taipei 101 from a hike one day back in october or something
so MAN!
random alley, there's a lot of interesting places
in taipei in terms of light, overlapping of space
and intersecting functions
So we just got out on break for Chinese New Year, which is in just two days! It’s a long-awaited break, both for students and teachers. Even though this quarter is a little bit shorter, days seem to be passing slower for some reason. Classes have been good, however, especially my listening class and my one-on-one class. The listening class is challenging, both in terms of the vocabulary and actual lessons, as well as discussion in class. My one-on-one class has been great because my teacher’s great, and I’ve been able to learn more about Taiwanese history and identity, while discussing it with her. I’ve also been learning a tiny bit of Taiwanese with her as well, so it’ been fun. I now buy all my bananas in Taiwanese haha.
My two other classes, one reading and one classical Chinese, have been good but not great. Classical moves a bit too slow and the teacher sort of underestimates us. She also has a strange habit of spending the first 10 or so minutes of class talking about something random, probably because ICLP has told her to develop a relationship with her students, but it just comes across too forced. The reading class is taught by the head teacher, who is great, and while the articles are interesting and have good vocabulary and stuff, a lot of class time is spent going over little problems that classmates have that should have been dealt with at home by preparing well before class. So that’s a bit frustrating, and really puts a damper on any sort of real discussion.
I definitely feel like I’ve been making progress again, both in more formal class topics and in regular day-to-day stuff. Watching television has been helpful with that. Variety shows, soap operas, movies, and news are all good ways to get exposed to a wider range of vocabulary and ways of speaking. Something else I’ve been doing this semester is not really spending time sitting down memorizing characters. I’ve been spending more time listening to lessons and reading lessons to try and see how I can naturally absorb the new vocabulary in context, rather than memorizing individual characters. I’ve found it’s actually been helpful, and while I’m maybe not remembering as many characters as I could, I’m remembering more complete patterns and am able to use them more correctly as a result.
It’s definitely still not easy, got to keep on working at it. That’s all for now. More interesting/non-academic stuff later.
Glad to hear things are going relatively well. Enjoy the break! Have fun!
ReplyDelete"a lot of class time is spent going over little problems that classmates have that should have been dealt with at home by preparing well before class. So that’s a bit frustrating, and really puts a damper on any sort of real discussion."
This is definitely a key challenge to ICLP, an otherwise very strong program. It's something we try to prepare Light Fellows for, and it's also something that I wish ICLP would address more directly. We'll keep suggesting this, for what our input matters (sometimes a lot, sometimes very little).