Linguistic Challenges of Learning Chinese at National Chengchi University: My Pledge to Reverse My Wrongs!

TO PEOPLE WHO ARE LEARNING CHINESE: PLEASE READ THIS !!!!

I think this sounds like yesterday's news but I placed into the Advanced Level of Chinese according to the CIEE Communications, Business, and Political Economy program. Upon learning about my placement, I was thrilled but a part of me was unbelievably nervous because I have only had 5 semesters of Chinese and I can only hold a conversation about mundane topics. My classmates on the other hand either have had 5-6 years worth of Chinese! To be honest, I am the weakest link in this class and I have come to accept it. I realize that many  things I am learning in this class flies over my head at first which contributes to most of my frustrations. To be honest, I don't give myself a chance or time to process it all because I wallowed in how intimidating it all could be which led to my belief that I did not do well on my midterms. Well, that's pessimistic alright! Time to focus on solutions!

 I have decided that before every lesson I will review the vocabulary ahead of time as well as look at the grammar patterns so I am not completely thrown off. I think that's the mistake I kept making because I felt that I would process it quickly but I kept failing to do so.  I kept believing that my pace is as fast as my classmates but I forgot what I kept telling myself is that we all learn Chinese at different rates! I need to slow down and stop comparing my pace of learning to those who are already in the mindset. Secondly, I will build up the habit to spend at least one hour each three designated days to Chinese (ie. 1 hour on monday, 1 on wednesday, and 1 hour on tuesday etc). I will review either grammar or vocabulary I can't remember as well as take time to review the dictation we have to study for. I am also going to make it a point to work extra hard on zeroing in on tones because that is my number one problem. TONES are my nightmare.

So on my to do list:
1) Review vocabulary ahead of time
2) Review sentence structures
3) Dedicate three days--one hour each--to studying Chinese and reviewing what I am not good at
4) Apply what I have learned--new characters, grammar, etc.
5) DO NOT--I repeat---DO NOT WALLOW IN FRUSTRATION
6) Concentrate! Concentrate! Concentrate!
7) Allow myself time to process what I have learned and be patient with myself
8) Practice tones!
9) Do my homework ahead of time to ask questions (if possible) or at least skim through my homework
10) Learn to guess on the readings if I cannot read all of the characters

But what I have learned so far about my experience with learning a Chinese is that you not only learn to communicate cross culturally but the virtue of perseverance. It is not how much farther ahead others are of you but how far you are willing to push yourself, to exceed the confines of limits you have created for yourself. From all the time that I have invested in learning Chinese, this is what I want to take from it. So to those of you who want to learn Chinese, you are never too old to begin learning but once you begin, I encourage you to keep learning Chinese! Failures should never prevent you from learning what you want to learn. After all, I believe that much of life is about learning from our mistakes and growing. That's the attitude I am taking with language learning and the rest of my life where ever it may fall into place.

A Reflection of My Spring Break in Taichung and Hsinchu

I realize that I am writing this blog post two weeks later but these two weeks have given me enough time to truly reflect on my homestays which took place during my spring break on April 04-April 06. My first destination was Taichung and as I have mentioned earlier in my posts that I would return to Taichung but this time I received a much more traditional feel for Taiwanese culture that seems absent in Taipei.

Returning to Taichung--Da Jia Matsu
As someone who currently lives in Taipei and most of my view points about Taiwan have been influenced largely by Taipei, I was refreshed by the easy going nature of Taichung which seems less fast paced and this is the place where one can genuinely experience ordinary Taiwan, unlike what you see in all the touristy brochures, which tend to advertise Taipei as the representative of all of Taiwan. You rarely ever learn about cities like Tainan, Changhua, Taidong, and Hualien. I think Taipei can get boring easily and you have to venture out of Taipei to get another feel for Taiwan because this country has so many unique sights and experiences that cannot just be experienced in Taipei alone. Taipei is a great city to be in but many times it makes me want to go to other city where life moves at a slower and much more relaxing pace. It really gives you time to interact with others in depth. No one really has to go anywhere. Taichung definitely feels this way and in Taichung I can experience each and every moment just as I would like to. But back to the topic, I went to Taichung to see the celebration of Da Jia Matsu who is a goddess worshipped in Taiwan and known for helping solve other people's problems. I was fortunate to listen to Ma Ying Jeou speak at the temple as there were many people wanting to do the same but could not. This was my second time to be able to do so as I heard him speak at the 2.28 memorial. When I entered the temple I felt so stuffy to the point where getting out was out of question because more and more people crowded in. Thank goodness I am not claustrophobic or else I would have just had a scaring experience instead of a cultural one. However, I was able to pray to Matsu about my midterm grades which I hope are good and I swear to my grave I might give this religion some credibility if I get good grades. Nevertheless I had a blast peering at the traditional temple and experiencing people crowding in around me just waiting to pray.After spending 30 minutes to an hour shuffling through the crowd in order to tour around the temple, I was so glad there was a way out because the stuffiness simply wore out my patience. We did however get to go to random bakeries and try various deserts like Taro icecream--YUM.

