3 classes of Chinese

This first post will be a summary of my motivation for taking Chinese lessons, my experiences as a language learner, and my students' reaction for the first 3 classes. From here on out, I will try to write on a more regular basis so as to capture the essence of the experience.

My motivation:

I am a native English speaker who learned Spanish through high school and college study as well as several trips and studies abroad in Spanish speaking countries. I am currently working as a middle school ESL teacher and have a Master's degree in Secondary Education. As I was learning about second language acquisition, several times I thought about my own experiences as a language learner. If there was one regret that I had, it was that I never documented my language study or what my first attempts at Spanish sounded like. The first time I became near fluent in Spanish was during my semester abroad in college when I studied in Argentina. I know that I started with an Argentine Spanish accent, but I can barely do this accent now if I am trying to do it. I also remember very little about my language learning process. The one thing that really stands out for me was that I used the strategy of self talk in the beginning stages to train my mind to think in Spanish. When I was walking down the street, I would describe the world around me by talking in my and using as much Spanish as I could. I would force myself to use only Spanish in public spaces, but also in the private space of my head.
So now here I am in 2008 and have decided that I would like a new challenge and also to test myself once again as a language learner. After learning about theories of second language acquisition and dealing with English language learners all day, I am putting myself to the test as a language learner once again. I am documenting it for personal reasons such as better understanding myself as a learner and also to take a deeper look at the strategies that I utilize. I hope that others too will benefit from this window into the mind of a language learner.

Why Chinese?

• More people in the world speak Mandarin Chinese than any other language.
• Challenge
• To gain insight into Asian language and culture to better understand my students
• My school district offers a free course for teachers!

Class and my experience as a learner:

The only word I knew before class in Chinese was "Ni hao" hello. Little did I realize before class that I was probably not saying it correctly according to the tones. We spent our entire first class just focusing on the 4 tones of Chinese. My teacher used exaggerated pronunciation and hand motions to help us follow along and hear the difference between the tones. In music I am what most people would call tone deaf, so I was actually amazed to see that by the end of class I could distinguish between the tones when she quizzed us with words. Of course she was still saying them in a very exaggerated form, but it was a small victory. Our teacher was previously a special education teacher and so she will often incorporate sign language into the lesson by using the sign for the word at the same time that she is saying it in Chinese. I generally have considered myself a visual learner, but Ifind this kinesthetic addition to be extremely helpful. The other technique that I have found extremely helpful is a listening exercise. Every now and then the teacher asks us to put our heads down and repeat after her. I find this time to be soothing and a good practice for my ear to get used to hearing Chinese without the complication of trying to look at the spelling and worry too much about how I am pronouncing the words. I would be curious to see if my best pronunciation comes out of these times when I am letting my ear hear and then I repeat the words. After 3 classes, I basically know how to say hello, I am a teacher, I love you, and the numbers 1-10. This brings me to the next topic.

My students' reaction

I feel so fortunate that every day I work with at least a few students who are Mandarin Chinese speakers with whom I am able to practice my new language skills and also listen to their pronunciation and tones. This part of the learning process has also been a fascinating experience on so many levels. It feels like some of my students have taken me on as their project! When I first told them I was learning Chinese they seemed indifferent or perhaps did not believe it. After the first class I came in and told them the words for "I am a teacher" which if I used the wrong tones for would come out as "I am a mouse". Thankfully they all understood my attempts at using this line. I must admit, however, that given the context it was not necessarily due to my pronunciation but more due to the fact that I would have no reason to say "I am a mouse". They were surprised and delighted all at once. Each one of them responded by repeating the words for me so that I would hear the correct tonal pronunciation. If I would not repeat it correctly, they would continue to say it until I would do a better job. One student even went so far as to launch into a discussion (using his beginner level middle school English abilities) about the 4 tones in Chinese, draw characters on the board and use the same basic hand gestures as my teacher to make sure that I understood the tones correctly.

The other students became interested and would then also try to repeat the words that I was learning and proceeded to ask the Chinese students to write more words on the board or teach them other words. My students come from diverse backgrounds, but the most common language spoken is Spanish. There are several other teachers in the building who speak Spanish as well as teachers who speak Korean, Arabic, Italian, and German. As far as I know, I am the first teacher to attempt Chinese and both Chinese and non-Chinese speakers seemed intrigued by my interest and attempts. It has certainly stirred up a lot of student interest about Chinese in and around the classroom.

As I have said, I believe that my students have taken me on as their project. Almost every day when I walk in the room they have written something on the board in Chinese characters and are eager to tell me how to say it and what it means. I am not quite sure if this is because they are eager to teach me, they are missing their language and like the excuse to be able to write and use it, feel now that their language is being validated by the teacher, or because they are being diligent students and fulfilling the teacher request to practice Chinese.

Prior to last week's class my teacher told us to know the numbers by the next class. I told my students that I had a quiz on the numbers and they would listen carefully and help me practice until I got it right. Another Spanish speaking student saw me practicing and asked if she could borrow my notecards to copy them and learn it as well. The day after class, one of the students who was helping me came up first thing and asked how my quiz went. We didn't really have a quiz, but instead just used the numbers for class activity. She was pleased to hear that I was able to remember them all for class.