Autumn

This is part of a three-quarter sequence on the civilizations of China, Japan, and Korea or Viet Nam, with emphasis on major transformation in these cultures and societies from the Middle Ages to the present. Taking these courses in sequence is not required. This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.

Selected readings in pre-modern Chinese literature from the first millennium B.C.E. to the end of the imperial period. The course covers important works in topics ranging from philosophy, history and religion to poetry, fiction and drama. Specific content varies by instructor.

This content-based language course designed to meet the needs of high-advanced level students of Korean, including international/heritage language students who have studied in Korea up to the primary school levels. There are two main goals for the course. The first objective of the course is to foster speed, accuracy, and comprehension in advanced listening and reading of authentic contemporary texts as well as the refinement of writing skills in various styles. The second objective is for the students to acquire a deeper analytic knowledge of cultural and social issues in contemporary Korea. By examining various articles, TV shows, and films, we are going to discuss contemporary Korean culture, politics and society. The themes that will be dealt with in the class are “The Hell Chosŏn discourse and Korean youth culture” “Pain and Sympathy: South Korean Society after the Sewol Ferry Disaster” and “Korea as Multi-Ethnic Society.”

This course aims to help students build an advanced-level speaking, vocabulary, and communication skills needed for a variety of Korean business settings. Students will become familiar with Korean business language and culture through classroom activities and homework assignments based on authentic materials. Topics will include searching for job opportunities related to Korea, composing CVs, preparing for job interviews and presentations, discussing business cases, and introducing current issues related to Korean economy and society.

KORE 20401 is the first course in the third-year Korean sequence. Successful completion of the Second-Year Korean sequence or equivalent skills is required to enroll in this course. This course aims to enable learners to achieve a high intermediate level of speaking, listening, reading, writing, and grammar skills in Korean. Students will learn effective communication strategies by studying how to express worries, describe behavior and appearance, make guesses, and discuss experiences. They will also practice adjusting their speech based on their relationship with the listener. Additionally, this course aims help students understand various aspects of Korean culture and society. The instructor will primarily use Korean during class, and students are expected to use the target language as well. This course meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays for eighty minutes.

KORE 20100 is the first course in the second-year Korean sequence, designed for learners who have completed the First-Year Korean sequence or have prior knowledge of Korean language and culture. The course aims to build students’ language skills, with an emphasis on enhancing speaking ability, writing skills, and the use of more complex constructions. Classroom activities and assignments will be designed and conducted primarily to facilitate students' learning processes. Furthermore, the medium of instruction will be Korean, and students are expected to use the target language as much as possible throughout the course. Active participation is key to success in this course. This course meets Monday through Friday for fifty minutes.

KORE 10100 is the first segment of the first-year Korean sequence, designed to establish a strong foundation in modern Korean language and culture. Students will learn to  read, write, and type in Hangeul (the Korean writing system), while actively engaging in communication on diverse daily topics such as self, family, location, food, and activities. Through integrated listening, reading, speaking, and writing tasks, students will enhance their ability to navigate real-life scenarios using acquired vocabulary, grammar, and cultural knowledge. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to participate in cultural activities and events hosted by the University of Chicago Korean Program. This course meets Monday through Friday for fifty minutes.

The course is a systematic introduction to pre-modern and early-modern texts written in classical Japanese (bungo or kogo), the standard written language in Japan up to the beginning of the twentieth century. We will learn and absorb the fundamentals of classical Japanese grammar and engage with some of the core grammatical problematics of the language. Throughout the course students will gain a firm foundation in how the language is constructed, increase their comprehension of the language’s vocabulary, and will familiarize themselves with original texts in prose and poetry alike, including narrative fiction (monogatari), anecdotes (setsuwa), essays (zuihitsu), and traditional Japanese poems (waka). The goal is to acquire a firm foundation in the classical language and to be able to read pre-modern texts with the help of a dictionary, for the purpose of academic research.

This course is intended to improve Japanese reading, speaking, writing, and listening ability to the advanced low level as measured by the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Proficiency Guidelines. Weekly assignments require students to tackle modern Japanese texts of varying length and difficulty. Organized around a range of thought-provoking themes, reading assignments include academic theses, literary texts, and popular journalism. After each reading, students are encouraged to discuss the topic in class and are required to write their own thoughts on each reading along with a summary. The class meets for two eighty-minute sessions each week.

The goal is to help students learn to understand authentic written and spoken materials with reasonable ease and to solidify the grammar, vocabulary and kanji foundation built during the students’ study at Elementary and Intermediate Modern Japanese levels. Students will expand their four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) as well as the socio-cultural knowledge they need for communication, thereby easing their transition into Advanced Japanese. The class meets for three eighty-minute sessions each week.