The topics we’ve covered so far range from the social harms stemming from cell phone overuse to the right of migrant children to obtain an education. The order seems rather arbitrary, but the authors manage to creatively sprinkle very useful vocabulary and sentence structures throughout the text. I’m hoping we will cover more controversial (and thus more substantial) topics later on, but I’m not holding my breath. At Yale we broached issues of human rights and Taiwan, and thus there was the opportunity for some sort of discussion beyond the author’s opinion, but I don’t know if that will happen here.
CLASSES
8-9 am: The first block of classes is called 大课. In fourth year, because there are only nine students, we only have one大课, but I hear in third year there are maybe 7 or 8? Anyways, during this time all the students gather in one room and the teacher reviews the grammar and vocab for last night’s assigned chapter. I am really lucky—I have Chen 老师 from Yale, and she’s fantastic. 大班is kind of stressful because you cannot stop paying attention to what’s going on for a second, because the teacher calls on you to answer a question about the text using vocab/grammar, and if you space out for just a moment, you will miss what she said and probably make a fool of yourself. Although everyone makes fools out of themselves at one time or another learning Chinese, so I guess it’s not that big of a deal. Chinese really is a language of humility, both in philosophy and in the seeming impossibility of ever coming close to its mastery.
9:10-10am: The next block of classes is called 小课 because everyone splits up into smaller groups to review the grammar structures. This is the opportunity to show off either how much you studied yesterday or how much time you spent goofing off on the internet (such a black-hole…). Because there are only three or four other kids in this class, not participating isn’t an option. I kind of like it though because the smaller class allows each student to actually practice the new words instead of day dreaming about that night’s dinner (which is so easy to do, especially given the plethora of places to eat here). You mostly use the grammar in the context of the textbook’s topics. I wish there were more leeway to be creative and make up your own sentences that weren’t based on the book, but I guess time is short and each day’s lesson is long.
10:10-11am. This second 小课 is my favorite because it is a forum for unstructured speech. The teacher asks you a couple questions centered on that lesson’s topic, and you are then free to answer based on your own opinion, though hopefully using the grammar structures. I think that this class really strengthens a student’s understanding of the material because it allows her to explore the limits and extensions of syntax patterns. Sometimes the conversation is a bit stilted and artificial if it centers completely around repeating lines from the book, but otherwise it’s the closest the class gets to a real conversation in Chinese.
The teachers here in fourth year are really fantastic. Besides 陈老师, we have a Zhao and Song 老师as well. They are really nice, and during the language table on Fridays they are just like two other students, who speak fluent Chinese. I think the ease with which the students and teachers and converse really strengthens not only our performance in class but also our experience as a whole in the Middle Kingdom.
On the whole, I am satisfied with the academic program here, and am seeing weekly progress in my own Chinese, as well as that of my classmates.
My Teachers! From left to right, me, Song Laoshi, Zhao Laoshi, and Chen Laoshi.
Where I live! the dorms are super nice.
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