About Online Lessons
Online Lessons
Level 3: Intermediate Korean
Level 4: Advanced Korean
You can consider this website built around the 'freemium' model.
The first and second parts (Introduction & vocabulary / Grammar explanation) of all lessons are open for you to study if you register with us (it's free). In addition, the first three lessons are completely open for you to study.
If you enjoy the way our system works, consider becoming a paying member. It's five dollars a month with a subscription, and it opens up a practice page and "Korean Plus" page for each lesson, doubling the amount of material for you to learn.
Feel free to check out our sample lesson above, the levels underneath that, or go to our pricing page.
Below you can also find our methodology, and under that our basic study tips as well as a how-to guide for our various practice activities.
Methodology
The online lesson section was originally created as a resource for students of the KLIFF language institutes in Busan. Due to multiple requests from students who are unable to study at KLIFF, the website is being revamped to offer online lessons.
The basic format of each lesson is built around 4 days:
Particularly in the beginning (the beginner levels), These lessons are framed around the basic grammar and vocabulary you need to start communicating.
Day 3 is practice framed around the grammar presented the previous day: usually a reading, listening or conversation exercise.
Day 4 is a bonus day we're calling 'Korean Plus': It might be some extra vocabulary (slang, for example), or related grammar or even culture tips. In Level 1 (Beginner), a lot of it is focused on the grammar/words you need to start communicating.
When we gather enough interest, we hope to add a Day 5 live video lesson in which students will be able to practice the targeted vocabulary/grammar together with other learners, led by a KLIFF educator.
We've tried to include as many listening activities as possible: communicating through speaking/listening is a better sign of fluency during the early stages of language learning, in our opinion, so it's crucial to build those neural pathways early on.
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
*Note: you can quickly move between days in a lesson by clicking on the day you want to visit on the bottom of each lesson. The day you're currently on is in red.
Get your money's worth
Maximize the free lessons.
If you know nothing about the Korean language, you can check out the website a bunch before making a payment. Here's your path:
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Study the two days under the free sample lesson. They're the only two days that have the Romanized translation of Korean.
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Study the first two days of Level 0 (how to read Hangul)
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Register your email. Now you can study the rest of the alphabet! (No, we won't sell your email address, but we will send you ads and offers for KLIFF online. Maybe once a month.)
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You can study up through Day 2 of Lesson 4 before making a payment. By then, you know the alphabet, basic greetings and pleasantries, and a little grammar. That's worth buying us a cup of coffee, isn't it?
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If you set up payments through Paypal, you have 3 days before you make a payment. That means you can study the rest of Lesson 4.
After that, you can cancel your subscription if you don't feel it's worth it. Remember that even if you do so, you have access to all of the introductory pages and the grammar pages.
Happy studying!
Online Lesson Study Tips
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Tip 1: Study 30 minutes a day.
Many students want to 'shotgun' all the days in a lesson into one session. We don't recommend you do so. These lessons were built around the science of language learning: particularly for adults, limiting your focus to short times is more efficient. ( Google the 'Pomodoro technique' philosophy of intense focus for about 30 minutes.) Also, a lot of learning actually takes place when you sleep. So that means a little every day can be consolidated way better than a lot on one day. It's also easier to schedule a 30 minute study session than it is a longer one, and it's also easier to turn your focus on when you tell yourself "only 30 minutes."
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Tip 2: Use a computer.
First, in order to focus on something, you need to avoid distractions. If your phone is blowing up with notifications, each little beep or buzz or pop up is going to pull you out of your focus, right? Did you know many successful writers have to physically unplug their internet in order to get to work? Is that true? I know I read it somewhere ...
Anyway, this site uses a lot of embedded activities that are meant to be viewed on a PC. Viewing them on your phone will be a headache. Tablet? A little better.
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Tip 3: Ask questions! Answer others' questions, too! Send us comments!
Language learning is all about being social. We want this site to be a community of positive-minded and supportive learners. We will do our best to get to your questions as quickly as possible, too.
Also, let us know what you love/hate about these lessons. We take pride in our ability to adapt to students' needs.
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Tip 4: Review
I read somewhere that life is 80% maintenance. When you're looking at a new lesson also, about 80% of the information you take in should be stuff you already know. At the beginning of your learning, that's impossible, right? So you should go back and review the lessons often. Take it slowly, and fluency will come more easily.
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Tip 5: Know your way around the lessons, and how to use the puzzles / quizzes / activities.
The next section will be about the functionality of the lessons: what the various buttons do.
How to Use KLIFF Online Lessons
Firstly, these lessons are built around videos. Each 4-day lesson will have one, two or three videos. Remember that you can make these videos full screen by tapping on the [ ] icon on the bottom right of the video. That's important if you're watching on a mobile device.
On Day 1 of every lesson we introduce vocabulary. A great way to memorize vocab is through flashcards, so we include them on the same page. There are a few things to note about these cards.
First, you tap the card to view the other side, and you click the arrows under the card ( < > ) to cycle through the cards.
Remember that you can click on either the word or the speaker icon to hear the word pronounced. Utilize this a lot! It will help you memorize them. You can change the settings using the button on the top right. You can decide which side you see first (the English prompt or the Korean), and you can turn on and off the audio.
There are a few other ways to learn these words. On the bottom right, if you tap on 'choose a study mode,' you have different ways to study these words.
One more thing: if you click on 'View this study set' on the bottom left, you'll go to the page in Quizlet. You can then copy the set of words and create your own flashcards, as well. Quizlet is a great resource for language learners, and we can't recommend them enough. (No affiliation!)
As we mentioned in the methodology section, each lesson has 4 pages. They're meant to be studied on different days. You can click on the days on the menu at the bottom of every page. (Yes, we know this system is a little clunky. Right now, we don't have a way to make sub-sub pages, so this is our work-around.)
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
*Note: you can quickly move between days in a lesson by clicking on the day you want to visit on the bottom of each lesson. The day you're currently on is in red.
One of our favorite activities is basic matching. Any time you see a grid like the one below, know all those boxes are either images, words, or sometimes audio. Click or tap them to flip them over.
Pro-tip: If you want to play multiple times, check to see if there's a red 'play again' button underneath the matching activity. This is how to play again with a new set of words.
Next we have dictation. You tap the speaker button to hear the word / sentence. You tap the gauge button (to the right of the speaker button) to hear it slowly. Enter the word you hear, then hit the 'check' button.
Occasionally, you'll come across questions in spoiler form, as in the example below. To see the answer, just click or tap the red box.
What's the best website for learning Korean?
KLIFFonline.com
In quizzes such as the activity below, there's often more than one question. Look at the dots on the bottom: • •
You can click on those dots, or you can click on the arrow button on the bottom right - ⧁ - to progress to the next question.○
Finally, every now and then we have a little slide show for you. (This is one of the activities that's really poorly formatted for mobile devices.) Again, notice the number count at the bottom and the bar above it:
○ | ○ | ○ | ○
Click on those circles or the little triangle ▸ to move through the slides.
...and that's about all of the tips we can think of. If you have any questions, feel free to drop us a line in the box below. And if not, happy studying!