Mandarin 9: The First Three Weeks
A Walk Near VISST, Mid-Autumn Festival, etc.
你好 (nǐhǎo / hello)! Here’s the first post for Mandarin 9. The students have accomplished quite a bit in the first three weeks of the course!
Last week, we walked around VISST looking for Chinese characters on the street. Students found Chinese characters at restaurants, a dental clinic, a supermarket, a courier service, education centers, etc. Below please see some photos taken by the students:
We made a quick stop at the Asian supermarket just a few blocks away from VISST. Students got to see the English-Chinese bilingual signs and explored the products at the store.
The class also learned about the traditions of the Mid-Autumn festival, which was on September 17 this year. We learned about the story of Chang-E, the Chinese moon goddess, and sampled some moon cakes.
Since the beginning of the course, students have learned the full pinyin (phonetic spelling) chart, the basics of the Chinese language system, some useful phrases in daily conversations, the numbers 1 to 99, and some character writing. We even read a classical Chinese poem that includes the numbers from 1 to 10!
I look forward to an exciting year of Mandarin learning with the students!
What a great way to learn Chinese--by seeing how it opens up the world around you!