Experience of schools I have attended

Likes

– friendly teachers willing to extend Chinese communication outside of the classroom (e.g. in breaks and after class)

– extra-curricula cultural activities. (However, these are often conducted through the medium of English, which, for me at least, reduces the Chinese language learning value).

Dislikes

– rigidly following the textbook. Knowing what is coming next can easily lead to boredom, which reduces motivation.

– limited variety in the types of activities employed. As a musical-visual learner, I’m rarely catered for.

– minimal use of technology, even though all teachers own a mobile device, which would be a good starting point.

How learning Chinese differs from my experience of learning other languages

– in general, it seems I had more fun in the past. For example, diverse activities, moving about the classroom, presenting work in front of the class, plays etc.

– focus on two skills (speaking and listening), as opposed to four skills

– focus on fluency and accuracy, whereas I value fluency over accuracy, or at least, fluency before accuracy

-natives don’t seem to see value in learning their language (and I’ve always just learnt languages for fun)

Self-Study

Advantages

– I am very self-aware in terms of my learning styles and preferences. So I give myself meaningful and engaging tasks! For example, I want to start adding Chinese-language content to my blog and recently added an audio recording of myself introducing my blog. For this I must write down my thoughts, organise my thoughts and practice repeatedly before making the recording. After recording I ask (Chinese friends, online teachers) for feedback, and will re-write and re-record myself again soon.

– I can study in my own time and at my own pace, which is imperative as this Masters, labelled as part-time, actually is 100% full-time!

Drawbacks

– It’s boring and lonely!

– I’m a huge fan of peer-to-peer learning, so I’m missing out on that.

– Ideally, I want someone to encourage, inspire, guide and lead me. (Yes, I know, a big want!)