Korean Culture Center NYC — Local services in New York

Note: I've recently taken Korean language classes at 3 different institutions: Hills Learning, the Korea Society, and the Korean Culture Center.

I honestly struggled with whether or not I should write a review of the KCC because the director is so kind and well-intentioned. However, without letting my personal feelings get in the way, I think there are a few concrete facts that you should know before committing several hundred dollars to a class here.

No one affiliated with the KCC has a background in education, and the extent of their teaching qualification is that they're Korean speakers. The classes don't follow current language learning pedagogy--while pretty much all recent research says language classes should be conducted in the target language, the grammar classes were 80% in English, and I couldn't tell you whether anyone in the class I took (level 6) could actually speak or understand any Korean.

The grammar class was an hour and a half long, and the first 45 minutes or so would be dedicated to the instructor just sharing her personal opinions about Korean news. It wasn't even a dialogue with the class, it was truly a soapbox speech each week.

The class time dedicated to "grammar" consisted of the instructor going through the textbook page by page. No additional instruction or information, and no dialogue (other than another student occasionally asking...

I am extremely happy with the progress I've made as a student at KCC. The Starter and Basic courses, taken with Conversation classes, have given me an excellent base to build on the skills I'll need to become proficient in the language. The instructors as KCC are the best part of the learning experience: besides their expert knowledge of Korean culture, they really care that every student achieves their personal language goals. Now that classes are held on-line due to social distancing restrictions, I've seen no loss of individual attention from the teaching staff, or in the great classroom interactions between students that makes KCC a fun and amazing place to come together as...

I’ve been taking courses at KCC since November 2019 after a trip to Korea and I’ve been loving it ever since! I originally was doing self-study, but then eventually realized that a classroom setting would be more beneficial to me. So far I’ve taken multiple of their Basic grammar courses and I recently started taking Intermediate courses. KCC has moved to online classes in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been helpful for health concerns even while adjusting to a different teaching platform. Between the cultural knowledge I’m gaining about Korea, and the close look at the Korean language/grammar, it’s been a valuable learning experience that I intend...