Korean Course Outline

The Cactus Course Outlines provide a learning framework for the Cactus Foreign Language Evening Courses. They are designed to provide you with a good idea of what you might cover over a 10-week period, and include typical themes, grammar and vocabulary fields. They are flexible rather than prescriptive, in that our teachers may decide to adapt their learning plans to the specific level, aims and interests of their classes. Use the tabs below to view the relevant Korean course outline for your level. If you want to cover the same course outline in a shorter period of time, we also offer One-Week Online Courses and 5-week Courses.

Beginner 1

Topics & Vocabulary
  • Introductions to Hangul and Sound Changes
  • Introducing yourself: greetings – saying “Hello”, and “Goodbye”
  • Likes & dislikes
  • Simple Sentences (Adverbs, Plural, Nouns, Articles)
  • Wanting and not wanting
  • Asking Questions
Grammar
  • To be
  • Present – simple simple/continuous
  • Particle and very stem
  • Prepositions
  • Topic markers
  • Subject markers
  • But and however
  • Plurals
  • Articles
  • Word order – sentence, question
Cultural Content
  • Everyday Korean Culture
  • Everyday speaking and polite forms of speech
  • Levels of formality and body language
Skills Work
  • Focus on speaking/active practice
  • Hangul / Writing / Reading
  • Variety of listening activities
  • Pronunciation – key sounds

Beginner 2

Topics & Vocabulary
  • Asking questions about individual people and things
  • Talking about daily activities and socialising
  • Describing people and things
  • Colours
  • Numbers
Grammar
  • Subject markers
  • Topic markers
  • Possessive markers
  • Word order and sentence structure
  • Conjugating descriptive verbs
  • Making verbs negative
  • Verbs as adjectives
  • Avoiding repetition
  • Because +
  • Adverbs
Cultural Content
  • Everyday Korean Culture
  • Everyday speaking and levels of formality
  • Cultural points that relate specifically to the topics of the level
Skills Work
  • Focus on speaking/active practice
  • Hangul / Writing / Reading
  • Variety of listening activities
  • Pronunciation – key sounds

Beginner 3

Topics & Vocabulary
  • Hobbies
  • Telling the time/days of the week/months of the year
  • Making plans and scheduling
  • Shopping
  • Family and relationships
  • Talking about the past
Grammar
  • Subject markers
  • Topic markers
  • Object markers
  • Using ‘tell me about…’
  • Using ‘please…’
  • Future forms
  • Past forms
  • Pronouns
  • Formal and informal Korean
Cultural Content
  • Everyday Korean Culture
  • Everyday speaking and levels of formality
  • Cultural points that relate specifically to the topics of the level
Skills Work
  • Focus on speaking/active practice
  • Hangul / Writing / Reading
  • Variety of listening activities
  • Pronunciation – key sounds

Elementary 1

Topics & Vocabulary
  • Age and Birthdays
  • Public transport
  • Music in Korea (and K-pop)
  • Organising parties and events
  • Apologising
Grammar
  • Noun-modifying form
  • Honorific expressions
  • The clausal connective
  • Sentence endings
  • The progressive form
  • Expressing desire and opinion
Cultural Content
  • Working out someone’s real age
  • Etiquette when travelling
  • The Korean Wave
Skills Work
  • Focus on speaking/active practice
  • Hangul / Writing / Reading
  • Variety of listening activities
  • Pronunciation – key sounds

Elementary 2

Topics & Vocabulary
  • Extended family
  • Describing people
  • Going to the doctors
  • Taking a taxi
  • Communication: emails, phone calls, messages
Grammar
  • Sentence endings
  • The clausal connective (sequential)
  • Irregular predicates
  • Negative commands
  • Expressing obligation or necessity
Cultural content
  • The family and traditions
  • Religions in Korea
  • The Hell Train (subway in Seoul)
Skills Work
  • Focus on speaking/active practice
  • Hangul / Writing / Reading
  • Variety of listening activities
  • Pronunciation – key sounds

Elementary 3

Topics & Vocabulary
  • Making purchases
  • Making suggestions
  • Describing food and tastes
  • Describing feelings
  • Talking about activities
Grammar
  • Can/cannot
  • Compound verbs
  • While -ing
  • The nominalizer
  • Negation
  • The conditional
  • The comparative
  • Expressing frequency
Cultural Content
  • Insa-dong
  • Food culture
  • Popular sports in Korea
Skills Work
  • Focus on speaking/active practice
  • Hangul / Writing / Reading
  • Variety of listening activities
  • Pronunciation – key sounds

