Week 7 Relfection

你们好！

This week's lesson went pretty well for me. At the beginning of the week, I still needed a lot of work on my radicals and such, but now I am feeling much more confident with my hanzi than I have been. Learning how to properly introduce friends and roommates has given be a lot more sentences to use and understand. I am actually most excited about next week's lesson because we are learning vocabulary about family and the home. Using a song to practice pronunciation makes the lesson even more fun! Now I have to spend time thinking about what I will be doing for my Final presentation, it has to be creative!

Ni Ai Shan :)

Good song we learned in class

Week 7

Lesson Five Notes:  Introductions

Core Vocabulary -

朋友 = péngyou (friend)                来= lái (to come)              介绍=  jièshào (to introduce)  

     

以下=  yíxià (used after verb to indicate brief action)          室友 = shìyǒu (roommate)   

                                      

有= yǒu (to have, there is/are)    几= jǐ (how many)             两= liǎng (two)   

              

个= gé (commonly used measure word)       都= dōu (all, both) 

                     

常= cháng (often, frequently)                      根= gēn (with)

Supplementary Vocabulary –

没有= méiyǒu  (to not have)         奴朋友= nǔpéngyou (girlfriend)    

男朋友= nánpéngyou (boyfriend)               人氏= rènshi (to know, to recognize, to be acquainted with)

Radicals –

月 = moon/month            足= foot              玉= jade               字= child

刀= knife            

Sentences –

我来介绍以下， 这是我的好朋友。 (Let me briefly introduce, this is my good friend…)

我不知道你说什么！ (I don’t understand what you’re saying!)

我只想根你当朋友     (I just want to be friends with you)

End of Term Goals

For the next four weeks of the term I have the following goals:

• Focus more on previewing the week's lesson on Sunday's
• Practice speaking Chinese at least 3 days outside of the classroom
• Write sentences in Hanzi and not Pinyin
• Complete Chinese Check-ups with better accuracy

Week 6: Mid-Term Presentation Reflections

This past week members of my Chinese 101 class presented power points to the class on different aspects of Chinese culture. There were several interesting presentation, especially on business in China because many of wo de tongxuemen are business majors. Some of the very interesting presentations included Marketing and Branding in China, Chinese Superstitions, and Lucky Numbers in China.

It was interesting to find out the differences between Chinese and American marketing as I am taking a marketing course this term. In China, marketing can also be seen as quite similar to American marketing, however it is more focused on group interest and marketing a product as something good for a group of people. However, in America products are more likely to be marketed based on individual use and uniqueness between others. I also learned from this presentation the Chinese terms for the marketing mix: 产平，促销， 渠道，价格.

As for the Chinese Superstitions and Lucky numbers, there are several interesting rules surrounded around these things by the Chinese culture that heavily affect their choices in life. For instance, the number 4 is very unlucky in the Chinese culture therefore people will go out of their way to avoid license plates, houses, or even hotel rooms with this number in it. There are even many hotels and tall buildings that skip the 4th and 13th floor. Something interesting I found about superstitions is the Feng Shui, as there are even business in China that are soley based on ensuring houses and buildings are decorated with Feng Shui to ensure balance.

Overall, everyone's presentations were very insightful and well done.

Homework Packet Corrections

Lesson 1

               II-1.  Write the common radical and its meaning

1.      你他: 人= ren (person) *no original answer

2.      吗呢: 口= kou (mouth) *no original answer

               III-1. Fill in the blanks with 吗 or 呢 in the dialogue.

1.      你是学生呢？ 你是学生吗？(At first I didn’t understand the difference between ma and ne, now I do)

2.      我是学生。你吗？你呢？（Again, I confused ma and ne）

3.      我是老师。他呢？ 他是学生呢？你呢？ 他是学生吗？

Lesson 2

               II-1. Listen to the dialogue for each question. Then choose the best answer.

                              2. Which of the following is true?

                                             a. Wenying is a teacher—b. Xioamei’s classmate is a teacher. (I did not understand when the speaker first said his classmate was the teacher, not him)

                              3. Which of the following is true?

                                             b. Yu Ying is a teacher—a. Yu Ying’s teacher is Xiaowen Wu. (When first doing this worksheet, the speed of the speakers was too fast for me to accurately comprehend)

               II-2. Write out as many characters as you can that use the radicals below

1.         人= 你他什么 *no original answer

              3.  奴 = 。。。 奴= 好，她，( I did not recognize the radical at first)

III-3. Translate the following phrases into Chinese.

1.      My teacher’s name = 我的老师的名字

2.      His classmates = 他的同学

3.      Wenzhong Li’s student = 里稳重的学生

4.      Your Chinese name = 你的中文名字

5.      Her student’s Chinese name = 他的学生的中文名字

Lesson 3

               I-1. Listen to the short passage and then choose the best answer.

