LK9001 KOREAN LANGUAGE LEVEL 1 (3.0 AU)

Took in 2019 sem 1
Highly recommended if you have korean language background since you can understand teachings clearer. (but even if you don’t it doesn’t matter since the exams only allow knowledge taught in class to be used)

Pros:
-Classes are short and fun, time passes very fast.
-Everyone has to converse in korean to one another so you can make friends easily.
-Ahn Hyo Jeong is the best even though I only got to experience her lessons. I just know she is the best one. Fun and makes learning a breeze.
-Get to make korean bookmarks after exam.
-No finals, and exams are relatively simple. As long as you studied what was taught, B+ or even As shouldn’t be an issue.
-No need to spend too much time studying since they are simple as mentioned previously. (personally spent about 2 days before each test to recap on my knowledge)
-If you have friends that have textbooks, better to buy from them as the notes written inside will probably be very useful as it was for me.

Cons:
none 🙂
ok if I really have to find cons, it would be….
-Must buy textbook because practice all done inside.
-Must bring textbook every week so as to make following the lesson easier.
-Lessons are 2ice a week so it may make planning the timetable a little tougher.
-Highly in demand so may not be able to get into the same class as friends but can try 🙂 i got in with 3 other friends
-NO MORE just take this mod already :3

Moral is yes take, as long as you study you can score for a module that you are highly interested in!

Year Taken: AY 17/18, Sem 2

This module was very lax as well as fun. However, the bell curve was very steep due to fake noobs who pretended they could not do their homework but ended up speaking native-like for the oral presentation. The median was way higher than the mean, meaning that people either did very well or very badly for this module.

5% Quiz
25% Quiz
35% Quiz
25% Oral Project
10% Tutorial Participation

I am not sure how much did the weekly homework contributed to the overall grade but the tutor was taking notes on who did their homework and who did not. Make sure you do them regularly. A lot of people died at the Listening Comprehensions so what I did was to watch youtube videos and getting myself exposed to Korean. The quizzes were full of trick questions so watch out for them. For the oral project, just using words taught within the syllabus should net you an A. A few fake noobs were exposed though from the way they spoke. Everybody would go passive-aggressive saying, “Wow! Didn’t know you Korean was so good!” in a sarcastic tone. This module was light in work load in my opinion but very hard to score. Make sure you are consistently way above the mean and median (around 80/100 for the mid-term quiz) if you want at least an A-.

Concluding Remarks:
I planned my timetable such that I can forget about Linguarama after recess week, focused on acing the other 4 modules and returned to grind for Linguarama’s final exam. It also helped that there was some overlapping content between Linguarama and my other Linguistics classes. I had the time to catch up on the content while doing my CCA + part-time job. Honestly, I believe that one should take a minimal of at least 5 full modules in Year 1 since the content is light relative to Year 2 (you don’t need to study for the Acad Comm modules, just make sure you do well for assignments).

This review was reposted with the kind permission of aLMSstudent. Originally published at https://ntulmsmods.wordpress.com/2018/07/06/ntu-lms-2017-2018-semester-2/

This is one of the best UEs I’ve taken after spending 3 years in NTU.
Pros:
-Manageable content (Tip: read up/memorize Hangul alphabets perhaps a week before the first lesson starts)
-Friendly tutor (I got Ahn Hyo Jeong as my tutor and she’s really good! Clear explanations were given to make sure every student in the room understands the content. She plays various Kpop songs before the start of each lesson, and most the time, a small part of the lyrics will be related to the content covered that day. E.g. Friday (금요일에 만나요) by IU when we are learning days of the week)

Cons:
-2 lessons per week, so be prepared to travel to NTU for lessons twice per week (this is probably the same for other language mods though). I took this mod during Covid times, and although the modules for my major were converted to e-learning, Korean remained as physical lessons. (This is not necessarily a con IMHO, lessons are enjoyable and I feel that language mods are more interactive if it’s done IRL)

Additional notes:
Regarding the impression that LK9001 has a “steep bellcurve cos there are people who secretly learnt Korean before taking the mod”….. wells…. I am sure this is indeed true, as dishonest students may certainly exist to spoil the fun of true beginners. However, I feel that since the content is truly manageable, as long as you work hard at the end of every lesson (spend time recapping what was taught in the lesson), your grades will turn out fine! Put in good effort for the module (this should be a natural thing to do if you are truly interested in taking up the language) and the bellcurve will still be in your favour 🙂

P.S. If you are really interested in picking up Korean and is willing to put in effort to learn it (and if you have spare SUs just in case you don’t do as well for the midterms), you can consider taking this mod despite the “steep bellcurve”! HWAITING! Light it up like Dynamite and it’s Not the end!)

Taken in: AY15 Sem 2
Grading components: Test 1 (25%), Test 2 (35%), Oral Project (25%), Quiz (5%), Homework &Participation (10%)
Grade: A
Difficulty rating: 2/5

If you are a fan of Kpop and dramas, go ahead and take this mod. Would be good to know hangul (Korean alphabets) beforehand as the lecturer only spend the first two lessons/weeks on it. After that, you will be expected to be able to read hangul already. Else, you will struggle with the lessons as you will not be able to understand what’s going on.

Although frankly, hangul is a rather simple alphabet system to memorize, it is much easier compared to many other languages. My boyfriend who has zero exposure nor interest in Korean managed to learn hangul within a couple of days. I believe anyone who puts in some effort should be able to learn it. Level 1 will cover learning hangul, basic sentences and grammar, self-introduction, weather and commonly-used vocabulary.

The difficulty isn’t too hard – as long as you put in effort to study and keep up with lessons, passing should not be any issue. Scoring is definitely possible but do note that the bell curve is very steep as there are many people who are already well-versed in Korean taking level 1. You will need almost perfect scores to get an A for this mod.

I do recommend taking this mod for anyone keen in picking up a new language or wanting to understand your Kpop songs and dramas – just remember to have SU on standby if you don’t want the stress to weigh down the learning experience. Similar to level 2, all tests are conducted during class timing (continuous assessment), so there are no final examinations.

This review was reposted with the kind permission of The Beautiful Sotong. Originally published at https://thebeautifulsotong.com/2018/12/08/ntu-electives-review