Exchange Program UTM - SKKU Seoul

Salam Ramadhan everyone.

:)

Since many of you've been asking about my studies in Seoul, South Korea, I would like to share a glimpse of my school in Korea (and what I've been doing- randomly). 

Welcome to... Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul.

The new main gate : Summer 2014

Summer 2014

Fall Semester

I arrived in Korea on 7th August 2014 for my fall semester (starting from September 2014). I'm NOT a full-time student in SKKU. I participated in an exchange program by UTM Skudai, where I'm doing my degree. Back in Malaysia, I'm a TESL major student but here in SKKU, my major is English Language and Literature. Apparently, I'm the only Malaysian exchange student in the campus. I've got to meet 2 Chinese Malaysian students who are here as full-time students. Unlike Seoul campus, there are many Malaysians in SKKU Suwon campus (for Science and Engineering major).

To be honest, I decided to come here for an exchange program because of Je Young lol. I knew that I can't transferred all the credit hours here so I decided to study whatever I'm interested in. As a result, I took Marketing Strategy, English Literature, Lifelong Education, Discourse Analysis and Korean language courses in fall semester. 

Some photos around the campus:

Can you tell it's autumn?

600th anniversary building- SKKU, a school since Joseon Dynasty. Have you watched Sungkyunkwan Scandal? kkk

High school students and parents on SKKU Opening/Visiting Day

School's lawn

Traditional meets modern. <3

Old Campus.

This semester, I wanted to learn Korean so all I did was taking a Korean intensive language course. Now, I can read, write and converse in Korean even though I'm far from fluent (many ahjussis and ahjummas said I'm good enough to be able to understand and reply so okay lah kan for me who started to learn Korean intensively for 2 months >.<).

It's spring!!!

Biarpun lighting tak cukup... Demi bunga..

Spring in SKKU

Demi bunga...

Did I not mention the school is hilly? lol

Every semester, there will be a school festival. It's the best time of all because there will be sports festival, concert, flea market by students and drinking (LOTS of them. Not that I care but in Korea, it's really a big thing not only for students lol).

Sports Day

Flashmob to promote school festival.. I guess

In SKKU Central Library

As a way of saying thank you: promoting UTM in SKKU Student Mobility Fair



I have to say thanks to UTM International for this. They gave me another chance to experience studying abroad after Harvard Summer School 2012 program that I'd joined. Although I didn't receive any financial support from UTM, I'm lucky to have received NIIED scholarship (a Korean government scholarship during fall semester).

BM post:

Jadi dah terjawab segala persoalan adik-adik? Sesungguhnya Kafad tak tau macam mana nak sambung belajar di Korea sebab Kafad hanyalah exchange student dari UTM Skudai kkk XD Yang Kafad tau kalau adik-adik nak peluang belajar di luar negara meh lah masuk UTM :DD

Untuk yang sedang belajar di UTM, janganlah lepaskan peluang-peluang yang ada. Kita ada banyak sangat program macam summer school, exchange program, internship, visiting program and Global Outreach Program (GOP) Jangan risau kalau tak mampu. Hendak seribu daya, jalan mesti ada. Gitchew lol

Sila add friend UTM Mobility Program on fb untuk maklumat lanjut. :D

Ok. Cukup dulu setakat ni.
Thanks for reading! ^_^v

Self-learning Korean Language

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.,

Peace be upon you.

I took French as my third language during first year of study (now I'm in fourth) in UTM. Since I've learnt French back when I was in Form 1, it wasn't hard for me. However, compared to other classmates (except two who were already competent users) who were learning another foreign language from scratch, it could be laborious. I joke you not. 

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Nowadays, I'm keen to learn Korean language more than French. Part of it is because of the language itself, I find it cute and interesting. On the other side of the world is that my in-laws don't know English. Hewhew. It isn't because of Kpop. Or.. So I thought.. 

Kpop wave in Malaysia is real at the moment (nope. Not gonna say anything about B1A4 fan meeting in Malaysia). I have so many friends who know how to speak and write Hangeul. In fact, they learn it by themselves. Luckily for me, I have a lot of Korean friends who are willing to help me whenever I have questions. I started to learn words by words and phrases from Korean dramas at first. Then, when I was in my second year, I was lucky to meet Haejune oppa, one of my Korean friends who did and exchange programme in UTM. He taught me Korean characters in order for me to be able to read and write. 

Taken from Google

It's the foundation so I work my ass off to memorize all the characters. It took me 2 weeks to remember it all- characters, the writing system, and pronunciation of syllables. Even though I know all that, I still can't read fast yet (like when I was streaming Runningman, I will pause and read the editors' comments in Hangeul). Now, after I've been learning Korean for around 7 months, I can read faster. I guess last time it was me who always try to avoid reading it when learning the phrases or words from the book or website, and read the romanization instead. So, the most important tips to get yourself familiarize with Hanguel is to be immersed in it totally. I no longer read romanization of Hangeul anymore (still making odd pronunciations once in a while LOL).

