다니던 학원의 소개

NUS EXTENSION

Address: 9 Penang Road, #12-01, Park Mall, Singapore 238459
Tel: (+65) 6338 8400

NEX is located inside Park Mall (level 12) and along Penang Road. Its nearest MRT station is Dhoby Ghaut. To get there from the station, it takes less than 5 mins walk. For drivers attending evening Korean class, there is a need to pay ERP to get to Park Mall. In addition, the carpark charge at Park Mall after 6pm is a flat rate of $2. NEX's location favours MRT commuters more than drivers. Its central location is a plus point for busy working adults who have to juggle between work and study although such convenience comes at a price.

As NEX is a centre for lifelong learning, its focus is on providing continuing education to working adults. Hence, its classrooms are spacious and environment is conducive for learning. NEX operates like a private institution whereby there is flexibility when it comes to course scheduling. The deciding factors to start a course are teacher's availability and number of people signing up for the course. As a norm, NEX needs a minimum of about 10 persons to start a course. In view of this feasibility constraint, the interval between courses can be a long wait especially between higher-level courses since many students would have quited studying Korean by then and getting enough people to form a class can be a challenge.

Each Korean language course last for 10 weeks or one semester. At NEX, there is only lesson once a week which last for 2.5 hours from 7pm to 9:30pm. Hence, in total, there are only 25 lesson hours every semester. NEX's level 1-6 courses are equivalent to basic level in Korea. To give some perspective, in NEX, student spends 150 hours over 6 semesters (1.5 year) to complete the basic level but full-time Korean language student in Korea spends 400 hours over 2 semesters (half year) to complete basic level. From Feb 2008 onwards, NEX will be offering Intermediate level course. For intermediate level course, there will only be one lesson per week lasting 3 hours instead of 2.5 hours. Each semester will also be lengthened from 10 to 12 weeks to give a total of 36 lesson hours per semester. [Edit: Intermediate couse has since lengthened to 16 weeks and lesson hours per week reduced to 2.5 hours. Lesson hours per semester is 40 hours.]

[Table 1: This table shows the pegging of NEX and SKS course level to the Korean language standard level.]

Different Korean courses can have different start-date and end-date. The once-a-week lesson can fall on any day of a week from Monday to Saturday. Since the lesson day for different courses can be different, it is possible for a person to take two different courses simultaneously. For example, one can take level 1 and 2 courses at the same time if there is no problem in coping. Taking two courses at the same time is one way of reducing the time taken to complete basic level Korean at NEX.

NEX has traditionally based its teaching on in-house published textbook and Sogang University textbook. Sogang textbook has strong emphasis on conversational skill. Students are encouraged to speak in class. However, this is usually done at the expense of vocabulary and grammar. This partially explains why NEX students usually find it difficult to pass KLPT even after completing level 6 course though on the other hand, they were known to perform well at speech contest. Things are expected to change next year with NEX's plan to switch to Kyunghee University textbook. But activity-based learning is likely to continue as this training method is what made courses at NEX interesting.

[Textbooks used by NEX for its Korean Language Programme. [Left] Basic Conversational Korean - an in-house published textbook for level 1-2. [Middle] Sogang's Student Book 1B for level 3-4. [Right] Sogang's Student Book 2A for level 5-6.]

Because NEX lessons are activity-based, one can expect to sing Korean songs, make Japchae, watch Korean movie, play Korean games, learn to wear Hanbok and debate in Korean all during lesson time. NEX is also associated to Sogang and Kyunghee University and as such NEX students can get up to 20% discount in course fee if they apply for Korean language courses in these two Korean universities. NEX, being the Singapore test centre for KLPT, allows students (not restricted to NEX students) to attain recognised certification for their language proficiency. Previously, NEX has also open Korean drama courses and organised short immersion programme for students to Korean universities. All these add up to an experience which I term the "Korean experience", something that is beyond just language learning. All the perks of studying at NEX come at a price. It cost about $18 per hour to study at NEX and NUS alumni get to enjoy 5% discount off the course fee.


