Registration
is currently closed but is opening very soon
and will include some pretty cool FREE
gifts!
(and I'll email you when it's officially open)...
(and I'll email you when it's officially open)...
In the
meantime, here's
some info about the class. Simply click any one of the
questions just below to jump down to its answer...
|
“I
really
liked your Korean classes; it was the only time I studied Korean and
felt there
was a logic to it and a system
to the teaching. I
felt you could understand
English-speakers'
problems learning Korean.” – Melanie
Steyn, |
 |
| Almost 8 years
ago now,
I graduated university with a major in mathematics. I moved
west and spent a winter skiing and working part time in the Canadian
Rockies. The following summer, September of 2003 to be exact,
I moved here to Korea. When I came here,
like you, I had no prior experience in Korean.
But I was looking to
learn, but had a lot of trouble finding any decent resources - books or
classes - that explained things very clearly.
In the early part of my time here there were no classes offered in my city, and when one finally did open, it had the same problem a lot of the books had - it tended to teach everything in super formal Korean, which is fine, but really NOT the most useful Korean you can learn. At the time, I must admit, I found it pretty frustrating. But looking back on it, I'm glad it worked out that way 'cause through some admittedly hard trial and error, it allowed me to put things together myself and come up with a system for learning. After about 2 and a half years into my stay here, I was fairly conversational and had a lot of people - other teachers here - coming up to me with very similar questions, basically along the lines of...
After hearing that enough times over and over from different people, it hit me one night that maybe I should try teaching the classes. I really didn't know if I was good enough to or not, but I did know the fact that I went through exactly what they were going through and could definitely be of some help. So I put a message up on Sunchon Crowd - the online forum for expats in our city - and started asking around to see who might be interested, and got the ball rolling. And once the class had filled up (I think there were about 15 people in that original class) and it became real that I was actually going to teach Korean, I've gotta admit, I WAS SCARED!! But I was committed, and so we did it, and for the most part, I think it was a success. Not to sit here and blow my own horn, but it was good enough that those people encouraged other people to join, and except for a six-month gap in the middle, the course ran for the next two and a half years until a little over 2 years ago, when I moved to a neighbouring city, GwangYang. The advantage I'd say I have is that Koreans, although their hearts are in the right place and they really want to help, for the most part just grow up "knowing" their language, and don't really know the building blocks we need to get from nothing to making sense of it all. And that's where I come in...
|
How
much are the
classes?
| Let me answer
this by
giving a little background on the class and what people have been
paying. Above I mentioned how I wasn't really sure I was ready to start the classes when I did, and because of that, I went into them very cautiously. I didn't want to charge people too much and have them get upset and feel like they weren't getting their money's worth. So the original cost of the first in-class session was $20/month. Then, and this next step was completely due to what people from that original class told me I should be charging, I broke the class up into levels ('Level 1' was classes #1-12 and 'Level 2' was classes #13-24). There were two classes a week, so each level was 6 weeks long; those courses were $80 each. And they went on in the same fashion for the next two years, simply from people recommending other people to the classes. Then after moving to GwangYang, I started up another session. These were the classes that the videos for the online class were recorded in, and those students paid $100 per 6-week session. Now, I understand that there is a definite element missing in the online course, that being the actual face-to-face interaction and ability to practice together, so I've decided to drop the tuition cost way down to it's lowest price yet. The class is now, reminiscent of the very first in-class session, US $17/month. So immediately upon registering, you'll be charged $17. And then as long as you stay enrolled in the class, each month on the same date you'll get charged an additional $17. I personally feel this number is quite fair, however, if you don't, feel free to email me explaining why. I do consider your opinion important and would love to hear your thoughts. I also want you to be aware that you can cancel at any time, and once you do, you will NEVER be charged again. There is no "fine print" attached to this. I'm not out to "get" anyone. The only people I want enrolled in these classes are people who find them useful and so want to be enrolled in them.
It's been the case that a lot of people who end up joining the class really enjoy it and so end up telling their friends about it. Well I decided a while back that I think it's only fair that I give back to that person in some way. Now, this class being an online one, it doesn't really lend itself to me taking that person out for some dinner or drinks, or something I might normally do for a friend or someone in my area. So I decided to set up what's called an affiliate program, and how it works is this... Once you register, on the main class-access page, there'll be a link to a page showing exactly how to set all this up. But basically, you'll get a link, your very own personal "affiliate link", different from everyone else's. And if later, you find yourself telling a friend or someone about the class, if you send them through your "affiliate link" and they end up signing up for the classes, you'll actually get 33% of their monthly tuition fee sent to you, each and every month they stay in the class. So you'd only need to recommend the class 3 people potentially, and you'd be getting your tuition costs completely covered. And on top of that, the system is actually what's called a two-tier system, and what that means is that if a person you recommended signs up for the course, and then a person they recommend signs up to the course, you'll actually get 33% of that first person's tuition fee AND 17% of that second person's tuition fee as well. Not bad. Anyways, I don't want to bore you with all of that, but I did want to just let you know it's there, in case money is the thing stopping you from joining.
|
| There
are 24 video classes in total.
