Tag: blog

Posted in books, Selfstudy, TOPIK, Uncategorized

Preparing for TOPIK

Posted on by 카밀라

Lately I have been thinking more and more about TOPIK and I have been trying to figure out how i can prepare myself in the best possible way, without boring myself by working to much with the same materials, and I think I have found a decent balance.

Basically I have decided that the best way to prepare is to expose myself to as much Korean as possible. Reading, writing, speaking, listening – you name it. At the same time I’ll be studying with a variety of books.
I finished my last two TOPIK 1 mock tests with a decent result, and I’m currently in the process of deciding whether or not to take both TOPIK 1 and 2, in April. I know I won’t be able to make a decision any time soon, but I also know that even if I decide to only take TOPIK 1, then my TOPIK 2 preparations will never go to waste. I WILL take TOPIK 2 eventually, and preparing for TOPIK 2 will only make TOPIK 1 seem easier, right?

Anyhow, this is how I have been studying for the last few days!
I go through 2 grammar points from my Intermediate book, as well as review the two previous grammar points. At some point all this grammar will hopefully stick to my brain! This book has a quiz after each chapter, in the same format as the TOPIK test, so that is definitely a plus in my book! (I’m working on a few reviews, so more on that later!)
After that I go through 1 article from the TTMIK news in Korean book, which also has a quiz after each article, in the TOPIK format!
The next book I work with is my TOPIK 쓰기 book. Here I make sure to make at least one assignment every day, and I get my answers checked by my language partners, through the native speakers on italki, or by my italki teacher.
Lastly I continue reading 어린왕자 and articles on naver. All these things are improving my reading skills, my vocabulary and my grammar skills as well.
When it comes to listening, I’m using a variety of materials as usual. Most of the time I listen to kpop, watch tv shows, dramas, movies and listen to different podcasts. Whenever I travel or exercise, there will be something Korean in my ears.
When writing with my language partners I make sure to challenge myself over and over again. That’s the best way to make the grammar and vocabulary stick properly.
My weekly italki sessions are continuing as usual.

This is how I am studying right now, but as soon as I feel a bit more comfortable with TOPIK 2, I’ll start using my other two preparation books for 쓰기 and 읽기. Also, I have ordered 7 books so far this month, and since only two have arrived, there will probably be some changes. I ordered the PASS NEW TOPIK books through TTMIK, and I’m currently trying to decide if I should buy the Video Course as well. I mean I WILL end up buying it, but I think I will wait till January, since I have plenty to work with right now. We’ll see.

Here’s all the books I’m using or is about to use, featuring 토끼 because he follows me everywhere.. And yes I named him 토끼.

24 november 1

Posted in books, Selfstudy, Uncategorized

Making myself feel better

Posted on by 카밀라

So yesterday I ended my toughest week in a very long time. I had to finish my exam report and then attend my schools open house, where I had to present our project a billion times for different judges and guests. It was a ton of fun, but around noon I started to feel unwell and when I reached the end of my 12 hour school day, I was feeling really sick. I was hoping that I was just feeling sick as a result of a really long and stressful week, with no sleep, so I went home and straight to bed.
Sadly that wasn’t the case so there I was: sick, tired and really in need of something to cheer me up. So how is the best way to make myself feel better? Well if you know me just a little, then you probably already know that I immediately turned to my Korean books!

Today I started my day by opening up my TTMIK Level 1 grammar book. I ordered it when the pre-orders started, simply because I wanted to support the people who made my Korean journey possible, and because I really wanted to have a signed copy of the book! To be honest I didn’t buy it because I thought it would be useful to me, since I’m currently about to start Level 8 of the TTMIK podcast, and I have listened to the Level 1 podcast several times as well as read through the PDF and finished the workbook.
However when reading through the book, I immediately started to feel better, because I realized that I was actually right. The book didn’t teach my anything that TTMIK hadn’t already tought me back when I started. I already knew it all, and it seemed so easy and logical, unlike when I went through the Level 1 curriculum the first time!
This experience is more than enough to make me feel better about everything!

After reading through the Level 1 book, I decided to continue reading  어린왕자, and I then realized that I am already more than halfway through chapter 3, which means that when I finish this chapter (I’ll read the last two pages as soon as I finish this post), then I will have doubled my weekly goal, despite having an awfully stressful week! I don’t think I need to explain how happy that makes me feel!
I also realized that the 인디고 books are placed in the ‘advanced’ category at twochois, and even though that doesn’t really mean anything (let’s be honest here. A persons ‘language level’ is an extremely individual thing and we all have different ideas of when someone is a beginner, intermediate and so on.) then it still made me feel really good, because I am doing surprisingly well. I just recently started to think of myself as an intermediate learner and this my first try with a book that isn’t made for learning purposes, so that makes me feel even better. Even though it takes quite a while to read (compared to anything I read in Danish or English) and I sometimes have to look up many words, I actually CAN read it. I do NOT feel lost.

These two things aren’t big accomplishments in any way, but they made me feel so much better, and they really made me realize that you should never underestimate yourself or your small accomplishments for that matter.

Anyway.. It looks like this post turned out to be more like a rant, than an update, haha! Now I’m going to make myself a cup of 유자차 and lay down on the couch with my book. Since I recently ordered ‘크리스마스 캐럴’, it would awesome if I could finish 어린왕자 before the middle of December as the latest!
여러분 화이팅!