SINGAPORE KOREAN SCHOOL

Address: 71, Bukit Tinggi Road, Singapore 289759 (shifted since Aug 2010)
Tel: (+65) 6741-0778

SKS is located at Lim Ah Woo Road off Guillemard Road near to City Plaza. It's nearest MRT station is Paya Lebar and it takes about 10 mins to walk from the station to get to the school. However, car park is free. Drivers can either park inside the school or along the roadside. SKS's location favours drivers more than MRT commuters though the walk between school and station in the evening is not that tiring either. Its "remoteness" has quite often been cited as a reason why people are not signing up for its Korean courses.

SKS provides primary school education for the Korean kids in the day. So one cannot expect the school to be fully conducive for adult learning. Some classrooms are quite small and the type of tables and chairs provided are meant more for kids than adults. The provision of evening Korean language courses at SKS is seemed more like a national duty by the school to promote the Korean language. Without profit being a major concern, it is possible for SKS to start a course with a minimum of 3 persons. Hence, long waiting time in between high-level courses is less likely to happen.

Similarly in SKS, each Korean language course last for 10 weeks. Lesson is conducted twice a week, always on Tuesday and Thursday, and last for 2 hours from 7pm to 9pm. In total, there are 40 lesson hours every semester. SKS's first four level courses (E1,E2,E3 and I1) are equivalent to the basic level in Korea. Again to provide some perspective, in SKS, student spends 160 hours over 4 semesters (1 year) to complete basic level. As compared to NEX, there is more learning hours and learning is also at faster pace. But when compared to what student is learning in Korea, it still seems highly inadequate.

[Table 2: This table compares the lesson hours and period taken to complete basic level Korean language at a typical Korean institution, NEX and SKS. * One semester for NEX's Intermediate course is 12 weeks while it is 10 weeks for the rest. [Edit] Since this post was written, a full NEX intermediate level has been lengthened to 160 lesson hours, spread over 64 weeks over 4 semesters (more than a year).]

In SKS, all courses have the same start-date and end-date. The cycle is as such: after one semester (10 weeks) of lessons, there will be about 2-3 weeks break before the next semester starts. Since lessons are always conducted on Tuesday and Thursday for all courses, it is not possible for a person to take two different courses at the same time even if he or she can cope. What SKS lacks in flexibility, it makes up for its regularity.

SKS is currently adopting Kyunghee textbooks for all its courses. Kyunghee textbook has equal emphasis on various aspects of the Korean language but the downside is that time allocated for speaking is rather limited and speaking is usually what most foreigners are weak in. When compared to NEX, SKS's lesson delivery method is quite conventional. Lesson is generally taught by explaining what is in the textbook and workbook.

[Two of the four Kyunghee textbooks used by SKS for its Korean Language Programme. [Left] Exploring Korean Intermediate 1 for Intermediate 2 and Advanced 1 level. [Right] Exploring Korean Intermediate 2 for Advanced 2 level.]

Learning in SKS is mostly confined to textbook and workbook although the school has since make it a point to organise a Korean cultural event on the last lesson of every semester. But compared to NEX, there is more of Korean language learning than "Korean experience". Though there may be less activities, students in SKS tend to spend more time in learning and hence they are more capable of passing language proficiency test like TOPIK. SKS, being Singapore test centre for TOPIK, also provides TOPIK preparation courses for its students. With everything added up, it only cost about $12.80 per hour to study at SKS.


FINAL WORDS

I am not really into saying which institution is better. I am more interested in putting things into proper prospective. If I can go back in time I might just take up courses at SKS and NEX at the same time. I see them as complementing rather than competing. Even with such combination, the quality of Korean learning in Singapore will still not match those courses in Korea. Whatever the option may be, I believe how much I can learn will still depend a lot on my effort. It may not matter where I study, if I not going to put in effort to do homework or prepare for lesson. NEX is the cradle of my Korean language study and SKS is the place where I elevate my Korean proficiency to intermediate level. Frankly, I like studying in both places.