Publishing the 'Hand-in-Hand Korean Language Class' series
preface

Part 1.
Novel reading class, why?

1.
Why do you read novels?
2.
Why do you read it like this?

Part 2.
How about a novel reading class?

Class Case 1
(It's so funny that I giggle and become a lifelong reader)
Read a Book and Make a Board Game - Yoon Ae-kyung

Class Case 2
(Everyone, slowly and together)
Reading Novels with Winged Questions - Choi In-young

Class Case 3
(broadened by questions and deepened by discussion)
Reading One Book, One Class by Homo Curious - An Su-jeong

Class Case 4
(where everyone becomes the main character)
Creating a Reading Play from a Short Story - Lee Jeong-mi

Class Case 5
(From Park Ji-won to Hwang Sun-won)
Reading One Author a Semester - Choi In-young

Class Case 6
(starting with a trivial question)
Reading Novels Deeply in Historical Context - Kim Ji-woon

Novel reading class, why?

By reading novels, we can encounter everything that exists or does not exist in the world.
Through stories, humans experience the lives of others, and in doing so, they establish themselves as social beings, rather than as individual beings.
We can grow into more mature beings through the process of empathizing with the characters in a novel, communicating with the world within the novel, gaining enlightenment, and internalizing it.
This also ties into the Korean language curriculum's achievement standard: "Develop an attitude of understanding others through literature and participating in community issues."

However, the reality of our novel education is that it is largely focused on reading novels and finding the correct answers to multiple-choice questions.
Multiple-choice questions distance students from the novel because finding the right answer requires distancing oneself from the novel and seeking an "objective answer" rather than internalizing it.
Novel reading classes that emphasize activity also have side effects.
When reading a novel leads to writing a clumsy book report without going through the internalization process, or when it is reduced to a tool for describing detailed abilities and special skills, the novel becomes 'someone else's story.'

Reading a novel is sometimes likened to a journey to an unfamiliar place or another era.
Just as with travel, reading novels can broaden our range of experiences.
This is connected to the Korean language achievement standard of 'appreciating works by understanding the social and cultural context reflected in the work.'
To truly appreciate a work, one must first understand the social and cultural context within which it is embedded. This process, in turn, builds background knowledge about various social and cultural contexts.
This has a great impact not only on literary appreciation but also on life.
If you can empathize with the tragedy of the Jeju April 3 Incident and the pain of the Jeju people after reading Nobel Prize-winning author Han Kang's "Not Farewell," you will not be able to dismiss articles about state violence and war happening all over the world as stories from other countries that have nothing to do with you.
That's why I read novels.

To read a novel as a novel and to reflect on one's own life through it, readers need time.
You should read a little more slowly and put yourself in the shoes of the main character in reading the novel.
This book presents six examples of novel classes that foster the ability to imagine, question, and communicate.
The classes include "Making Board Games" that combine play with learning; "Reading Novels with Winged Questions," "Reading One Book per Class," and "Making a Reading Play" that focus on intrinsic perspectives; "Reading One Author per Semester," which delves into authors; and "Reading Novels Deeply in Historical Context," which is based on reflective theory.
Through these classes, students can not only experience immersion in reading novels, but also experience the joy of reading, and grow further through colorful imagination and sharing thoughts with each other.


How about a novel reading class?

This book presents six examples of novel reading classes.
The core theme that runs through the class examples is ‘making novels novel-like.’
How can we read and enjoy novels as novels? How can we inspire students to immerse themselves in them? The answer lies in the three virtues: fun, interest, and meaning.
Fun corresponds to 'sensory pleasure felt from individual works', interest corresponds to 'cognitive awareness of the genre of novel', and meaning corresponds to 'reflection on the reader's life and the world'.
Teachers who want to teach novels should keep these three things in mind and teach novels 'fun, interesting, and meaningful'.
But this shouldn't become an obsession.
Fun, interest, and meaning are all equally important, but if I had to choose just one, it would be fun.
The following is interesting.
Because it's like a staircase, if there's no first floor, there can't be a second or third floor.
So, we should not ruin the fun of reading a novel by clumsily trying to emphasize its meaning.

Reading fiction is not a process of finding answers, but a process of discovering questions.
The six case studies introduced in this book are examples of such struggles.
Classes like board game creation, novel reading with winged questions, and reading play creation allow students to share their thoughts, expand their interpretations, and discover the joy of shared experiences.
Board games allow us to delve into the content and share it, and the process of asking questions and finding answers allows us to reflect on ourselves and the world.
Additionally, through reading drama, you can immerse yourself in the moment when sentences come alive and breathe in the classroom.
The process of deeply exploring an author's work, interpreting it from diverse perspectives, and connecting it to its historical context becomes a communicative experience that connects the past and the present.
Through this, students broaden their understanding of themselves and the world and experience the novel more richly.

A Guide to Korean Language Classes Where Teachers and Students Grow Together
Hand-in-Hand Korean Class Series

The starting point of this series was the 'high school credit system'.
At a time when teachers lacked awareness and preparedness for the high school credit system, I thought it would be helpful to have a teaching guide that could ease the burden of designing individual class programs and lesson plans.
The discussion that started there continued to the ‘essence of Korean language classes.’
The conclusion was that teachers need to have a proper understanding of the philosophy and meaning of their classes in order to set the right direction for their classes and develop specific methods.
The 'Hand-in-Hand Korean Class' series is a 'Korean language class guide' planned and created by Korean language teachers who hope for better Korean language education.
The books in this series are broadly divided into two parts, building on the preceding conclusions.
Part 1, “Why?”, explains the reason and meaning of the class from the perspective of a Korean language teacher.


The purpose is to motivate teachers by covering their concerns about classes, the reality of education today, and the expected effects of classes (students' language skills and contributions to their lives).
Part 2, "How?" presents a variety of classroom examples that can enrich students' lives.
Based on the teaching practices of Korean language teachers who have implemented fun and meaningful classes, classes where students and teachers grow together, classes that help students lead happier lives now and in the future, and classes that promote human maturity beyond textbooks and tests, you will be able to discover the path to "better Korean language education."


Five books have been published, starting with 『Short Story Writing Class』, 『START-UP Literacy Class』, 『Non-literature Class (to develop independent reading skills)』, 『Novel Reading Class (to encourage imagination and questions)』, and 『Autobiography Class with Picture Books』.
Going forward, we plan to consistently publish teaching guides that will assist Korean language teachers in designing their classes, including “Vocabulary Class,” “Grammar Class,” “Discussion Class,” “Fusion Class,” “Concept-Based Inquiry Class,” and “Korean Language Class Philosophy.”