A warm-up, and a rule with a time noun

The learners are foreign students studying Korean as a foreign language. The goal, as written, is that they should be able to use a time noun plus -dongan in everyday speech. The teacher begins by asking what they did over the weekend, and how they felt yesterday, for a day. After a similar answer, the teacher names the aim: today’s lesson is the grammar that was already in those questions, -dongan.

The rule is presented plainly. Dongan marks the time an action continues, and is used with a time noun — weekend, yesterday, a day. Those are called time nouns because they name a time. An example is shown on the board or on a screen: “For a year I learned many things at the Korean school.”

Written practice, then talk in pairs

Practice follows in several forms, from a prepared book or from worksheets the teacher has made: fill in the blank, correct the error, make a free sentence, complete a dialogue. The aim is that the pattern may settle into longer memory and be used in daily life. After written practice, teacher and students repeat oral exchanges with N-dongan. The teacher then asks several students, one by one, to put the same kind of question back to the teacher.

Students next work in pairs or groups of two or three, using the pattern with one another. About three teams are asked to come forward and hold a conversation in front of the class. The lesson closes with a reminder not to forget the pattern, and to use it in talk with friends and others, and with a summary sheet to take away. Those steps are left as a plan. No later official test scores are added, and no other grammar point is invented to fill a gap.

Sources

1. a lesson plan for foreign students learning Korean as a foreign language, teaching the ending -dongan for duration with a time noun, from a weekend warm-up through written and oral practice to a short performance in front of the class.

Last updated: 14 November 2026