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Permalink Reply by Steven S. Bammel on November 29, 2011 at 9:22am

Valentin - I took a semester of evening classes at Ewha many years ago. If I recall, it was MWF, but by the time I got home to Ansan, it was after 11pm and that was too much to keep up. If you're in Seoul though, you'll save on travel time. I would tend to think you'll get better quality at a university than a private institute, but I could be wrong. It may come down to which classes are being offered the closest to your home or office.

Permalink Reply by Valentin JANIAUT on November 30, 2011 at 3:39pm

Definitely the distance between the classroom and my office is a key factor in my choice since I do not want to waste more time in the public transportation. I really do not know how you could handle go to an evening class and then come back to Ansan. I am quite impressed.

Permalink Reply by Steven S. Bammel on November 30, 2011 at 4:12pm

I was in Seoul for work so at least I wasn't adding much to my already-excessive transportation time....

Permalink Reply by Philipp Grunwald on November 29, 2011 at 6:08pm

Considering that "Seoul Korean Language Academy" is (co-)publishing several (TOPIK) books, that are well laid-out (both visually and content-wise) and give that they're a bit more than a typical "hagwon" (which I have a negative image of), I would definitely consider them first, even though I personally don't have experience with them! For Ganada the same as above is true, but - as far as I know - while the SKLA actually comes from a teaching background and only published books later, for Ganada the opposite is true. Thus I'd be much more sceptical about Ganada !!

For Sogang University, I agree that they are the best, but I frankly didn't calculate the hourly rate for the evening courses (as I didn't have the need for one), it is indeed a bit disappointing to see that their rates get upped so much compared to the 200 h courses! Because those courses feature a fairly cheap rate of 4.000 - 6.000 KRW if I remember right. So they basically charge 70% of the price for 25% of the amount of hours, thus my only comment can be: Confront them with this and ask them how they justify this. (Maybe less students per class?) Or they subsidize the other classes with the evening classes. But then again with 10-13 students per class, they make 6-8만 원 / hour & class before admin fees and taxes already without subsidizing...

Permalink Reply by Valentin JANIAUT on November 30, 2011 at 3:44pm

Interesting. I also felt like SKLA and Ganada were quite similar to university and probably better than any typical Hagwon we can find easily from the ads in th newspaper.

 

The other problem for me with Sogang University is that it lacks a bit of flexibility. I am not sure to be able to keep up with 3 classes a week. I am pretty the explanation for the difference of price is just because people taking evening class can actually pay more (they are not anymore student, they have usually a work and so a salary).

 

I will let you know if I have some more feedbacks later.

Permalink Reply by Joe Engstrum on December 5, 2011 at 9:12pm

Hey Valentin. The SGC in Hannam/Itaewon starts classes in a month. They're free. TRhe teacher I have at the moment is great. And there's an evening class that might be at your level (or maybe just below?). Registration is next week. Here's the schedule:

Level	Date	Time	Level Description Register for this level if you…
Intensive Class	Mon to Thurs	8:50am~10:20am	Have never studied Korean before or at the most know only basic greetings and phrases
Absolute Beginner	Mon & Wed	2:10pm~ 3:40pm
Evening Lower Beginner	Mon & Wed	6:30pm~ 8:00pm	Can read Korean characters (Hangeul), know numbers up to ten, basic greetings, and some very basic grammar like the subject markers –이/가 and –은/는 and simple vocab like 집 and 학교
Lower Beginner	Mon & Wed	10:30am~12:00pm
Upper Beginner	Tue & Thu	10:30am~12:00pm	Have learned a few basic verbs and can conjugate them into “요” form, know how to form past tense, and know a few basic sentence patterns like –고 싶다
Pre-intermediate	Tue & Thu	2:10pm~ 3:40pm	Know how to use future tense, negative forms like –지 않다 and can use a few more sentence patterns like –으세요 & –아/어야 하다
Intermediate 1	Mon & Wed	12:30pm~ 2:00pm	Know how to use expressions like –을까요? and –아/어 봤어요, and how to form more complex patterns like comparisons using –보다 (더)
Intermediate 2	Tue & Thu	12:30pm~ 2:00pm	Have learned how to use 존댓말 such as 오셨다 and reported speech like –다고 하다, and know patterns like –아/어도 되다 and –기로 했다

Permalink Reply by Jamie Lee on December 14, 2011 at 8:13pm

You should also be able to find Korean 1:1 tutors who can speak some English.

I've heard that there are more and more Koreans who do this these days. Skype is a great method.

I haven't thought of doing it myself yet, but I am teaching English through Skype and do have a few evenings free if you are interested, let me know. For some student's I don't use Korean in class, that could be done for Korean if requested.

 

Also, I believe that this group at talktomeinKorean.com provides a 1:1 mentoring program that provides feedback on your Korean. I'm not sure if its focused on writing or speaking, but do know that it is not expensive.

http://www.youtube.com/user/talktomeinkorean

Permalink Reply by Steven S. Bammel on December 14, 2011 at 9:42pm

Very good information. The videos on your blog are nice, too! Thanks!