The Impending Doom/ Happiness
The trip is going by fast. I have two weeks left, and they are going to be intense. I have my finals coming up, along with last minute quizzes of doom. I figured I better go ahead and start preparing now, so that everything does not just creep on me. I will say that these classes have made me think the classes in English hosted at my home college are a breeze. I will never complain again, because at least the classes will be in my native tongue.
Weekend of Travel
This past weekend I went Nanjing and Bengbu. I learned about the difference in American education vs. Chinese education. .The student I was talking I was talking to told me that their high school grades do not factor into their college acceptance. Their college acceptance depends on the passing or failing of the university exam. That would scare me because I am not the best at testing.. But the student I was talking to was a little genius and so smart. I think that the Chinese education is smart for starting their students out so early learning a second language. But I appreciate America not making me do a university examination.
Overcoming the Barrier of Learning a Language
I have come to the conclusion that both of our countries need to work on teaching the languages. Judging from my education and my tutor’s education, a graduate student at Mingzu University, the actual language cannot be learned until a student goes abroad. My tutor has never had an American teacher teach her English before. She told me that she has always had Chinese teachers teach her English, so therefore the pronunciation has never been a hundred percent correct.
Therefore, when she is talking to me some words don’t come across correctly. But even for American schools this issue is still a problem. I have a Chinese teacher, but somehow I was still taught Taiwanese words, instead of the common words of the Beijing dialect. On top of this difference, Beijing dialect is also a lot different then my teacher’s proper dialect, which is a big reason why I am lost most of the time in conversation. That problem, and the fact I don’t know a lot of words and am still not fluent in the language. :)
These last to weeks are going to be a blur and I am determined to get everything out of them. 