Emotional Identification with Dr. Jang Cho
Recently, it seems like staying home with Little Guy presents a new challenge each day. It felt like as soon as we blew out his two-year-old birthday candles, his emotions and expression of them came in like a whirlwind.
I’m definitely a “reader and researcher” and have had a pile of books about raising children since day 1 of pregnancy. But, personally, I feel like an emotional mess. So, navigating that with Little Guy has been extra tricky! Not to mention, how do I bring that over to Korean?! Just like before, I realized if I am not alone in this. So many of you have messaged asking if I could share Korean phrases for dealing with tantrums and difficult conflicts.
So, I decided to reach out to the incredible Dr. Jang Cho of the Korean American Parenting Podcast to see what advice and insight she could share.
Dr. Cho says, “In toddlers and young children, emotion identification is the first step in life long education of social emotional learning. In order for children to learn how to express their feelings appropriately, they need to learn what each feeling feels like both physically and emotionally. If an emotion cannot be correctly identified, how could he/she know how to express that particular emotion, let alone know how to react to that specific emotion?”
We can also help them understand how each emotion feels physically. You can use these vocabulary words and discuss these topics with your little one while you do the coloring pages and activity sheet. You can name the emotion of the child in the drawing and see if your child will repeat it or recognize it.
Emotion Vocabulary
| Sad 슬퍼요 seul-peo-yo | You seem sad. 슬퍼보이네 seul-peo-bo-i-ne |
| Disappointed, Frustrated 실망했어요, 답답해요 sil-mang-hae-sseo-yo, dab-dab-hae-yo | Are you feeling frustrated? ㅇㅇ 가 잘 안되서 답답해? ㅇㅇ ga jal an-dwe-seo dab dab hae? |
| Happy 행복해요 haeng-bok-hae-yo | |
| Excited 신나요 shin-na-yo | |
| Angry 화나요 hwa-na-yo | You must be feeling angry. ㅇㅇ 이 화났나보다 ㅇㅇ i hwa-nat-na-bo-da |
Download the Activity Pages Here
Angry / Sad / Happy / Excited / Frustrated
Working with our emotions is tough work. Doing it in a second language is something else. I hope this helps! A special thank you to Dr. Cho of the Korean American Parenting Podcast. Be sure to check out the incredible work she is doing with Jerry Won on their show. They tap into an amazing and inspiring community in every episode. (I even had the honor to be part of Episode 8!)
Please feel free to share any questions or comments about exploring emotions in Korean. Thanks for reading!