A series of notes and reflections after my first 100 Mandarin Chinese lessons.
I took my first Chinese lesson on 22 February 2022 and I’ve been on a regular schedule of 2 classes a week for a year give or take some scheduling variations. This week I completed my 100th lesson.
Liz, the language consultant at GoEast Mandarin who initially assessed my level and got me started, sent me a full record of the lessons.
It was pure co-incidence that I asked Liz for help to think about the next phase of my lesson Chinese-learning career right after my 100th lesson. Or was my subconscious keeping count?
Seeing 100 lessons fully counted out made me feel rather happy. I thought I’d pause and collect some simple notes on what I’ve learnt in addition to Chinese.
1. What is progress?
When I started at HSK2, the ‘level’ I was at felt important. I wanted to move forward. Now that I’m going through HSK4 material, I feel the level is irrelevant.
I think levels matter, but only because the material becomes more and more interesting. At HSK4 lessons include material about ‘first impressions’ or what it means speak and to listen well. My most recent lesson included a script with reflections on what makes an interesting life.
See here for a thoughtful piece on the importance of ‘levels.’
2. Focus on Language Input
How do we learn language? At times I didn’t get the point of some of the in-person lesson activities. For example, I was impatient to ‘get through’ the first parts of the lesson going through the new vocabulary word by word. I felt that it would be helpful to spend more time on ‘free conversation’ because that’s where I struggled most.
When I expressed frustration at my progress my teacher Dora and Liz coached me on the importance of balancing input and output. I wrote about this balance in my previous post, which came after a period of frustration at my progress.
My views on (language) learning have developed significantly over 100 lessons. I’ve always felt that building familiarity with a subject is important, but what does this mean in the context of language?
I’ve found that in weeks when I replay and listen to the material several times, and re-read the scripts and sentences, words and phrases begin to arise whenever I’m between activities: walking from the train station to work, on a walk, while making coffee or taking a shower.
Could it be that Input is all that really matters?
There’s another lesson here: trust your teacher and your language consultant! They really, really know what they’re doing.
Topics for the next reflections:
Try different things, but keep stable core
Relax!
Try to tell stories
Prepare for every lesson
Let your teacher know how you’re doing
Connecting to favourite phrases
I love the thoughts here. In my experience, I've had to make sure to make time to do both input and output, even if the percentage skews to 90/10! More input brings up more awareness, while more output solidifies my ability to make connections with the things as I become aware of them. You blogging about this is a great example of that, I think, because you're more likely to remember these insights longer since you've spent time turning them into output! 加油!