Once Upon a Time in Korea - Korean Language Books: …

1 Once upon a time in Korea jOnce upon a time in KoreaAn Elementary ReaderWritten by In Ku Kim-Marshall jPrefaceThis textbook is to aid students learning Korean as a second Language to enhance their languageskills and a lso to develop an understanding of Korean culture. For many years, I taught Korean toAmerican students from kindergarten to 12th grade at The New Hope Academy, a private school inLandover Hills, Maryland. These students had neither been to Korea nor had any opportunities toencounter Korean culture. Therefore, I attempted to devise the most effective and exciting method toteach students the Language together with the culture. Consequently, I have written this book as a toolfor students with limited knowledge of Korean to begin their exploration of Korean culture. It isdesigned for students whose Language level is equiva lent to completing one year of an intensive Koreanlanguage in this book are Korean stories, legends, and folkta les, that I think are among the mostinteresting.

2 I have rewritten them to suit the studentsslevel of Korean , using simple sentence structuresand everyday vocabulary while preserving the origina l meaning. I have used the same simple sentencestructures and vocabulary repeatedly so that students can enhance their Language skills vocabulary list and the explanation of idioms a lso ma ke it easy for beginner level students tounderstand the stories. In comparison to other existing Korean or bilingua l reading texts, this book has the followingunique aspects: $PQZSJHIU CZ *O ,V ,JN .BSTIBMM"MM SJHIUT SFTFSWFE /P QBSU PG UIJT QVCMJDBUJPO NBZ CFSFQSPEVDFE PS USBOTNJUUFE JO BOZ GPSN PS BOZ NFBOT FMFDUSPOJD PS NFDIBOJDBM JODMVEJOH QIPUPDPQZJOH SFDPSEJOH PS CZ BOZ JOGPSNBUJPO TUPSBHF BOE SFUSJFWBMTZTUFN XJUIPVU QFSNJTTJPO PG UIF BVUIPS Once upon a time in Korea j1.

3 Sentence structures are very basic and everyday vocabulary is used repeatedly to a llow easylearning of the materia l. Other books that use complicated sentence structures and diff icultvocabulary result in students losing interest and incentive to read. When reading bilingua l texts,students natura lly concentrate on the English version, which overrides the purpose of learning. 2. At the end of each story is a list of vocabulary, verb tenses and stems, and the usage of idiomstranslated into English to enable fuller understanding of the sentences used in the Drills and exercises are not included because this book can be used in various ways to suit theuserss purpose of reading: for pleasure, materia l for composition or reading comprehension in classand so on. Even when used as a textbook in school, drills should be designed in accordance withthe level of each student using the book.

4 Therefore, each instructor should provide exercisesappropriate for the students. 4. The selected materia l is not only to help students improve their Language skills but also to allowthem to begin to understand Korean culture. Severa l of the twenty three stories in this book arebased on historica l Included in the back of the book is an appendix with the usage of irregular verbs and idioms tohelp students understand the tCultura l Notesuare a lso included to introduce Korean culture so that students can broaden theirovera ll understanding of Korea . IntroductionKorea is a resilient country that has undergone f ive thousand years of tumultuous history, duringwhich it suffered numerous invasions. Yet, it has never attacked another country. Because of such ahistory and the polite nature of the people rooted in its culture, Korea has been ca lled tThe land ofpoliteness and civilityuof the East.

5 The Korean Language and culture have been preserved and passeddown from generation to generation through legends, stories, myths, and folklore. When Koreanculture reached a high level of sophistication and development around the sixth and seventh centuries,much of it was transmitted to the neighboring islands of Japan. Unfortunately, this highly developedcivilization suffered a series of attacks through various foreign invasions. Consequently, many historica ldocuments were burned, destroyed, and in some cases stolen. Fortunately, tSam Guk Sa Gi uwritten byhistorian Kim Pu Shik in 1145, and tSam Guk You Sa,uwritten by a Buddhist monk, Il Yun, in 1281,remain intact as prominent records of Korean culture and idea l of the f irst Korean kingdom of Gojoseon (established by King Dan Gun in 2333) stillremains deeply rooted in Korean culture.