Intermediate 1

Topics & Vocabulary
  • Talking about weathers in Korea and four seasons
  • Clothing and fashion
  • Making plans
  • Shopping
  • Describing physical appearance
  • Trip to Korea
  • Taking about vacation and summer jobs
Grammar
  • Change of state: 어/아지다 ‘ become, get to be’
  • Sentence ending :  – 잖아요 ‘ You know,…’
  • Noun-modifying form : -던 (retrospective)
  • Indicating possibility and capability
  • Expressions of permissions and prohibitions
  • – (으)ㄴ/는/(으)ㄹ 것 같다It seems/looks like
  • -게 되다 : change or turn of events
  • Doubling of – 었-: – 었였/-았었-/-ㅆ었-
  • Describing past events
Cultural Content
  • The use of the lunar and solar calendars
  • The Korean life pertaining to clothes
  • The ancient capital of the Silla Kingdom
  • Shopping culture in Korea
Skills Work
  • Focus on speaking practice inc. situational exercises & interaction
  • Pronunciation
  • Writing, Reading
  • Variety of listening activities

Intermediate 2

Topics & Vocabulary
  • Lifestyle in Korea
  • Giving a warning and seeking advice
  • Searching for housing
  • Describing buildings and interiors
  • Giving compliments and responding to compliments
  • Using public transportation
  • Asking for and giving directions
  • Making telephone calls
  • Talking about food and making a shopping list
  • Expressing hesitation
Grammar
  • – (으)려면 ‘if…intends to do’
  • – 어야/이야지요 ‘definitely/indeed/surely should/ought to/have to.
  • The intimate speech style -어/아
  • -(으)ㄴ지 얼마나 됐어요? How long it has been since …?
  • Transference of an action/state to another
  • The use of the plain style in speaking
  • V.S – 기로 하다 ‘plan to/decide to’
  • Indirect quotation : – 다고 하다, -(으/느0냐고 하다, -(으)라고 하다, – 자고 하다
  • 아무리 – 어도/아도 ‘no matter how…’
  • -어/아 보이다 ‘someone/something appears…/ looks…’
  • Passive verbs
  • -는 데(에) ‘in/for- ing…’
Cultural Content
  • Popular tourist sites in Seoul
  • Famous mountains
  • Traditional vs modern house
  • Traditional market
  • Food culture and recipes
Skills Work
  • Lots of speaking/active practice
  • Lots of listening
  • Writing personal letters and journal
  • Pronunciation

Intermediate 3

Topics & Vocabulary
  • Organising a party
  • Writing invitations and thank you notes
  • Expressing regrets
  • Beauty salons and barbershops
  • Describing hairstyles and hair fashions
  • Commenting on someone’s appearance
  • Taking about hobbies and leisure activities
  • Taking about stressful events
  • Reporting one’s past experience
Grammar
  • Past times
  • The indirect questions: – 지?
  • – (으)ㄹ테니까 ‘As (I) intended/expect’
  • – 느라고’as a result of/while/because of – ing’
  • 하다Versus 되다
  • -게 되다 ‘Make someone/something..’
  • Causative – 이/-히/리/기/우
  • Expressing change in momentum: – 었/았다(가)
  • Expressing speaker’s past experience: – 더라고(요)
Cultural Content
  • Birthday in Korea: Solar and lunar month
  • Beauty salons
  • Popular hobbies / leisure activities
  • Korean traditional sports
  • School life
  • Popular Holiday destination in Korea
Skills Work
  • Lots of speaking/active practice
  • Writing invitations, creating ads
  • Pronunciation / intonation
  • Lots of listening

