Resumption of Mandarin Studies

Taiwan International Student Union (TISU) from the National Taichung University of Education got back to me yesterday with an offer to tutor me in Mandarin Mondays and Wednesdays, 10 am to noon. I accepted. The classes start next week.

I had said I had some books to use in mind and I was asked yesterday to send my “ideal booklist” so they could forward it to the teacher to prepare. I wrote back a list of three books:

1. Tan, Situ, Best Chinese Idioms, Volume 1, Hai Feng Publishing Co., Hong Kong 1997. (I have two copies.)

2. DeFrancis, John, Annotated Quotations From Chairman Mao, Yale University Press, 1975, London.

3. Schmidt, Jerry, New Practical Chinese Reader, Textbook, Vol. 1, Beijing Language and Culture University Press, 2007, Toronto. 

        But I said I would accept the recommendation of the tutor. I think I would prefer using Best Chinese Idioms but wish I had the textbooks I used thirty-five years ago at the National Language Center at Teachers’ College in Taipei; Stories from Chinese History. Best Chinese Idioms is not a textbook per se; the tutor would have to make a list and program study for me. The Mao Quotations book would be interesting but it is written in simplified characters, though there is an equivalency list in the back; it’s probably too difficult for me. The New Practical Chinese Reader, which I lifted from FDR, seems boring but is probably best for my fluency level.

      I am looking forward to my new routine of riding the bicycle to the University twice a week and up the Han River the other days. In addition, I am back to my routine teaching at American Eagle 4:30 to 6:00 pm weekdays until the end of June. My evenings and weekends are free.

 I went to my first Mandarin tutorial yesterday and met Ms. Li Ni-Yong. The ride to the National Taichung University Mandarin Center was fine but too many red lights I got stuck at behind scooter cyclists and cross traffic. I will look into other ways to commute. I got to the university early and went to the main campus looking for the office to pay my 13,600NT-$425us tuition for thirty hours. I was directed to the second floor of the main building at the library. I spoke almost no English the entire time I was there. On the second floor, behind a strange office counter inside a sliding door with two feet leeway was the woman I had spoken to on the phone and e-mailed. She escorted me a few blocks away to the space where I would pay tuition and meet my tutor. After I paid, I was brought to the classroom where Ms. Li stood.

      My first day, Teacher Li tested me on some grammar patterns by showing me pictures projected on the white board and asked me to describe them. She then asked to see the textbooks I had mentioned. It was resolved that we use Best Chinese Idioms once a week. She then showed me a Level 5 textbook and asked me what I thought. IO approved and she asked if I wanted her to make photocopies. I told her I was willing to purchase my own copy. She then taught me for two hours, conversing with me on what I wanted to learn. I told her that, of course I would like to converse better socially but my main impetus was so I could run workshops in ‘how to start a union in Mandarin.’ I wanted to learn to read better and deepen my vocabulary and sentence pattern. My dream, I said, was to read my favorite poet, Han Shan, from the Tang Dynasty. The Classical Chinese is daunting.

      I learned the pattern “gen B be⁴-chi⁴-lai³ A,” which is a way of comparing: “Compared with before, workers in Taiwan today earn less money,” for example. I practiced the pattern and she made suggestions. She is a good teacher. I also learned some vocabulary like ‘friendly’ (yiu³-shun⁴) and ‘computer’ (dien-nau [electric brain]) as well as others. I was self conscious as a teacher for having to write the Romanization to vocabulary in my little children’s workbook, but I did. I should also write the meanings, some of which I have already forgotten because I didn’t do so.