Taichung--The Homestay
After shuffling through the streets eating random free food and deserts, we had all loaded in the car waiting to  be dropped off at our respective homes. My lovely little sister Debby and I were anxiously awaiting whom we will stay with as CIEE  did not inform us ahead of time even their names! We eventually discovered that we were living with three roommates--one who is in college, another who is working, and another who is working but not in college. To my surprise, I was able to hold a conversation with all of them even though I feel my Chinese isn't quite up their par. I must say I enjoyed their company and I wish to see them soon. I am so glad they decided to let total strangers--particularly me--spend a night in their homes. I brought them a small snow globe as a gesture of kindness and in hopes that they remember me. The next day we had breakfast with them and visited a nearby shopping mall.

Hsinchu
This is where I experienced the feeling of living with a host family and I think this may just be the highlight of my cultural experience because I got to meet my little sister Debby's parents and they let me experience their home town and its amazing delicacies. I truly adore Debby and her family for this experience. I had many frank conversations with them about Chinese culture and politics surrounding Taiwan as well as cultural differences between Taiwan and America. The amazing thing is that they were so open to the discussion and I realized that Debby's father and I both have an affinity for politics, which made the ice so much easier to break! The next day I visited Beipu, where I tried rather all sorts of drinks and deserts. Pictures will be uploaded soon! If I don't upload them, please message me on facebook reminding me to do so!

Guess who teaches English at Zhengda Fuzhong: Summary of my 2 days teaching

Thanks to April Wang, who is the language coordinator for CIEE Study Abroad in Taiwan, I was offered the opportunity to teach English at Zhengda Fuzhong and meet my lovely students who all happen to be 10th graders. At first I was very nervous because I have never taught before and I have never had any formal work experience with tutoring  To add to my woes, I did not have an idea of where these kids stand in terms of their level of listening, speaking, reading, and writing English. Hence, I had to experiment for two teaching days in order to figure out where they were. I have realized that I need to create a fun filled activity that can captivate their kids hearts and motivate them to practice their English. I have four very darling students whom I am so thankful to teach. They will try their hardest to do anything I ask them to do.  They are sweet, shy and they typically do what is expected of them in class (something which is expected of them in the Taiwanese academic culture), which I suppose is every American teacher's dream given the butt load of obnoxiously rebellious kids they have to contend with.  As much as I motivate these kids, I feel like I have to constantly work harder at pushing them to speak. I suppose I have not left the American academic culture in the sense that we often force kids to participate in class actively but I guess in this case, I do need to push them and I need to be more fun! Teaching them full sentences does not mean I have to be stiff. I just need to briefly go over parts of speech and how they fit into a sentence grammatically. I don't think I am too worried about what I need to do now. I just need to make them speak coherently as possible! This can definitely be fixed!

Was Taiwan Written in My Destiny?

Never ever in my life have I considered stepping out of my comfort zone to find myself in a foreign country whose culture and customs I am still learning. I never ever thought as a high school junior or senior that I would be in Taiwan learning Mandarin Chinese, a language I never thought I had the potential to master. When one takes advantage of unique opportunities offered in college, you never know what places they can take you. My studying Chinese brought me to Taipei, a busy city with a hodgepodge of colorful buildings meshed together, food everywhere you go, people walking everywhere and  of course no one can forget the  night markets! The people I meet here teach me something about the world. It doesn't even have to be about Taiwan! I ran into someone and I learned quite a bit about Ukraine (I have been quite curious about this country for a while now!) and its declining economy because of failed governmental policy in managing its resources. I am the sort of person that inquires about anything and everything so if you have the pleasure to to talk to me, be prepared to be asked a lot of questions about your country and your experiences.

Having said that I have the tendency to inquire even about the silliest things and some things that are rather deep, I must say that it must not have been Mandarin Chinese that bought me to Taiwan but an inborn sense of wonder and a need to know that brings me to an island so far away from home that it makes anyone wonder what bought me here. People (even foreign exchange and local students) ask me what brings me to this island and I superficially reply that I want to learn Mandarin Chinese and I find Taiwan to be much more livable than mainland China ( I am sure this is not a satisfying answer either). But the biggest question I have to inquire here is that is Taiwan written in my destiny? Was I meant to be here? Why do I love it here so much? To be honest, I have decided to stop asking these questions and embrace my journey to the fullest. Whatever Taiwan may bring to me will change my life. It will be a blessing either way!