My Korean: Step 1

나의 한국어 "스텝 1"

Byung-jin Lim, Jieun Kim, Ji-Hye Kim

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429652554
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Langues et linguistique
• Subtopic: Langues

The My Korean series of textbooks offers a learner-centred, communicative task-based, interactive approach to learning contemporary Korean.

My Korean: Step 1 and My Korean: Step 2 are arranged thematically around topics that any novice learner of Korean is likely to encounter in their first year of study. Each lesson contains two dialogues showing contemporary Korean in use, followed by succinct grammar and vocabulary explanations.

The focus throughout the books is on communicative in-class activities and tasks that encourage students' active participation. Video clips of the lesson dialogues are available as an online resource, and each unit contains communicative activities based on the dialogue themes.

The engaging structure and communicative approach make My Korean: Step 1 an ideal text for first semester Korean courses. It is also a great resource for individual study or one-on-one tutorials on Korean language and culture.

Part 1

Contents

Introduction

Outline of the book

Preparation

Introduction

About this Korean language textbook

My Korean: Step 1 is an elementary contemporary Korean language and culture textbook designed for true-beginner Korean language students at the college level in the United States as well as worldwide. The book is designed for formal classroom settings that value student-centered, interactive learning. However, it could also be used with individuals or in one-on-one tutorials of Korean language and culture.

Most Korean language textbooks contain dialogues and contexts where the learners of Korean are assumed to be learning the Korean language and culture while they are living in South Korea. However, given the reality that not all learners of Korean are actually studying in South Korea, many of them find it difficult to relate to the contents in these textbooks. While many students throughout the world enjoy studying Korean language and culture, many will not visit South Korea, and even fewer will live there for an extended period of time. With these students’ needs in mind, the authors write this new Korean language textbook with the following features:

• Student-centered themes with contemporary Korean in use
• Communicative culture-based activities
• Straightforward explanations of grammar and new expressions
• Designs for user-friendly and optimal content delivery
• Basic as well as extended vocabulary with Chinese characters
• Companion website featuring multimedia learning tools

1. The current Korean language textbook offers student-centered themes with authentic Korean. From the beginning of the development of the Korean language textbook, students at the authors’ institution participated by expressing their thoughts and needs through questionnaires. Their active participation and input became the basis for the themes in each lesson of the book.
2. Each lesson in the book includes two communicative culture-based activities to help students achieve proficiency in the Korean language and culture via active interaction with other students in and outside the classroom.
3. The book offers simple and straightforward explanations of grammatical features and new expressions along with sample dialogues to illustrate each grammar point.
4. The book is designed with user-friendliness in mind in order to provide optimal learning opportunities for both students and teachers. For example, bigger fonts are used in Lesson 1 while smaller fonts are utilized in later chapters; pages are organized such that students can easily recognize repeated features; colors are selected for readability and aesthetic balance; and English translations of each dialogue are presented adjacent to the dialogues in early chapters while they are deliberately placed at the end for later chapters.
5. In response to the growing presence of Chinese-speaking learners of Korean in the world, the book also offers vocabulary (basic or extended) with English glosses along with corresponding Chinese characters for those students (e. g., 일, 이, 삼 ... one, two, three ... 一, 二, 三 ...).
6. A companion website has been developed with interactive multimedia materials for all of the dialogues in the textbook.

Structure of the textbook

The textbook contains six main components for each lesson: Dialogues, Grammar and Expressions, Vocabulary, Activities, Cultural Notes, and English Translations.

1. Dialogues: Written in contemporary Standard Korean, dialogues provide contexts in which beginning learners of Korean encounter everyday circumstances with their classmates, friends, and instructors from day one at college. Dialogues also present various scenes and contexts where the learners may experience authentic interactions with native speakers of Korean. Students may find it useful to memorize dialogues as they are likely to face them for daily activities in contemporary Korean.
2. Grammar and expressions: Grammar used in the dialogues in each lesson is explained in detail using simple and straightforward language. For easy grammar explanation, technical linguistic terminology is deliberately avoided. Instead, simple and detailed explanation is provided for each grammar point for true beginner learners of Korean. Also, new expressions are explained with ample example sentences such that learners can easily study them on their own. At the end of each grammar point, individual practices are also provided. Later chapters (in Part 3) also provide exercises that are based on the explanations of grammar and new expressions. Students are expected to read the “Grammar and Expressions” sections before they come to class.
3. Vocabulary (basic and expanded): Each lesson contains basic and expanded vocabulary. Basic vocabulary is used in the dialogues, and expanded vocabulary consists of additionally recommended words that can be further built onto the basic vocabulary. For successful learning, students are expected to study both basic and expanded vocabulary before each lesson is discussed in the classroom.
4. Activities: One of the distinguishing features of the textbook is the inclusion of culture-based activities in each lesson. Specifically, through activities, students can compare and reflect on Korean culture as well as their own culture. In addition, each activity revolves around the themes discussed in the dialogues of each chapter.
5. Cultural notes: Culture is an impor...