Today was the first day of class. Such a strange feeling especially since neither Hannah nor I ever expected to be going back to school. We arrived on campus about 7:45 and class starts at 8:10. It was a good thing that we arrived early too because it took almost the entire time to figure out where we were suppose to go. The schedule posted was fairly confusing and mostly in chinese. After some fear that Hannah was in the morning class and I was in the afternoon we finally figured out where we were suppose to go.
For me the first day was nice but still challenging we practiced introducing ourselves to the class with the help of the teacher and the board. hello my name is... I am an American... Then after going over some class information including common phrases she will use she had us move our chairs into 2 circles and practice a question. "Ni hao qing wen ni jiao shenme mingzi?" each student would say a word of the sentence and then point to another student, who ever it ended on would then have to answer. wo jiao Fei li. then she added that we would have to introduce ourselves and then introduce the student next to us. After that we had a 10 min break during which I found out that 2 of my class mates were also witnesses. Andy from the U.S. who was in the same congregation as Brother Lee. And Qing mei a sister from Japan. So nice to be among friends!
After the break we breifly went over some of the pronunciation and tones practicing in a circle again. We will be learning both Zhu Yin ㄅㄚ( BO PO MO FO) and Pin Yin. Then we will get to choose which one we will use. Hannah's experience in 201 was quite different I will let her explain...
Going in to it, I knew that with my foundation of Chinese I needed a challenge. It would be a waste if we came all the way to Taiwan and spent money on classes if it was at a lower level of what I could handle. But the classes here focus on learning traditional characters at the same time as learning the spoken language. Since I know very few simplified characters and virtually no traditional characters I was worried they might put me in level one.
Tim and Jamie encouraged me to try to get into at least level two. They also told me to ask to get a teacher called Hefenfen. I am told she is an excellent teacher, who really pushes her students.
I took a placement test, which tests your speaking, listening, and reading ability. They first have you do a written test (all characters, no pinyin!), then another test on the computer which you listen to the question and select the answer. Finally they took me to a room where a teacher interviewed me, so she could gauge my listening and speaking. Thankfully the interview went great. And before I could tell the teacher I wanted to try to do level two, and work hard on characters on my own to catch up, she suggested it. :) She said she felt that with my speaking and listening ability I should be able to handle level two, and that level one would be too easy. They told me you cant ask for a teacher, and that everyone is randomly assigned, but I ended up getting Hefenfen anyway!
On the first day she had us all introduce ourselves, and explain why were learning. I got to give a witness again, which was really nice because none of my classmates were at the orientation where we had witnessed. Almost everyone in my class had been enrolled in this Chinese program for the last quarter, and are way ahead of me. My teacher is extremely expressive and fiery. She speaks very quickly, and likes to embarrass her students. At one point in the class she told everyone in Chinese, "Hannah speaks well, but doesn’t know characters." Then later she said, “Since I have three new students they will have a listening test on Tuesday. If you do not do well, I will send you to level one." That really shocked me and my eyes must have been huge because Hefenfen turned to me and in her lightning fast Chinese called across the room, "Oh Hannah, you have such large, beautiful eyes." She really likes to toy with us! Also she announced that in addition to the test I have on Tuesday, we will also be tested on a list of Characters on Monday.
It was an interesting first day...
For me the first day was nice but still challenging we practiced introducing ourselves to the class with the help of the teacher and the board. hello my name is... I am an American... Then after going over some class information including common phrases she will use she had us move our chairs into 2 circles and practice a question. "Ni hao qing wen ni jiao shenme mingzi?" each student would say a word of the sentence and then point to another student, who ever it ended on would then have to answer. wo jiao Fei li. then she added that we would have to introduce ourselves and then introduce the student next to us. After that we had a 10 min break during which I found out that 2 of my class mates were also witnesses. Andy from the U.S. who was in the same congregation as Brother Lee. And Qing mei a sister from Japan. So nice to be among friends!
After the break we breifly went over some of the pronunciation and tones practicing in a circle again. We will be learning both Zhu Yin ㄅㄚ( BO PO MO FO) and Pin Yin. Then we will get to choose which one we will use. Hannah's experience in 201 was quite different I will let her explain...
Going in to it, I knew that with my foundation of Chinese I needed a challenge. It would be a waste if we came all the way to Taiwan and spent money on classes if it was at a lower level of what I could handle. But the classes here focus on learning traditional characters at the same time as learning the spoken language. Since I know very few simplified characters and virtually no traditional characters I was worried they might put me in level one.
Tim and Jamie encouraged me to try to get into at least level two. They also told me to ask to get a teacher called Hefenfen. I am told she is an excellent teacher, who really pushes her students.
I took a placement test, which tests your speaking, listening, and reading ability. They first have you do a written test (all characters, no pinyin!), then another test on the computer which you listen to the question and select the answer. Finally they took me to a room where a teacher interviewed me, so she could gauge my listening and speaking. Thankfully the interview went great. And before I could tell the teacher I wanted to try to do level two, and work hard on characters on my own to catch up, she suggested it. :) She said she felt that with my speaking and listening ability I should be able to handle level two, and that level one would be too easy. They told me you cant ask for a teacher, and that everyone is randomly assigned, but I ended up getting Hefenfen anyway!
On the first day she had us all introduce ourselves, and explain why were learning. I got to give a witness again, which was really nice because none of my classmates were at the orientation where we had witnessed. Almost everyone in my class had been enrolled in this Chinese program for the last quarter, and are way ahead of me. My teacher is extremely expressive and fiery. She speaks very quickly, and likes to embarrass her students. At one point in the class she told everyone in Chinese, "Hannah speaks well, but doesn’t know characters." Then later she said, “Since I have three new students they will have a listening test on Tuesday. If you do not do well, I will send you to level one." That really shocked me and my eyes must have been huge because Hefenfen turned to me and in her lightning fast Chinese called across the room, "Oh Hannah, you have such large, beautiful eyes." She really likes to toy with us! Also she announced that in addition to the test I have on Tuesday, we will also be tested on a list of Characters on Monday.
It was an interesting first day...
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