As mentioned in my previous post, I started tutoring in January 2023 because I experienced slow progress. After giving it my all in 2022 with Korean, I noticed by the end of the year that my motivation was nowhere as close to the beginning of the year. While the content became progressively more challenging, I noticed my studying schedule was shorter. Tutoring has allowed me to rekindle my inspiration once again. There is also more structure which I lacked after a year of self-study. Tutoring has allowed me to get back on track and although I was skeptical, I am very content I made this choice. I did not expect to hear how awful my listening and speaking skills were. I am slowly improving all aspects of studying, speaking included, which was not what I expected to focus on at all.
To stop my procrastination from taking over, I scheduled tutoring lessons to help solidify what I knew but had trouble remembering. I felt burnt out, tired, overwhelmed, and frustrated. I felt like I had exhausted all my resources. I spent exactly $80 on textbooks and short stories to help me learn and improve. Because it was my first year of self-study consistently, I exhausted my free resources and then purchased my textbooks. I do not regret buying textbooks since I can always go back and review them.
My goal for tutoring was to improve my reading and writing. I did not consider tutoring for speaking because I assumed that with enough input it would be fine. However, I was in for a surprise when I realized that my listening and speaking skills were horrible. My reading skills are good because I did extensive vocabulary review and studying. Writing is my next strong point because I have practiced a lot, but not as much as I should have. I can say that I am at a solid B1 in reading and writing.
During my first session, my tutor spoke to me in Korean and I was very nervous responding. I did not expect my skills to be at the A1 level but I still was proud that I did not quit and tried my best to have a basic conversation even if it felt embarrassing. When my tutor sent our conversation transcript, I realized I knew the words but did not understand them when listening. For the last two months, I have focused more on listening and speaking and can see much improvement.
January, my speaking skills were at the beginner level and were not A1 yet. I was lost and confused. I started to see that to learn a language I needed to master ALL aspects of the language, not just writing and reading. I failed to focus on listening and speaking because I did not consider them important at the time. Now I can comprehend why listening with a transcript is useful, and I wish I had added that to my study routines six months ago. Having a conversation for the first time was an eye-opening experience.
February was filled with learning sessions focused on speaking and listening. My homework is reviewing conversations and practicing over and over again. I was overwhelmed doing homework. In some sessions, I had to pause and re-listen to the clip over 50 times for six days until my next tutoring session. However, I can see small improvements and I am thankful for them. I know the road is still long but I appreciate how patient I’ve become with this journey.
March has been a month of more improvement. I can now hold a basic conversation. My writing improved a lot compared to four months ago. For the first time, I can make much longer sentences. I also write every other day, which is a lot compared to last year when I would write a few times a week. My reading continues to get better. I can look at the words now, and even though I may not understand a few, I can read them without a problem. It would take me minutes to get through a paragraph and sometimes ten minutes to go through one page, but now I can speed through it with ease and if I do not understand I mark it down, keep reading and go back when I finish the chapter.
Repetition has been essential to improving my listening and speaking. With reading and writing, I continue to increase my vocabulary, but not as drastically as last year when I was learning countless words but not using them. I write the new words as much as possible in my journal entries and review them the next day. I read my entries when I can out loud. I am incorporating YouTube transcripts for my favorite vloggers.
Although speaking and listening continue to be challenging, I know I am improving. Tutoring has allowed me to stay focused, not slack off, and continue this journey.
Originally published at http://thoughtsofang.wordpress.com on March 12, 2023.
