Students work on their Korean comic strips on a table.

People study languages for a variety of reasons and come to the learning experience at different proficiency levels.

The 8-week session offers instruction at five different levels, from introductory through fifth-year Korean, and is designed to cover approximately one academic year of material. The program enrolls a diverse mix of undergraduates, graduate students, recent graduates, and professionals.

Curriculum

Classes normally meet four hours per day, five days per week, for a total of 160 contact hours. Daily work outside of class usually requires four to eight hours, and students are encouraged to spend four to five hours per week in co-curricular activities of their choice. Middlebury College awards four units of undergraduate academic credit for successful completion of the 8-week program. (One unit equals three semester hours of credit, so the four units are usually treated as equivalent to 12 credit hours.)

All courses in the 8-week program provide proficiency-oriented instruction in the integration of listening, reading, speaking, writing, and grammar, with an emphasis on contemporary Korean culture in its historical context. Classroom activities emphasize careful pronunciation. All language skill levels are determined on an advisory basis in accordance with the proficiency guidelines of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).

Levels

Placement at a specific level is determined by language proficiency. All students take a language assessment prior to the start of the program. The language assessment is not part of the application process. Read more about level placement.