After a while, Je Young oppa suggested that I need to expand my vocabulary size. He thinks that it's important before I proceed deeply into grammar and the conjugation system. So, I learn new vocabulary and revise the ones I've learnt, memorize it as many as I can. This is what we call learning a language. However, as I'm one of the language acquisition believer, I think the best way to acquire the language is by putting myself into the environment- it will make the process faster. So, I watch kdramas, follow some phrases from the dialogue and jot down helpful and interesting phrases. kkk

Besides that, I learn grammar from websites and the Berlitz I bought from Bookexcess for only RM19.90 last two years. I like the book but it concentrates on the higher, most polite version of Korean which sometimes can lead to awkward moments/unfriendly remarks if you were to use it with your Korean friends. kkk 
There are many websites where you can learn Korean language for (almost) free on your own. Here you go:

1. Talk to me in Korean - plenty of interesting lessons by level, videos, and vocabulary.

2. Korean Class 101 - a very helpful website as a whole. I learn from them through their website and also their apps on my iPad. Sweeettt.

3. Free Korean class - Yes. For free. If you think you need a real learning environment, please visit Korea Plaza, Menara Hap Seng, KL as they offer Korean language class for free every twice a year. You need to be committed to follow a certain period of time. Not only that, they have Korean cooking class for free too! Kimchi anyone? ^^ lol

4. Linguanaut - for the Korean phrases and expressions.

5. Mylanguages - lots and lots of vocabulary being classed in adjectives, verbs, articles, prepositions etc. 

6. Sydney to Seoul - you can learn A LOT from this self-study Korean language blog. Like seriously. There are worksheets, flashcards and even for those who plan to sit for TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean).

Hope this post helps. Till then, bye! :)

Starting your FYP

Salam and good day!

I'm writing here after my meeting with Dr. Tina. I thought I should put it all here faster while it's still fresh in my mind (short-term memory lost can be very dangerous for me). But before I start, I must tell you that this is post is regarding final year project (of what we call FYP or PSM). Final year students have to do this if they want to graduate (hell yeah guess it's obvious). 

Dr. Tina advised a few things to bear in mind and to start doing it- the most important thing like if you wanna go somewhere by car, you have to fill the gas or else cycling from Klang to JB won't be enough in 4 months (what? *insert meme*). OK move on.

Thank you, Dr. Tina.
I loiiike conteng2 cenggini sebab nanti bila lupa, tengok balik mesti ingat apa details yang digebang-gebangkan.

TOPIC - READ
First thing first, to be able to do a research, you've got to have a topic. And how do you find that topic? READ -- LOTS of READING. This will be a pain in the ass for those who don't like to read or worst, allergic to it. Can't help you with that though.

LIST KEY TERMS
However, you can't read blindly or else you will go nowhere. To read efficient and effectively, list down key terms or key words that you're interested in. For example, I'm doing TESL, so my topic has got to do with language. I'm interested in literature, second language acquisition, linguistics, teaching language etc. You must have done a lot of assignments these past 3 years so try to narrow down the key terms into maybe .. formula? approach? context? Like literature in ELT or Linguistics and gender difference. 

300 ABSTRACTS - A FEW RESEARCH REPORTS
After you've listed down all the key words that interest you, now go to any database you know (Google Scholars/UTM online database-my favourite) and find at least 300 abstracts, read them. How are you going to do this? One of the best ways is to put a period range (advance search) - eg: 1990-2013. By doing this, you will know the trends and patterns of previous researches thus, be able to find gaps and your paper's contribution in the field later. These two things are actually the highlights in graduates papers. She said that for undergrad level, you are actually finding what you're interested in through a research. But of course if you've those two, it would represent the novelty in your research. Not easy, but definitely not impossible. 

FRAMEWORK - PARAMETERS
After that, select a few research reports that you think best as reference to your topic of interest to get a topic. Then, you've to set a framework to your own study to put parameters to your work. This is crucial because you only have 4 months to get 3 chapters done (trust Dr. Tina, it will be amended a few times throughout the second semester). So, whether your topic is a suitable PSM topic as in it's not too complicated or too simplified, refer to SV (supervisor), always. I guess that's all for now. 

Things to bear in mind :

- FYP is a continuous project. You have to follow through every now and then or you might not have a synchronize chapters (the major problem undergrads have as mentioned by Dr. Tina).
- Find your own way to study the research. It is a process to make you a thinker, responsible of tour own curiosity and interest. That's why you have to be interested in the topic. If you aren't, how do you expect the readers to be interested in reading it? zzzz
- These are only tips from ONE lecturer. I believe there are many other ways of starting off your research. But since she has been doing so many researches (and still on-going too), supervised a lot of students (undergrad and postgrad) previously, these tips will definitely do. 

Good luck!