E-mail: slee47@nd.edu
Language: German
Location of Study: Munich, Germany
Program of Study: Carl Duisberg Training Center
Sponsors: Nanovic Institute for European Studies, the College of Arts and Letters, and the Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures
Blog URL: http://sites.nd.edu/sla2018/author/slee47/
A brief personal bio:
Hello! My name is Si On Lee, and I go by Zion. I come from Daegu, South Korea, and this is my sixth year studying in the U.S. I am a sophomore majoring in Program of Liberal Studies, with a supplementary major in German and a minor in Education, Schooling, and Society. I started learning German my freshman year. I participated in the Berlin Summer program last year and will study in Heidelberg in Spring 2019. This summer I will be in Munich for 5 weeks, and I am very excited to go back to Germany!
Why this summer language abroad opportunity is important to me:
The SLA Grant provides me a great opportunity to improve my German skills that would be instrumental to my academic and professional career. I started learning German my freshman year. Although I have improved a lot thanks to my last four classes, I feel as though I still need more exposure to German to attain a full mastery over the language to verbally produce my thoughts as clearly as I would in English. A complete immersion experience through Carl Duisberg classes and home-stay would improve my language skills and would also help me prepare for the study abroad program in Heidelberg in Spring 2019. Also, gaining more insight into the German culture would help pursue my other academic interests. As a PLS major and ESS minor, I am interested in the philosophy of education, and Germany provides a unique historical and cultural framework to study this topic, which could easily be incorporated in my senior thesis as well. Also, given my interest in education, I am thinking about either teaching or pursuing a graduate program in Germany as well. Hence, the SLA grant would help me pursue my academic and post-graduation interests further.
What I hope to achieve as a result of this summer study abroad experience:
With the SLA grant, I hope to improve my overall German skills – specifically my listening comprehension and speaking abilities. I hope that by the end of the program I would be able to carry a complex and intelligent conversation with a native speaker. I hope to be able to fully understand what other say and express myself clearly as I would in English. Also, I hope to gain more exposure to the German culture, particularly with regards to the German people’s attitudes toward current political and social issues. Home-stay experiences and participating in cultural events sponsored by Carl Duisberg programs would certainly help.
My specific learning goals for language and intercultural learning this summer: