Thoughts about the 8th session

[Anonymous]

It was fascinating to learn about hangul, the Korean phonetic writing system. What a great achievement! It seems so simple and logical and specifically designed for Korean. Most Western countries use the Roman or Greek alphabet and are very limited because of that. It's so difficult for students of English to learn how to spell properly because there are so many different ways to express the same sound and so many sounds expressed by the same letter or combinations thereof. It would seem that students of Korean have a much simpler time learning to write and spell. Korean grammar seems a bit more complicated though.

[Anonymous]

What is even more fascinating, the alphabet has been developed in the 15th century with the purpose to serve "tha masses", as the lecturer said. I would add that there should be some political purposes intended and one of them (at least as a result) has been to highlight a national identity. It parallels the "invention" of the Cyrilic alphabet, by the way.
One more thing, till last night I knew that the Cyrilic alphabet is the only one that has a designated day to be celebrated, May 24. It was new for me to learn that there is one more alphabet with a special day; the Korean one (October 18).

[Anonymous]

Among the many fascinating details we learned about the Korean history and culture was the curious fact that the Koreans talk about the dead members of their families in present tense. It is a sociolinguistic feature of the Korean that probably reflects some religious beliefs about life after life. It makes me think not only about the social factors that determine the use of language, but also about how factors of pure grammatical nature maintain social integrity.[Edit by="mchristov on Nov 17, 10:01:13 AM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

I also thought it was very interesting to point out the importance of geomancy in Korean Koryo culture. The fact that so much thought went into where the capital of the Kingdom should be placed because it was a "lucky" location rather than in terms of it being a strategic location for military or trade, definitely sets Korean culture apart from many others.

[Anonymous]

I also think that hangul is awesome. A phonetic system makes so much sense when it comes to standardizing language and making communication easy!

[Anonymous]

It was so interesting to listen and to learn about Korean culture and history from Professor Jennifer Jung – Kim. When I was first learning about Confucianism as the course started, I never thought about how it may be interpreted different in different Asians countries. She opens my mind as she described Confucianism
Looked in China vs. Korea.

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed the mini lesson on Korean. I practiced today with the help of my Korean student. It enabled me to bond with a student.

[Anonymous]

No matter whether the signs for simple vowels and diphtongs imitate the human body positions or someone's creative mind has invented this way to visualize them, the idea is wonderful. Putting the signs into a system, It makes it so easy to memorize them.

[Anonymous]

One thing that I have enjoyed learning about in this class is the diffusion of Confucianism and how each area, adopted it to their culture.

[Anonymous]

Re: Day of celebration of the alphabet explains the higher literacy rate of South Korea -97.9% compare to China -91.7% (source CIA facts web site).

[Anonymous]

I also enjoyed learning about hangul, the Korean written forms. I loved how we got up and formed some of the basic characters with our bodies! What an excellent example of using the different modalities to teach something new

[Anonymous]

My students just went to the Korean Cultural Center and got to see their name in Hangul. This course is really helping me bridge the gap between my Latino students and Asia.

[Anonymous]

The lecture Professor Jung-Kim did was very informative. I didn't know the Korean alphabet had a special day that is celebrated. Talk about the importance such a day does to promote literacy in the population. The sharp constrasts between the Korean phonetic writing system and the Western alpahbet and sounds. I makes it easier to understand why English is so difficult for Asians to learn. I especially enjoyed the TPR we did to learn the vowels. Everyone got up and participated. i am looking forward to taking the two sessions on Korea offered in January. i also plan to visit the Korean Cultural Center.

[Anonymous]

I will also be taking the sessions in January. Some of you might know about a different time that this class is offered, which is August, I believe. In August, there is no homework, and the class meets for 5 days, for one salary point.

I thought of Fung Sway (sp? when there was a discussion about where to put the capital based on Geography. Of course, I am sure it is much more complicated than that. Source of water has been how most civilizations have formed, as we all know. It would be interesting to find out more about the science of locating a city.

One thing that my students often comment on, and don't know if anyone else has talked to their Korean students about this, but they have 2 birthdays. One of the birthdays is on the day they were born, and the other is based on an approximation of the date that they were conceived. Has anyone else heard this or talked to their students about it?

[Anonymous]

I admit that I knew nothing about Korea. I was most impressed by the syncretism and adaptability of Koreans who maintained their own beliefs while integrating aspects of Buddhism. The revelation that Korea had a strong matrilineal heritage completely dispels Westernized depiction of Asian women that Edward Said referred to as the creation of the "exotic oriental" iconography perpetuated in literature and visual media. It was refreshing to be exposed to the rich historical role of Korean women in ancient times. Although the information presented in the session was extensive, the scope of time that we covered renders it impossible to delve into any single subject and explore the nuances of any single aspect. Perhaps the organizers of the seminars can consider narrowing the scope of the seminars and delving into each subject more profoundly. One may consider offering a middle-school and a high-school seminar so that the California Social Studies Framework can serve as a point of departure.

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