When working on any sort of language, regardless of what level, you need to be communicating with those around you. The modern language is not a creature to be feed alone. You have to be meshing with those around you who are also studying. Today I had a chinese exam around ten this morning. It went really well. We went through and did listening exercises where lao shi reads a dialog for us to answer questions. Next is a reading section, just going through being able to recognize characters; the whole test wasn't too bad. However, I got a really good leg up by hosting a study session with a few other students in my class. We met around 9 pm. I had no clue what to say to them, how to approach it. Really, we are all at the same level. I only took the lead because I feel comfortable guiding a session. I loved seeing my peers talking with each other, working through dialogs about a whole lot of nothing (buying clothes, exchanging shoes, handling directions). Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves immensely, that's what counts. We can stumble over the tones, forget what a character sounds like, but it is the experience of working together that truly matters. I think you can get as much tutoring and teacher assistance as you want, but it cannot compare with working in a relaxed environment with friends, or soon to be friends. Many of the people in the group (we had eight people at one point) rarely talked to each other before or after class. Hopefully there will be more of these, because I honestly took a lot from being able to chat with people. Who cares if we can only speak like children at this point?
I have been wondering if a class-wide "phone friend" program would be valuable. What do you think? You could have someone from within your class give you a call, and for ten maybe even fifteen minutes a day go over a few dialogs and ask some questions. I actually have a hard time asking questions : (. Sidebar- I have been trying to apply to different summer language programs; it is nerve-wracking sometimes! I should make a little guide to apply for schools : P
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Told to reinforce his learning, the would-be scholar goes out into the wilderness to claim a prize so vague in nature that he himself barely knows of its existence. He, while travelling along the dangerous paths, wields the strangest and most baffling weapon of them all: Language.
No comments:
Post a Comment