Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Spiky]

Hey!

Has anyone taken Korean language classes at Ganada Language Institute in Seoul? It looks like a good program and the price is pretty good. I've used the book before and I like it, just wondering if anyone's been to that institute or has any comments about it?

Thanks a lot!

[peppergirl]

Sorry, can't help you.

But I wanted to go to Seoul Korean Language Acadamy, so my husband (I wasn't in Korea at that time) gave them a call. He asked how many students they had, and he could hear someone next to the guy on the phone saying 'tell them we've got a hundred students'.

Ended up doing a course at a uni.

[Beeg]

I'm not at the institute but I am taking a course provided by them in another city. Its not very good at all, but that may just be because my tutor is crap and the course material that I have been given relies heavily upon a teacher.

[Derrek]

I went to Seoul Language Academy in Kangnam on 2 occassions. They were nice, and the class size was small. Their philosophy is to teach with little or no English, however -- that may not be to your liking. They use the Ganada books. I have come and gone there twice. The reason I leave is because after a month, it overwhelms me. They seem to teach a lot of Japanese students too, and it just goes a little fast for this not-so-fast-at-language-learning guy to deal with.

They also start teaching you with the formal stuff first -- which is probably the best way to learn, but not as useful if you just want to learn to use conversational stuff quickly. Depends on your philosophy. My Korean friends would look at my book and say, "We don't talk like that much."

[mithridates]

I think Seoulmon went there for a while, you might want to get his attention with a pm.

[seoulmon]

Yea, I went there for (let's see.....) one summer in 2001 and a two month stint during the winter of 2002.

Classes are 12 students, almost all Japanese. Our class would start with a dialog. Usually the dialog would be something pretty stiff, like Bob visiting Korean guests and asking questions about some holiday. Other times, the conversaton would be about bringing your car in for a repair. There might have been a more lively dialog about Bob going to Hogik and getting laid, but nothing really comes to mind.

Then we would go through 2 or 3 pages of grammar exercises. The teacher would explain the grammar and the go through all the questions. After this we would trot down to the audio room and put on head phones and do the same thing, hear the question and as a group, repeat.

In the last part, if there was time, we would do some activity.

[Spiky]

Thanks for the help! Seoulmon, any idea on how many classes they have at a time? Is there at least one class for each book they have or do they lump the students together like some of the other Korean classes do?

Thanks--I appreciate it!

[matthewwoodford]

I went there for 2 months in 2002 and it helped a lot. The first teacher was great, her replacement wasn't so good, and the teacher in the second month was also good. As someone said, you go through the simple dialogue in the book, then they go through grammar, explain it, you practice making sentences using it, you get extra vocabulary, then down to the tape room to listen and drill. The classes were also mostly Japanese students who pick it up a lot more easily so get used to being the dumb one in the class!

[seoulmon]

[ThreeDogNight]

Speaking of this, is there any way to find out if there are other Korean language institutes hereabouts? Try the 3 major cities here in Korea, that is, as I don't want to give my whereabouts away to some psycho here.

[Derrek]

[just because]

I use their book for learning(don't go to the hagwon though) and it isn't too bad but can be a little bit dry(as mentioned above) but go for it.