Posted in Selfstudy, Uncategorized

Time management

Posted on by 카밀라

Today I have started one of my exams and that means that I am starting a super hectic week. I will have many long and late days, and there’s no way that I can stop it from affecting my Korean studies, which is bothering me more than it probably should. I have had to cancel my Italki lesson on Friday and this morning I was thinking about how to make room for everything in my schedule, which reminded me of a time management course my class attended a few months ago. I tried it during my first exam, and found it really helpful. Since I already feel less stressed now that I have a plan, I thought that maybe other people could use these few tips. Honestly, they are super simple and you all probably know them, however using them is a completely different thing.

1) Decide when to do what. Don’t just let things happen as they come. For instance, after finishing this post I will start today’s study session, and I will continue studying for the next hour, with a short break or two if needed – but honestly, time usually flies and I forget all about breaks.
I’ll do the same with my house chores a little later. I’ll simply decide that for the next hour, I’ll do as many chores as I can, without thinking about how far I’ll get.

2) Stop looking at your watch all the time. This is one of my biggest problems. The less time I have during the day, the more I check my phone to see if I’m falling behind, which is a never ending circle and more importantly; a complete waste of time. Not to mention that it breaks your concentration and causes you to study (or whatever you are doing at the time) less effective.

3) Don’t underestimate the power of breaks. Even if you don’t feel like you need one, give it a try anyway. I’m working hard on this one, as I usually do feel like my studying is more effective when taking small breaks, but I often end up skipping them. I just need to finish this one chapter… and the next! Get up and make yourself a cup of tea, and return with a fresh mind.

4) Keep away from unnecessary distractions. Did you know that it takes 15-25 minutes for one to properly focus on something after being distracted? Depending on the person as well as the distraction that caused your unintended break of course. That’s pretty scary if you ask me! Try to avoid distractions by going to the bathroom before sitting down, have snacks and drinks close by, put away your phone and so on. I forbid myself to use my phone for anything other than looking up words on Naver. It also means that I never listen to podcasts on my way home from school, because my mind is already filled with a ton of stuff, and EVERYTHING  has the ability to distract me. In the mornings on the other hand, I have no problems paying attention.

5) The last tip I want to mention is about proper planning. To keep it simple: Be realistic. Don’t plan out all 24 hours. You will get distracted. Someone will unexpectedly call you.You will have times where you suddenly have to pee, feel thirsty, feel unfocused or where your computer breaks down, even though you did what you could to avoid it.
Also, don’t make unrealistic goals like studying for 5 hours straight without breaks. It won’t do you any good.

I hope this is useful for someone other than myself. Time for me to study! 🙂

Posted in books, Selfstudy

Underestimating yourself and new goals

Posted on by 카밀라

Yesterday my newest Korean book arrived. For a while I have been looking at the 인디고 아름다운 고전 시리즈, as they truly are beautiful and the series features many of my favorite stories as well as a few I only know by name. However, I seemed to convince myself that I wouldn’t be able read them anyway, and therefore shouldn’t buy them. That’s what usually happens in my mind and I’m working hard on removing that thought, because I know I’m underestimating myself. In the beginning of my Korean learning journey, I was afraid of buying the TTMIK workbooks because I thought they would just prove that I didn’t understand anything, however it turned out completely opposite. Then I was afraid of joining HelloTalk, because I was terrified of making mistakes and I knew that I couldn’t even make a full sentence, but after doing it anyway I got over my fear in just a few days, and even though I was right about my sentence skills, they improved so fast that some of my language partners – and myself – was shocked. There’s no way I would have come so far without joining HelloTalk. After that, I was afraid of trying Italki, but this has also turned out to be one of my best decisions. I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this, so I’ll end it here.

Having gone through this process so many times in my head, I finally decided to just give the books a try. I found a list of all 23 books (I’m not sure if they are still adding more books to the list, so it might grow bigger) and then I just decided to start from book one, and read them as they come. I’ll post the list in the end of this post as well as a few random pictures of the book, for those who are interested.

Anyway the first book is 어린왕자, which is one of the books I only know by name, so I’m looking forward to learning more about the story. My plan (as I mentioned in my previous post) is to read at least one chapter pr week. The books are small and adorable, and each chapter is about 4-6 pages long The amount of text on each page variate, so I was wondering how to make my weekly goal more stable and specific, but in the end I just decided to not make it more difficult than it is, and just read as much as I can or feel like, with one chapter pr week, being the minimum. Having this goal keeps me motivated to continue, and it gives me the feeling of having accomplished something, which in general is the reason why I love making goals, but more on that in another post!

Here’s the list if you’re interested:

1) 어린와자
2) 작은 아씨들
3) 이상한 나라의 앨리스
4) 빨간머리 앤
5) 눈의 여왕
6) 피노키오
7) 오즈의 마법사
8) 아라비안 나이트
9) 백설공주
10) 키다리아저씨
11) 하이디
12) 오페라 의유령
13) 비밀의 화원
14) 플랜더스의 개
15) 호두까기 인형
16) 버드나무에 부는 바람
17) 피터팬
18) 로미오와 주리엣
19) 에이번리의 앤
20) 80일간의 세계일주
21) 크리스마스 캐럴
22) 메리포핀스
23) 거울 나라의 앨리스
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