 |
| This is Laura's final exam paper. She typed it out in Pinyin (the phonetic version of Mandarin) because we have only just begun to learn Chinese characters. Still, our teacher was pretty impressed! |
Much of that is due to our language curriculum, GPA. We sought to learn like infants, and now we can talk like toddlers! We also have to give credit to our amazing teacher, Melinda. She has been a patient instructor, an ever willing help, an insightful bridge to local culture, and a wonderful friend. She was recently accepted to a graduate program in another city and will be leaving us for two years! We are excited for her and this opportunity to further her education, but we are going to miss her SO MUCH. Especially me.
As we study on next year, I know our goal to become truly conversational will only succeed if both James and I stretch ourselves in conversations and immerse ourselves in Mandarin daily. We hope to start watching soap operas (popular here) and news programs in Mandarin to pick up new vocabulary and culture clues. We plan to be stricter with ourselves while we speak with our Chinese friends--even if they can speak some English, we're going to do our best to communicate entirely in Mandarin. It's hard to follow through with some of these ideas, but we want to be good students. We are so looking forward to the day when we'll fully understand and be understood!