You have already signed
up to receive the first 4 for free,
so
after registering, you'll have immediate access to those classes, plus
class #5. Then, every five days (for as long as you stay in
the
course), you'll gain access to another class. So upon
registering, you'll have access to classes #1-5, then five days later
you'll gain access to class #6, then five days after that, you'll gain
access to class #7, and so on for as long as you stay enrolled in the
class. Also, it's worth mentioning that once you do gain access to a particular class, you'll be able to go back and study that class as many times as you'd like, again, as long as you remain enrolled in the class. And remember, as a bonus for joining this round, you're also getting all 24 download-and-printable lessons as well as mp3 audio-files for all 24 classes that you can download and use to improve your listening and pronunciation. Even if you signed up today and stopped tomorrow; those are yours to keep. |
You
can pay by either
Paypal or credit card. When you get to the registration page,
it'll have only one option - to pay through Clickbank (using a credit
card). Don't worry about that. Just input all the
necessary info. When you get the Clickbank payment page,
it'll look like this...
If you'd like to pay with your credit card, go ahead and input the necessary information on the left. But if you'd prefer to use your Paypal account, then notice in the picture above the red arrow pointing to the red box. If you'd like to pay through Paypal, then click that Paypal symbol and it will take your Paypal account.
The class is $17/month (US). So immediately upon registering, you'll be charged $17, and then as long as you stay enrolled in the class, on the same date each month you'll be charged an additional $17. Again, you can cancel at any time, and once you do, you will never be charged again. And if you never cancel the subscription, then you will be charged a maximum of 12 times - once each month (but there are only 24 classes, so it definitely should NOT take you that long!)
 |
If you'd like to pay with your credit card, go ahead and input the necessary information on the left. But if you'd prefer to use your Paypal account, then notice in the picture above the red arrow pointing to the red box. If you'd like to pay through Paypal, then click that Paypal symbol and it will take your Paypal account.
The class is $17/month (US). So immediately upon registering, you'll be charged $17, and then as long as you stay enrolled in the class, on the same date each month you'll be charged an additional $17. Again, you can cancel at any time, and once you do, you will never be charged again. And if you never cancel the subscription, then you will be charged a maximum of 12 times - once each month (but there are only 24 classes, so it definitely should NOT take you that long!)
|
“You are a great teacher! I
think your teaching
methodology works well. You always provided feedback whenever
needed. The
mini oral tests were great. I really
can't
think of anything else. It
was a great
class.” – Ramona
Pavilionis |
 |
What exactly do the classes cover?
Classes
#5-10 continue in
their attempt to get you more familiar with Korean and the way it works
(making questions out of basic verbs, using attachments, etc) by going
over the basic sentence in more detail using some more very common
things you'll say and hear, specifically...
- Class #7 - The negative form of the verb we've been learning (이다); this is the last class we will be using this verb
- Class #8 - an introduction to our next two EXTREMELY common verbs, 있다 and 없다. If you don't know these verbs yet, don't worry, you will, 'cause you will hear and use them ALL THE TIME!!
- Class #9 - asking and answering 'where' things are using prepositions of place
- Class #10 - we learn to how ask for things; ordering food and talking about specific amounts of things
- Class #11 - we learn a very common way to express 'to have' and is also when we get into our first tense change when we learn how to use the past tense (knowing this one thing will literally double the amount of Korean you can say)
- Classes #12 and 13 - over the next 2 classes we'll cover about 3 tenses - past, present continuous (one style of it anyways), and imperatives. These will also be reviewed over the remainder of all the classes as well.
Basically,
classes #1-12
are aimed at getting you "comfortable" or "familiar with" the way the
basic sentence works, and by that I mean reading and writing
comfortably, comfortable with asking and answering some of the most
common questions, and understanding some basic attachments and how to
use some of the most common verbs.
But most of all, it's preparing you for classes #12-24. This is the stuff that's really going to take your Korean to the next level by multiplying - not just adding on top of - the amount of stuff you can say.
But most of all, it's preparing you for classes #12-24. This is the stuff that's really going to take your Korean to the next level by multiplying - not just adding on top of - the amount of stuff you can say.
- Classes #12-18 cover what I call the 'nuts n' bolts' of Korean. This is where we start learning WAY MORE verbs and how they work (as well as the future tense), and really, is what a person MUST KNOW if he or she wants to take his or her Korean to the next level and be able to have a conversation.
- Classes #19-24 go over some more very useful, and a bit more complex sentence structures, and really exemplify exactly why the 'nuts n' bolts' are so important
It
is my belief that if a person truly applies him or herself to this
material, and is using it on a regular basis, then he or she can become
"conversational" in 3 months, and I guarantee that anything that he or
she learns in the future will be MUCH easier to comprehend once the
concepts in this class are understood.
 |
"I thought your classes were good. The area they helped me most in was being a better teacher. You gave me a better understanding of the Korean language and from that I was able to better understand and explain the mistakes that my students were making. I still use and think that the most useful thing you taught me was the money and time; anything with numbers. In general, Rob, you did an awesome job!" - Jessika Daley-Leavitt |
 |
“I really enjoyed your class, I found it extremely helpful. I think you understand and effectively teach the main points of survival Korean. I liked that we had a quiz at the beginning of each class and that you progressed the class quickly, which helped you build a solid foundation of basic Korean in the basic beginner class.” – Danielle Breaker |