胡俊的个人化

Well spring break has almost arrived and I cant believe it is already here, it also signifies a turning point in my Chinese class we are now truly focusing on our final project. I would like to spend the break refining and narrowing down my topic.  I have a pretty basic idea of what I want to write about, and I plan on discussing it with Dai laoshi this week.
As for last week I thought my presentation went well enough.  I am getting pretty familiar with the terms associated with energy and I thought that coming from the perspective of someone associated with 皇明太阳能集团 made it more interesting because I was there and am also concurrently conducting further research on that company this semester.
The meetings with Zhangkai have been going really well, he is an excellent teacher and gives me confidence when it comes to reading Chinese.  Now all that waits is setting up an appointment to practice my out loud recitations with Dai Laoshi.

Well I am little late with this past weeks learning reflections, but overall it was a very successful week.  It started off meeting with my language partner early in the week and he helped me prepare for my presentation and give me pointers for conducting my research. For instance how to narrow down my search topics and different types of methodologies used when researching for information in Chinese.

I then meet with my TA on Tuesday, Shi Laoshi, even though the article I had picked was a little out of my league, as she directly asked me “Why did you choose this article?” as she found some of the info a bit cryptic and confusing and then conveyed to me that if she had trouble understanding what the author was talking about, there would be no way I would be able to understand what he was talking about, unless I spent days trying to figure out all of the content. So I quickly found a more suitable article online that was much easier for me to understand.  I then met with Dai laoshi on Wednesday and this I feel was a very fruitful meeting as well. She gave me tips as to how to read through an article and grab the most pertinent information, which I feel will be extremely useful in my research. As a bonus she set up a meeting with a classmate of mine, Kai, so we could mutually help our reading comprehension in both English and Chinese.

The meeting with Kai was extremely beneficial as he gave me more tips as to how to quickly disseminate what type of article could be useful to read by just examining it for a few minutes.  These weekly sessions will be helpful to me and I am looking forward to the next one.

Last on my list is to set up a time with my teacher so we can do some oral recitation practice to help with my pronunciation, speaking flow and such.  This should be extremely helpful to me when conducting oral presentations or just plain speaking in general.

This week was a little better for me, my health came back and I was able to focus more on my school work .  I was also able to find a language partner so that should be helpful as this semester progresses.  As for language learning I feel like I am gaining a pattern of finding articles for my topic (not quite narrowed down yet) and listening to recordings on the internet.  As always I could be doing more of this, but for a start I think this is a good method.

My weekly presentations in my opinion could use some more work.  I feel like my last one went ok, as there was a healthy discussion after I finished.  But I cannot base my presentation success on the amount of discussion that followed and it should be based on how well I discuss my topic and present what I am thinking.  As this has always been somewhat of a struggle for me, all I can do is practice more and plug away and eventually it will improve.

The change in class schedule is interesting and I am looking forward to having one on one discussions about my topic and presentations so I can gain a further understanding of what I really need to improve upon.

All I can say is that time flies when you are having fun or really busy.  The third week of the semester flew by at light speed, and I writing this a little late because I was stricken by a stomach bug over the weekend.  This unfortunate event put a damper on all my weekend activities and study time.  But as for the weekly language learning process I feel like I am making some strides.  My professor provided me with some very useful listening links and I spent most of the week (before I was stricken with my ailment) accumulating articles for my delicious links.

The in class activities continue to be useful and interesting.  It is definitely helpful being in a Chinese class with students who are training to become teachers as you learn many different aspects of language learning that you might have passed over.  I am also gaining a new found cultural understanding to language learning and the different ways western and eastern cultures address language learning.

As for my progress, my listening capabilities are holding together, although I sometimes find myself looking into my pocket dictionary for definitions of vocab words I do not recognize.  The content from some of the presentations is stuff that I have yet to study so it takes me a second to get into the groove, and if I lose focus for just one second it is hard to get back on track. My presentations are something else.  I am not sure how the class is responding to them and I am sure some of the other classmates feel the same way I do when they are presenting.

On a good note I did make a strides to find a new language partner and we have a meeting set up for this week so I am excited!

Well week 2 came and went with a blur.  In my opinion I have not made any major improvements since last week and that is solely on me.  I know that learning a language is a difficult task and once you get to a certain point it is easy to hit the so-called wall.  It is at this point where you have to devise new ways to keep learning aside from the basic vocab/text based learning that I have gotten so used to.

The basic tenants to maintaining a high language proficiency is to speak/read/write/ and listen as much as possible.  And I find myself lacking in some of these areas.  I know the opportunities for me here at MIIS to study Chinese are boundless as there are a plethora of chinese speaking students here, but I have yet to fully access this resource.  So basically the next task is to find another language partner and converse with my Chinese speaking friends more frequently.

As far as the research topic goes, I am also running into difficulties narrowing my focus.  I know the overall theme will revolve around Energy, Renewable energy development in China, but I am also having difficulties finding suitable resources to help me narrow my topic.

I am enjoying the class time as I find all the different topics of research interesting, although some of the subject material is a little over my head.  Hopefully as time goes by I will become more comfortable in class and more willing to voice my opinion on some of the topics and presentations.  Right now I need to work on my reading and speaking and to continually push myself to do better.

Well the first week came and went and it was truly a blur.  I am quite pleased with the direction this class is taking, however it is also going to be an exciting challenge that I am looking forward to.

After being in China for almost a month I was hopeful that it would be beneficial to my language abilities, but I found myself conversing in English a lot with my colleagues, and only carrying somewhat basic conversations with the locals.  So therefore my goals for this semester remain the same, to improve my speaking and listening abilities while also continuing to refine my reading and writing and increasing my overall vocabulary base.

I feel that the structure of this class can do this for me, with weekly presentations I will have to practice and practice my spoken Chinese while also pouring through articles and journals related to the topic I want to research.

The next task will be to find a language partner and to continue practicing outside of class time.  As it goes for any language learning, hard work, dedication and practice are a must.