1.      What is Li Wenying’s nationality?

b.      American –c. Korean

3.  Who is Li Wenying’s teacher?

               b. Li laoshi—a. Fang laoshi

5. What languages can her teacher speak?

               b. He can only speak English and Chinese—a. He can speak English and a little French.

II-2. Write out as many characters as you can that use the radicals below.

1.      子 = 学，好， 名字 *no original answers

3． 灬 = 煮，蒸 *no original answers

Week 5 Relfection

你们好！
This week in Chinese has been somewhat difficult. The lesson was very interesting because we learned how to talk about education and majors in college. However, I realized that it takes a lot of studying outside of the classroom to keep up with the pace of the course. Learning the language overall doesn't seem too difficult for me, but if you ever get behind it is very difficult to pick up the tones and pronunciations easily. During week 6 we will be presenting our midterm projects on the subject of our choice. I have chosen to research Confucianism and Education in the Chinese culture. What I have learned so far is quite interesting, as the Chinese culture has placed education and the pursuit of knowledge in high regard. I spoke with a professor at my college about the differences between Chinese and American education and he discussed with me how  the biggest difference between Chinese and American education that he has seen is that the Chinese people view education as a life-long journey to always learn more and understand their studies more, whereas the American culture views education as a tool for wealth and success. I must say that I completely agree. I'm hoping my presentation goes well!

Week 5 Notes

Core Vocabulary:

那= that               书= book             这= book             本= measure word for bound items  

        

文学= literature 工程= engineering           难= difficult        太= too                可是= but      

     

功课= homework/assignment      多= many, much               我们= we,us       门= suffix used to show plural

 

少= few,little

Supplementary Vocabulary:

大学生= college students              系= major, college department    计算机= computer   

       

电脑= computer(used in Taiwan) 专业= major       主修= major (Taiwan)     容易= easy

忙= busy              类= tired              作业= homework             考试=exam         有点儿= a little

还好= not bad, okay

Extra words:

Shāngyè (商业) = Business (study)              Guó jì (过几) = International        gōng rén (工人) = worker

*Kung Fu is actually pronounced Gōng fù in Chinese

New Questions:

·          什么难？

·        你学什么？

·        那是译本什么书？

·        这是译本什么书？

Week 4 Relfection

你们好！

It has already been a month of Chinese 101! Time has flown by so fast, it is crazy. This past week I struggled a bit more than usual because I was unable to attend Monday mornings class due to a family emergency. I am a little worried about the upcoming midterm as it is a presentation to the class and I have still been unable to meet with my professor Sun Laoshi : (

I did enjoy the overall lesson though, this week we study nationalities and learned how to tell others what countries we are from and what languages we speak as well as ask them. I feel like my pronunciation is improving and I am even beginning to recognize hanzi characters more easily. For now, my biggest obstacle to overcoming will be completing my midterm presentation assignment and finding someone to interview for my project, hope all goes well! :)

看你以后!

Chinese 101 study video

Starting at 6:14 of this video, she gives a pretty good understanding of the four tones of the Chinese language and allows for great practice. :)

Week 4 Notes

Core Vocabulary:

哪= nǎ (which)    国= guó(country)   人= rén (person)   很= hěn (very,quite)    对了= duìle (by the way)

法国= Fǎguó (France)      美国= Měiguó (America)       英国= Yīngguó (Britain)  

中国= Zhǒngguó (China)

说= shuō (to speak)          会= huì (can, be able to, know how to)    一点儿= yìdiǎr (a little)   儿= ér                 

法文= Fǎwén (French Language)    和= hé (and)

Supplementary Vocabulary:

德国=Déguó (Germany) 韩国=Hánguó (Korea)     加拿大= Jiānádà (Canada) 

 墨西哥= Mòxīgē  (Mexico)

日本= Riběn (Japan)         西班牙= Xībānyà (Spain)  语言= yǔyán (language)

*When referring to the language of a country, add wén. Ex.  Yīngguó=British, Yīngwén=English(language)

Grammar:

·        你叫什么名字？ (You called what name?)

·        他说什么语言？ (She speaks what language?)

o   他说中文。(She speaks Chinese.)

·        我说英文。 (I speak English.)

·        我说英文， 西班牙文， 和一点点中文。 (I speak English, Spanish, and a little Chinese.)

§  一点点= 一点儿

§  我门的 = Our

·        你是那过人？(You are which country’s person?)

o   我是美国人。 你呢？(I am America person. And you?)

Extra Facts/Words:

*zuó yè = homework       *wǒ xiǎng nǐ= I miss you (我想你.)             *měi = beautiful ( 美)

*Tuī = push                         *mén = plural of words (no ‘s) (门)