Kimchi Mamas

Resources for Learning Korean

I have made various half-assed attempts to learn Korean in the past, but somehow my motivation always fizzled out. Then a few months ago, I realized my daughter was much more interested in learning Korean when I studied along with her. I haven't found a class nearby, although I hope to enroll in one when we move into L.A. this summer. In the meantime, I've learned hangeul, and I've been watching lots of Kdramas for listening comprehension practice.

There are so many free resources for learning Korean on the Internet right now. You can watch Kdramas with English subtitles at My Soju,  Vikii and Drama Fever.(Alas, most Kdramas aren't really suitable for children, although I did teach my daughter the 3 Bears song from Full House.) There's an amazing collection of vocabulary slideshows on Youtube produced by Korean Class 101. Here's one that teaches the colors:

This video helped me learn Korean phonics and pronunciation.

We've also used this series with my daughter. I recommend it, with a couple of caveats. 1) It's all in Korean, even the menu, and 2) it's a teeny bit annoying after a while. But it's well-designed and engaging for very young kids.

If you know of any other materials or Internet resources, I'd love to hear about them.

--Weigook Saram

March Photo Share!

It's finally warm enough in Chicago to shed our winter coats! Cadence is excited to have more time on the playground at school. I am currently on the hunt for a pair of sparkle-ly sneakers that will meet Cadence's approval so that she doesn't go the whole warm weather months in patent leather dress shoes. Now that we can actually consider wearing dresses without turtlenecks and jeans underneath, the Twirl Factor has come up numerous times. I think she will be requesting a mani-pedi any day now.

Me thinks she needs an introduction to The Paper Bag Princess and Princess Smartypants...

What's going on in your worlds? Please share links to any recent (or old) photos or the titles of your favorite children's books with strong female characters (princess or otherwise).

P.S. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

-Sarah-Ji, who is looking forward to wearing sandals in a couple weeks in NOLA

SoCal Meet-up 2.0

Kimchi Mama Mary will be in town next weekend, so let's show her some good ol' southern hospitality!  :)

Please join us for lunch/tea/coffee next week on Sunday, March 21! 

Irae Tea House
9618 Garden Grove Blvd.
Garden Grove, CA 92844
1:00 PM

I've heard some awesome things about this place...apparently it really looks and feels like the coffee houses in Korea, and you feel like something dramatic is going to happen once you step inside, like your doe-eyed 20-year-old boyfriend is going to sit you down and tell you he's really your brother.

As always, you can RSVP below or join our Google Group to get the latest details, set up a possible carpool, or exchange cellphone numbers.

--Julie

Open Thread Thursday

Spring?  Ides of March . . . St. Patrick's Day . . . it's Open Thread Thursday.

What's on YOUR mind?

--The Kimchi Mamas

Processing

Ever since I had my baby five months ago, my head's been one big muddle.  The adorable little guy fills me in a way I didn't know was possible and brings out a degree of love and devotion I didn't know I was capable of having.  At the same time, he arrived with a jolt that seemed to knock off balance various delicate pieces of my life that I thought I had put into place over the years.  

Since his arrival, I've been trying to unmuddle myself.  To work through the various reactions I've been having and try to sort them out.  The reactions have ranged from deep feelings of contentment and cloying affection to unshakable anxiety.  Some days have been better than others.  On some days, like today, I feel like I've emerged from that cloud and have happily moved on.  On other days, I'm convinced it's just the hormones.  But when, all of a sudden, I find myself emotional and overwhelmed, with my little brain feeling like it's ready to burst from a slew of endlessly trivial demands, I find myself squeezing my hands against my skull, as if to keep it contained.  Other times, I feel the urge to bang my head, as if to knock out some of the excess junk that clutters the limited space up above.  But then I return to my placid state when all seems perfectly fine, and I wonder what the hell was my problem.

Open Thread Thursday

It's Open Thread Thursday. What's on your mind?

Love at First Sight

Love at first sight... is what I felt the moment I laid eyes on Kim Yu-na (김연아).

 

Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Mesmerized was what I was... during both of her performances... I think even my 3 year old son was crushing on her.

Hands down, she was the highlight of the 2010 Winter Olympics for me. Way to go Yu-na! 

This Kimchi mama (+ the rest of the world) loves you.  

You make me a little more proud to be Korean and I sure hope that all of your endorsements (she's the highest paid in endorsements among all celebrities in South Korea) help close the largest gender income gap in the developed world.  (Thank you Hyon Bin for the heads up about the great article!)

- Mary is a little sad that the Olympics are over and still a little pissed about all of South Korea's missed metal opportunities in short track. *sigh*

Mother Tongue?

I'm about to make the jump in to being the parent of a kindergartner.  Gulp.

My partner and I are trying to decide what school will be best for her.  Our local district-assigned school teaches all the kids Spanish, starting in kindergarten, through 5th grade.  There is a nearby school, that we could try to petition to get our daughter, T, in to, that has a similar program that teaches all the kids Mandarin.

Part of me would really like to send T to the neighborhood school - where most of the kids will live closeby and there is a tight-knit school-based community.  But, another part of me thinks that it's an amazing opportunity to have T learn Mandarin in school, with all of her classmates.  Unfortunately, Mandarin isn't really her mother-tongue.  It's closer than Spanish, but my grandparents speak Cantonese, and her dad's parents speak Korean.

I don't really know how to weigh this all.  There's no way to guarentee that T could go to the school with the Mandarin program.  Would she benefit from this?  More than Spanish?  Would it be more beneficial overall to go to the neighborhood school?  There are a bunch of other complicating factors... so I feel a little overwhelmed.  I know that at the end of the day, T will have a good education.  But, still, I worry about these kinds of decisions, and what it will mean for T in the big picture.

How are you going about exposing your kids to other languages?

~ eliaday, who is more fluent in French than Chinese and oddly enough gets them confused in her head.