Korean lessons

[Patrick]

Probably a pretty standard question for here . . . but, I just got in town and I'm looking around for some Korean lessons. Ideally mornings, three times a week. I checked out Ulsan U, but the registration for winter's coming up, like, tomorrow, and I don't even have my foreign registration card yet. I'm desperate desperate desperate to find a good tutor slash class.

Also, pee ess, Benchwarmers? This is a bar located where? I'm in Dong-Gu. Maybe two to three to four miles south of Hyundai Department store. I wish I could be more specific, but I got here Saturday night.

Also also, how many ex-pats, approximately, are here?

[Ulsan]

The hyundai cultural center in bangeojin does once a week korean class, also, check out our culture page, somewhere in there are links to online courses.
Foreigners? Lots. YOu are near the shipyards, there are more foreigners than you can count out there.
As for bars, teachers used to occasionally hang out at Nox right at Ilsan beach, but I haven't been there for a long time. There are lots of Engineer hang outs, best way to get oriented is go to the old compound club and chat with a few old guys.

[Rudder]

Sogang University have free online Korean lessons, from introductory to intermediate.

Check out this link: Sogang University

[Deelicious]

There are a couple of foreigner bars in Bangeojin (Dong-gu) - head to Ggotbawi to find Ballentines, Chez Nous and several others. They are geared for engineers, though, so the prices are a little higher. Ballentines has good food.

Benchwarmers is, in my humble opinion, THE bar to go to (especially for English teachers) as it comes complete with Troy and Hazel. It's not close to Dong-gu - it's in Old Downtown (about 15 000 by taxi), but well worth it to meet other teachers and to get into the foreign community. Troy and Hazel are both founts of knowledge about Ulsan and teaching in Korea. Also, the food in Bench is great.

Head to "Shinae, shigaetap"(the downtown clock circle tower). From there, walk away from the covered walking streets for one block. You'll be at a corner with a blue coffee shop called Lavazza. Turn left and walk another block. There's a Morning Mart on one corner, and a coffee shop with wooden interiors just opposite. Just beside the wooden coffee shop there's an alleyway. Head up the alley. Bench in on the 2nd floor of a building a little way up the alley. Don't you wish they had street names here?!

I hope that helps...

[JT]

I personally think that the Songang lessons are good. Most bookstores like the one on the 5 floor of young plaza have a decent starter selection of books on Korean. Stephen Revere has a great book series called "Survival Korean" I recommend that one because the dude who wrote is actually learned Korean in Korea, just like the rest of us! He is also one of the few "foreigners" that can actually speak the language fluently. Try the books and the website for awhile. The problem with most of the classes is that they teach very basic Korean and not much else. Sometimes it is so basic that it is not very practical.