6 Gojoseon upheld the idea l of tHong Ik In Gan,umeaningtdevotion to the welfare of , throughout Koreass long history, the beliefs andreligions which Koreans adopted from foreign cultures, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism,have inf luenced its own culture, and these inf luences can be found in its legends, myths, and folklore. I have selected t wenty three stories from tSam Guk Sa Giuand tSam Guk You Sa,uwhich I considerto be the most interesting and ref lective of Korean traditiona l va lues. These stories are funny and How To Use This BookThis book can serve various purposes: to improve spea king, listening, reading, and writing skills, aswell as to better understand Korean culture. Following are some suggestions for using this book,especia lly in a classroom setting. 1. When the book is used for beginner level courses, a llow students to become familiar with thevocabulary before they start reading the text.

7 Have students read each new word aloud. Teachersmay choose to read only parts of the story and then have students read the other parts, employing arole play exercise (reading exercise).2. Have students read each paragraph and then discuss the content. Alternatively, teachers or parentsmay read a loud, pausing in bet ween paragraphs to ask students to repeat what happened in thestory. Then, students can read the whole story and summarize a loud what they just read (listeningand spea king exercise).3. Copy each page and cut the story into segments. Have students arrange the pieces and put the storyback in the correct order (reading comprehension). intriguing while conveying signif icant mora ls. The underlying messages in these stories are:punishment awaits greedy, jea lous and lazy people, and reward is given to kind and honest legends are also included in this collection of stories.

8 Among the twenty three stories, the one which ref lects Korean traditiona l va lues the best is tTheFilia l Daughter, Shim Cheonguis the virtuous daughter who sells herself to the crewof a merchant ship as a sacrif icia l offering to the sea so that she can help her blind father see the ship crews offer Shim Cheong to the sea, the Sea King is so impressed and moved by herpiety that he sends her back to the human world. Shim Cheong is then reunited with her father, whosevision is restored, and then marries the king of the human world. The centra l theme of this story istHyo,uwhich means f ilia l piety. Koreans have always taught their young ones about tHyouand theyoften use traditiona l ta les such as tShim Cheonguas educationa l materia ls to illustrate this idea l. I believe that the stories I have chosen for this book will serve as an idea l medium for students ofKorean Language to encounter Korean culture.

9 I hope that by reading this book, students will develop adeeper interest in Korean Language and culture, and begin to understand Korea better. 4. Tell only the f irst ha lf of the story to students and have them predict what will happen in thesecond ha lf (listening and spea king skills).5. Ask students to come up with a title after reading the whole story (reading comprehension).6. Have students read the entire story or ha lf of it, and then answer the questions posed by the teacher(listening and spea king skills).7. Have students change the ending of the story. Ha lf way through the story, the teacher may askstudents to f inish it using their own imagination or to create a different ending (writing skills).8. Act out the stories with role playing. Ask students to write a script and then play the parts (a ll fourskills of Language ).

10 9. When teaching the stories such as tSt upid On Da l and Princess Pyeong GanguortThe KingHas Donkeyss Ears,uwhich are based on actua l historic events, it is helpful to teach Korean historya long with the text so that students may obtain a broad cultura l education. In this way, studentswill be able to learn about the historica l background and the society on which the stories are upid On Da l and Princess Pyeong Ganguis set in Goguryeo during the reign of King Pyeong Gang (AD 559~590). tThe King Has Donkeyss Earsuis set in Silla during King Kyeong Soonssreign (AD 927_935). In addition to the stories, students can a lso study the Three KingdomPeriod, which consists of Goguryeo (BC 37_AD 668), Baekje (BC 18_AD 660), and Silla (BC57_AD 935) (interdisciplinary studies).10. Let students compare the stories with folkta les or legends of other cultures that they a lreadyknow.