“At Sinoland we study!”
We’ve been allowed back into China (for the time being) and have started our Mandarin classes at Sinoland College. Here’s a quick breakdown of the school and our study structure:
We have class Monday through Friday from 9am until noon. Steph and I have only one other classmate, Marcos, from Brazil. Class is taught by our constantly-correcting and infinitely-patient teacher, Liu Xiao Jing, aka “Liu laoshi.” The focus of the class is on speaking so for the vast majority of the class we are talking. Every afternoon we write out dialogs, study vocabulary and try to speak to each other in Chinese.
While we have a very limited vocabulary, we can still manage to say a lot of important things to each other. Here’s a quick “Best Of” from our growing Mandarin mastery:
- Zhè shì xīn chū de jīnián yóupiào. (This is a newly-issued commemorative stamp.)
- Qǐng wèn, nǐ zhì dào zài năr yăn jīngjù ma? (Excuse me, do you know where the opera is performed?)
- Wŏ bù shì dàifu! (I am not a doctor!)
- Nǐ māma zài jiā ma? (Is your mom at home?)
- Tīng shuō nǐ kě yǐ fàndiàn lǐ huàn qián. (I hear you can change money inside the hotel.)
- Wŏ hěn xǐhuan hē jiŭ! (I like to drink wine!)
- Wŏ shì xiāng jiāo! (I am a banana!)
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- Liú lăoshī getting her teach on.
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- Kùgē hard at work.
