Korea Study Tour: TTMIK

My Korean language teacher, who knows about my love for Korean culture and my lack of travel opportunities despite being a senior journalist+photojournalist, invited me for a Study Tour she co-organised.

A group of Korean language students from Malaysia embarked on a one-week study tour to the country known as the Land of the morning calm.

The study tour was organised by KLH, Talk to Me in Korean (TTMIK) and a guest house.

Classes were at the You Are Here Cafe situated in Hongdae and students stayed at the guest house in Jongno-gu Seoul.

After a bus ride, two line transfers via the subway during the hectic morning rush hour, and a short walk, the cafe was surely a welcome sight.

Thankfully the chilly 10°C weather made our walk to the cafe a pleasant one.

The cafe is operated by TTMIK (www.talktomeinkorean.com) and Eat Your Kimchi (www.eatyourkimchi.com), two popular names on Youtube among those who want to learn Korean.

According to TTMIK founder Sun Hyunwoo, TTMIK gets half a million visitors to their site every month.

TTMIK offers 1,200 free lessons and audio/ video programmes via its website and has also published 20 books.

“According to our Facebook statistics, Malaysians who subscribe to our Facebook page number around 13,000.

“Many people travel to Korea, be it for studies or travelling,” he said.

Classes were conducted by Hyunwoo and another TTMIK teacher Sun Kyung-hwa while teacher Jin Seokjin was in charge of two excursions.

The enthusiastic teachers used anecdotes, flash cards and other interesting methods to “spice up” the classes. The interactive classes and engaging teachers made learning fun.

The teachers were rather popular thanks to their Youtube videos, and there were a few people who dropped by the cafe to take photos with them.

Speaking of starstruck, some students went crazy when Simon of Eat Your Kimchi fame popped in the class to look for a cable as they were filming their live chats at the first floor of the cafe.

There were also language exchange sessions held twice a week at the cafe.

“Previously, the sessions were held at various cafes. Now we can have meet-ups and classes at a place we can call our own,” Hyunwoo said.

Aside from classes, there were other activities such as a gayageum (Korean zither) performance arranged by Jin to enhance the students’ cultural experience in Korea.

TTMIK also arranged for a tour guide to take students to visit various tourist attractions including palaces in Seoul.

“It’s not only about learning the language but experiencing culture, “ Hyunwoo said.

Apart from the outings organised by TTMIK, there were other activities organised by the guest house but without a confirmed itinerary, students were surprised by “sudden activities”.

For instance, they were unexpectedly asked to attend a craft-making session just when classes were about to end.