KoreanClass101.com Blog

Last week I wrote about one particular day.  Here is what happened after dinner. As it turned out there really was no one working in the elementary boys side that night. After dinner is usually shower time, and even with an 엄마 it can be hectic (it depends on which 엄마 is there)! The kids don't really wash every day. Often they do little more than splash some water around their waists.  Shower time is not managed well.  Granted, it is a big undertaking. Some parents struggle with just a few of their own kids, but 20+ kids is a whole different battle.  And only the oldest kids really do it themselves. 1st-3rd and sometimes 4th graders are washed by an adult. It struck me as odd when I first saw it happen, but it is indicative of an... Show more

This is a very common question that I get from my non-Korean friends. "What's 곰탕? Is there really 곰 in there?" And as you know, 곰 means "bear", the animal. :-) So imagine - a bear soup ... hehe. But in fact it has nothing to do with bears(곰) although it's 곰 + 탕(soup). If you look at the sign in the picture above, it says 닭곰탕 too. So it must have something to do with 닭(chicken) and 곰(bear) together in a soup? :-) The truth is, 곰 is actually a noun coming from the verb "고다". And 고다 means to boil something to a pulp or let the flavor come out of something by boiling in water (usually with various spices added) for many hours. So, 곰 is not the animal 'bear' but a nominalization of 고다, therefore the act of 고다. So 곰탕 is a soup... Show more

Hi guys! It's been a looong time since my last post, I know. Really big apologies for that, I won't make any excuses for it but life has really been eating me alive, and I'm having so much trouble balancing everything and finding time for all my obligations and other things. These past two weeks have been especially crazy; I'm still studying so I live with my parents at the moment, and they've just adopted two little girls. So two weeks ago they moved in here, and it's really sucked up a lot of our time and energy getting them settled in and adjusting ourselves to the change. I feel exhausted from it all! But things are settling now, and it's not so crazy anymore, so my fingers are crossed when I say that hopefully I'll be able to resume... Show more

This past week has been a busy one on more than a few levels. Last sunday was Easter and we spent the day at my brother's house. He lives in the central valley of California on farm land. We got home late and the blog didn't happen. It is happening right now, however. Easter (부활절) is not really celebrated in Korea. Unless things have changed dramatically since I lived in Korea, Easter is only celebrated by a special Sunday service in christian denominations. There is no Easter bunny or egg hunt or any of the other commercial entrapments that exist here in America. When we get together as a family for Easter we usually have an Easter egg hunt. My brother's house is ideally suited for an egg hunt because he has a large, grassy yard around... Show more

After weeks of development, we’re happy to announce the launch of the much anticipated My Feed. This fully customizable RSS feed let’s Premium members decide exactly what lesson content they want on their Premium feed. You can master Korean on your terms. Setting up My Feed is a simple 3 step process. 1. Choose the lesson types you want (e.g. Beginner, Newbie, Audio Blog, etc.) 2. Choose the type of content you want (e.g. Main Audio, Dialog Clip, Review Clip, PDF, Video Vocab, etc.) 3. Add My Feed to iTunes or other iTunes compatible feed readers like Juice, and just watch the content you want come rolling in. Click here to learn more about My Feed or if you’re a Premium member, click here to get started now. ... Show more