I met a Mrs Lim. I like her cheerfulness but she speaks in English too much. I think she spent 75% of the time speaking in English. I think she's out to get English from me. The only good point is that she tries to be entertaining and lighthearted. I think I will continue but I will have to keep reminding her to speak in Korean. I will also not talk in English. She also tried to teach me reading which wasn't that successful. I think it's OK but we should discuss things in Korean, not in English.
The main point is that she spoke in Korean too much. I think this isn't going to work out because most of the people do not treat it professionally as much. I don't want it to be too casual.
I met another person and she could not speak any English at all. It was good. This was real immersion. I think I picked up a lot of Korean with her. This is the sort of thing I need. I can meet her twice a week.
I have to meet someone tonight.
It's getting confusing meeting all these people. So many people have rung up.
I really do not think I have much in common with these people.
I will just keep quiet and when I talk, only speak in Korean. I will keep it up a little bit longer and try out the people.
I don't understand why these people rang me up. I was very clear in my ad. I don't like people ringing me up out of curiosity.
I think I will contact Zeal.
I might cut it down to twice a week for each person. I think twice a week is good. I am getting confused because some people can only come in the evening. I don't want to wait all day to do it in the evening. I like to get it over and done with in the morning.
I should get over my skepticism. Just persist with it a bit longer. Don't give up too early. Think about the endgoal.
Consistency is the key. It's going to be confusing at first because you are not used to a person speaking to you in Korean for an hour. Just pay careful attention and enjoy the process.
You might try volunteering at the library in Hagye dong.
I think you should make an effort there.
I think you should also meet with Bbensi's cousin at 11 in Hongdae and see how that goes.
You will be really busy.
Try it and also join Zeal's English Cafe for a Korean conversation teacher. You can try that too. Try and be flexible with your time. It's on Skype so that's good. You have access to Skype easily so that's good.
I don't think those tablets are really useful. They are overpriced for what they can do. You are restricted in the things you can do. You can't even get the webpages you want. If they were exactly like computers but much smaller with less storage space then they would be OK. But instead of a tablet, I would buy an 11 inch MacBook Air. But I can't afford one at the moment. I have the 13 inch MacBook Air so I can carry that around with me though it is kind of heavy ...
I need a calendar setup to fit everyone in and know who I am going to meet every day. I am meeting so many different people it's getting confusing! I will also have to set up a budget for this.
Honestly, blue collar people are better for this sort of thing ..... The ones who are already teachers and so on are not as good, I have found.
And the ones who speak NO English are the best. I am getting IMMERSION from these people. The scouting lady I met just now spoke very very little English. I understood a lot of what she said. I have to study vocabulary a lot more so that I can recognize words that are spoken a lot more and I also need to practise listening on my own.
I know my grammar in writing is OK for my level. I don't think I need a teacher for writing as yet. Actually, when Mrs Lim taught me reading, it was kind of interesting.
I will ask for her help in getting the Saint Marie comics and so on.
She is entertaining so even though I know she is trying to pick up English from me, I will keep going with her a bit longer. At least, I get to read different stuff from fairytales. I like reading the news, especially news about Korea.
I will just keep trying and I will borrow the Saint Marie book and use that as a topic. I will get someone to help me translate it.
I will do that tonight. So with the immersion and with self-study I am getting there eventually.
I noticed some people looked askance at a book I was carrying around with me. It is a vocab book with exercises. On the cover, it says it's for Chodeung Hakkyo children (elementary age children) learning English. They were surprised I am studying from that. What do they expect? I don't have a problem studying from this kind of book because I am at that level and that's what I need. All language learners are the same and have the same needs no matter whether they are adults or children. I haven't been able to find a vocab book with exercises like they have in this book in the Korean language learning section for English-speaking adults. And this book is quite advanced - not many Korean children would understand this book or study it. Without studying vocabulary, how are you going to learn a language?
I don't want to learn conversation from books. I want to learn vocabulary and grammar from books. I want to learn conversation from listening to people speak in real life and in movies (and from mp3 files of dialogs).
I just hope my speaking really improves quickly like those foreigners who come to Korea and pick up the language really fast. Those foreigners have an advantage in that their workplace puts them in an immersion environment. I do not have that kind of environment naturally so I have to create it myself.
Unless I open a small business myself or something. I could do that, I suppose.
I have to think about that. There are so many things I have to do. I can't waste time. I think I will go out of the house and study. These days I can't study at home .......
