent all evening interviewing so I have to make the best of the situation and just try and do it, and not be too pessimistic. I think it's good to meet a variety of people. I can see how things are from the perspective of students so can see what is effective for teaching and how to relate to students better.
I really do not understand how those foreigners became so fluent. Not all of them had Korean partners, surely? I am sure some of them learned from interacting with people at work. I am just so amazed at how much they pick up. I don't think I can pick up as much. In one month if all goes smoothly then I will have listened to 20 hours of Korean personally spoken to me. I think my plan is to be a passive listener. When I speak in English they tend to go quiet and let me talk. By the time I've finished it's already 10 minutes later. I think it's their strategy to let me talk.
I need to remind them constantly to speak Korean. A couple of them get it; a few others don't.
I think we will meet outside sometimes. Being inside the apartment feels claustrophobic. I will buy them coffee from the convenience store and sit in the playground on a bench or somewhere like that. I like to be outdoors.
I will ask questions about themselves. I think the main problem is getting them to lower their speaking level a little bit. It's hard for them though because they are not used to talking to beginners.
I will just listen and not talk that much. I will only talk when I feel confident speaking. I will try and not talk in English. Actually, I shouldn't chastise them for speaking fast. They forget and my constantly reminding them doesn't help. Pity the man who I spoke to first didn't want to do this work. He was the best. I could understand what he said and he talked of interesting subjects. Why did he answer the ad if he wasn't interested? I think when I said that commitment was important he backed off. He prefers to play tennis in that time.
So I feel discouraged a little. The math teacher is a little manipulative. She stays silent at strategic times. I might have to push her to speak Korean. I really do not want to do this as language exchange. I need a lot of exposure to the Korean language and I do not get as much exposure as I need in language exchange.
Perhaps I will offer more money next time - twice the amount. I can afford then to have lessons three to four times a week. Not that much but still better than nothing. I can supplement that by watching dramas and listening to mp3 files.
I have to start listening to mp3 files again. I have been mostly doing vocab-reading-vocab-reading ....
I need to do some listening and I should also brush up on my pronunciation.
It's best if I mix things up a bit.
