■Preface

Chapter 1.
What is a sijo?
1.
The concept of sijo
2.
The form of sijo
3.
Types of sijo

Chapter 2.
Longing for parents
When my ancestors were alive
The two most famous poets are Jo Hong-gam and Jo Sang-jo.

Chapter 3.
Friendship and service
One poem becomes three bodies with one motive
Two sijo and that old man

Chapter 4.
We help each other
One poem has been lost today too
The two farmers came and said,

Chapter 5.
Love for one's country
One poem, this body dies and dies
What about these two ancestors?

Chapter 6.
Passion for life
One poem is as high as Mount Tai.
Why did the two ancestors of the city of Sijo Cheongsan turn out to be

Chapter 7.
A fun life
One of the poems is in the house of Seonggwonnong beyond the ash
The two sijo mountains are dancing

Chapter 8.
Love for Im
One poem, pick a willow tree and break it
The long night of the second winter solstice

Chapter 9.
Longing for you
One poem, a young man at heart
When did the two ancestors of the poem come to pass?

Chapter 10.
Nature we live with
One poem was managed for ten years
Don't give me two straw mats

Chapter 11.
Nature I want to resemble
How many friends do I have in my poem?
What happened to the two flowers of the poem?

Chapter 12.
satire and humor
One poem, naked children
Two toads biting flies

Chapter 13.
Singing heart
Sijo Hana, my hometown, the southern sea
The sound of flowers blooming in spring

■ Model answer

This book was designed to help foreign learners naturally learn Korean language and culture while encountering sijo works that have long been loved by Koreans and engaging in various fun activities.
The significance of teaching Korean literature to foreigners lies not only in improving their language skills through literary works, but also in naturally understanding diverse aspects of Korean culture, including the thoughts, emotions, and lifestyles of Koreans reflected in the works.
In particular, sijo is a short, formal poem that has been refined over a long period of time, making it a great literary genre for learning about the wonderful expressions of the Korean language and the Korean culture contained within it.
Furthermore, sijo is a representative form of Korean literature that is still actively enjoyed to this day.


This book selects representative sijo works that embody Korean culture, presents them according to the learner's level and interests, and allows learners to engage in a variety of activities related to them.
It is designed to be the amount of material that intermediate and higher level learners can learn in one semester of university classes.
The structure and features of this book are as follows:


First, let's look at the first poem in Chapter 1.
Chapters 2 through 13 are divided into topics and arranged by chapter.
A total of 24 works are presented, with two representative works per theme.
Chapters 2 through 11 contain ancient Sijo in the form of plain Sijo, Chapter 12 contains extended private Sijo, and Chapter 13 contains modern Sijo, allowing learners to encounter a variety of works.
Each chapter consists of an introduction related to the topic, a presentation of the work (including a modern-language explanation), an explanation of the author and the work and a glossary, a check-up on understanding the work, learning important sentence patterns and vocabulary, activities related to the topic, and a reading of Korean culture.
In particular, in the ‘Thinking and Writing’ activity, learners were encouraged to write their own sijo poems based on their experiences and thoughts.

I sincerely hope that this book will serve as an essential textbook for Korean language classes that actively read and utilize sijo, Korea's unique literature.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to the director and staff of Korean Culture Publishing Co., Ltd., who provided great assistance in bringing this textbook to life.