Upper Intermediate Lower

Topics & Vocabulary
  • National holidays in Korea
  • Making suggestions and arranging schedules
  • Hospitals and drugstores
  • Describing illnesses and injuries
  • Describing a car accident
  • Cultural differences
  • Jobs and goals
Grammar
  • V.S. – 보다 /A.S._ – (으)ㄴ가 보다 ‘ It seems/ I guess’
  • – 기는… – 다/하다 ‘ do…., but’
  • Expressing hearsay : -대요/ (이)래요
  • N – (이)라면 ‘if it were/is’
  • A.S – (으) ㄴ가요? / V.S.-나요? ‘Is it ( the case) , like …?
  •  Expressing regrets : – (으)ㄹ 걸 (그랬어요)
  • Expressing new discovery : -군요/구나
  • Indefinite pronouns –(이)둔지 ‘ any…’
  • -(으) ㄴ/는데요 ‘ despite the fact that’
  • –  (으)ㄹ 뻔하다 ‘ almost happened’
  • – 었/았더니 ‘ I did…and then…’
  • Confirming information: – 다면서/라면서?
  • – 었/았으면 하다 ‘wish…. – ed
Cultural Content
  • Talking about national holidays
  • Korean traditional food
  • Superstitions and cultural difference
  • School system in Korea
  • Popular jobs
Skills Work
  • Lots of speaking/active practice
  • Reading newspaper articles and ads
  • Pronunciation / intonation
  • Lots of listening

Upper Intermediate Higher

Topics & Vocabulary
  • Popular occupations for Koreans
  • Free time and quality of life
  • Four seasons and hobbies
  • Popular music genres and K pop stars
  • Anniversaries and public holidays
  • Transport systems and road signs
  • Shopping and expressing opinions
Grammar
  • Review of previous sessions
  • 이/가 되다- 기
  • 할 거에요( 할 꺼에요)
  • -겠, (으) ㄹ 까요?
  • 는/(으)ㄴ/(으)ㄹ, 처럼
  • -다가, -거든요
  • (이)라서,-이/어 주다/드리다
  • A하고 B 중에서, (이)라면
  • 반말 (아/야), (아/어) (-자), ((이)야)
  • Honorific / non-honorific alterations
Cultural Content
  • Work-life balance in Korea
  • Seasonal hobbies and popular holiday destinations in Korea
  • K Pop and K Drama
  • Gifts and cultural etiquette
  • Social etiquette for elderly people
  • Korean Speech levels vs politeness
Skills Work
  • Lots of speaking
  • Honorifics / non- honorifics speech
  • Clear pronunciation / intonation
  • Lots of writing practice

Understanding Language Levels

If you are taking a language course with Cactus you can find out more about our language levels and how you can track your progress using the ‘can do statements’ below. These statements outline the key things that you should be able to say and understand once you have completed each level. Can do statements are officially recognised as a set of performance-related scales describing what a learner is able to do in a foreign language, in accordance with the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) and the CEFR defined levels.

CEFR Levels

If you are taking a language course with Cactus you can find out more about our language levels and how you can track your progress using the ‘can do statements’. These statements outline the key things that you should be able to say and understand once you have completed each level. Can do statements are officially recognised as a set of performance-related scales describing what a learner is able to do in a foreign language, in accordance with the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) and the CEFR defined levels.

Beginner (A1)

  • You can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type
  • You can introduce yourself and others
  • You can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where you live, what you do, people you know and things you have
  • You can ask and give directions
  • You can order food and drink
  • You can make very basic travel and accommodation arrangements
  • You can have a basic conversation, provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.

Elementary (A2)

  • You can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas including basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography and employment
  • You can communicate in simple and routine tasks, requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters
  • You can describe, in simple terms, aspects of your background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need
  • You can comfortably ‘get by’ when visiting the country, albeit with some difficulty.

Intermediate (B1)

  • You can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.
  • You can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken
  • You can produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest
  • You can describe experiences and events
  • You can talk about dreams, hopes and ambitions
  • You can briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans
  • You could consider working in the country using the language (e.g. bar/counter work, waiting service in cafes or basic office work).

Upper Intermediate (B2)

  • You can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in your field of specialisation.
  • You can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible, without strain for either party.
  • You can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue, giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.
  • You can do business with speakers of the language in most run-of-the-mill situations.

Advanced (C1)

  • You can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning
  • You can express yourself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions
  • You can use the language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes
  • You can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organisational patterns, logical flow of text, and clear awareness of the audience.

Proficient (C2)

  • You can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read
  • You can summarise information from different spoken and written sources
  • You can reconstruct arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation
  • You can express yourself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely
  • You can differentiate finer shades of meaning, even in the most complex situations.

How to book with Cactus

Select language

Simply select which language you would like to learn and from the box below and click lets go.

Take level test

This is a quick test to help you find the right course for your current level of knowledge.

Book your course

Use our simple online booking system to select your course.

Take the test