My Simple Chinese Study Plan

Not so long ago I posted this, 我应制定学习计划。我要学习计划。I should make a study plan. I need a study plan.  As I have been very busy with a number of things I still haven’t made this study plan.

So today I am setting out my attack on Chinese learning. It is very simple and I plan to do the following;

• Have an online / Skype Chinese lesson on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 2 x 25 minute Pomodoros
• Listen to my Pimsleur Chinese Mandarin II audio once a day (maybe twice a day) 1 x Pomodoro
• At least 50 minutes of Hanzi learning on Skritter ( I usually break this up into 2 X 25 minutes Pomodoros 

Now this is rather a lot and I may not be able to do every task every day. However I am going to try this for the next 65 days as that is the countdown to my ELTF Dalian Study.

There are some other tasks I need to do.  I do try to do my Homework or revise my lesson notes…my very competent Chinese teacher would say I don’t do this….
Regarding the Pimsleur Chinese I often do while walking, doing the washing up or preparing dinner….yet somehow I still manage to do retain much of what I want from the course.

Also I shall be incorporating the following;

• Set specific times – I will study in the early morning
• Pre book Chinese lessons – My thrice weekly lesson is @ 11:00 am
• Make the content interesting – While I still have to study NPCR 3 (this is another story), I do plan to make the lessons and study specific to my needs
• Set a concrete goal of what I want to achieve

I am going to try to work something out according to this formula –> number of classes +  hours spent studying Chinese = Should be able to do the following in Chinese. Might set this out in a detailed post soonish..
I have to thank two people for their suggestions and ideas.
Brandon @ Study More Chinese.  Study More Chinese is a free social Chinese learning networking site.
Kevin Principal @ Mandarin World. Chinese language school for foreigners in Shanghai.

Roll your own Hanzi practice sheets

 

Incompetech has a Chinese Character Sheet PDF Generator 

Quite good if you want to customise your Hanzi practice sheets.

Free

Sample of  CML Hanzi Practice Grid

---

Cross Post...though I am not cross

This is a modified repost of a comment I made on  the  Sapore de cina blog post about Remembering Simplified Hanzi and hanzi learning methods.  It is now more of an update on my way of learning hanzi. 

I use SRS for learning I tried Anki and didn’t like it. I now use Skritter and much prefer it. I like the tracking that it offers, the reminders, the interface, ease of use, user created mnemonics, gamification  and other features of Skritter.  I do use the iPad app for too. 

When I first start learning a set of characters or vocabulary I use Quizlet.  This online learning program keeps getting better and better with updates. I subscribe to this site. However, most of the site feels altruistic as much of it is free. It is also easy to set up cards and use them. Very portable too. 

As I am enrolled in a Uni. course we learn about one lesson of New Practical Chinese Reader: Textbook Vol.3 every two weeks. So this keeps me moving and I still try to only learn what I am going to use. Though this does not always work and I occasionally have to go back learn something that I would not use outside of the text or course work.  Still I am finding NPCR 3 more interesting than NPCR 2. 

I also print character sheets for the rare occasions I don’t have a computer or iPad to do study online. I have not hand written sheets recently as I find Skritter is enough.  I hope those stats that I get feedback are accurate and not just massaging my ego. 

I do have a large collection of Chinese course texts, Chinese Grammar books and Hanzi books. I prefer ebooks now. Because of the portability. Easy to look up things too. I am always on the lookout for new eBooks about Chinese language, grammar and learning if anyone has any recommendation I would like to hear them. 

he  comments and explanation of  Remembering Simplified Hanzi on the Sapore de cina blog reminded me of another text book for learning hanzi. There is a book from called  Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters. It has a method of mnemonics that differs to any other text that I have read. I quite like this method but do not use the text often. While I do like the book I don't have much time to work from another book outside of my Uni's set texts.  

These hanzi books will not suit everyone. There are a few negative posts around the Net on both of these books as the methods are not very 'pure' both rely on author made up mnemonics.  These mnemonics differ very much from traditional methods of hanzi learning. Yet both books have some merit and would suit some learners. I think it best to keep an open mind about learning Chinese methodology.  I do not think that one method is necessarily better than others. Horses for courses.  What do you think?

The three books in this post.

Sinovision - Chinese version of Sesame Street

Elmo to teach Sesame Street values to Chinese children.  There are now 30 different language Sesame Streets. Below are some key points of why there is a Chinese language Sesame Street. 

• Chinese version of Sesame Street
• Fun fun Elmo
• Elmo represents the aspirational desires of young children
• One purpose is to bridge China and the USA
• Help the Chinese define their images beyond their shores
• See a world beyond China.  
• The production of this version of Sesame Street is based in China
• The puppeteers are Chinese, the set is Chinese and the writers are Chinese
• An authentic Chinese version of Sesame Street
• A growth in Chinese media and a growth in education

The creation of a Chinese language version of Sesame Street looks like a very well thought out strategy to for children to be educated in the values that have been part of this long running education series. The program has been reinvented over and over since its beginning in 1969.  I wonder how popular the program will be with Chinese children and parents?

Teaching Chinese language through STARTALK

Meanwhile in America...

Teaching Chinese language through STARTALK program at IU School of Education

It would be good to have something like this in Oz. While we don't have summer schools it would be good to see something like this happening after school or on the weekend. 

Social Mandarin Excellent Website

Recently I found an interesting Chinese learning website.  Social Mandarin 

Social_汉语

The site's aims are;

Social Mandarin is a social bookmarking site that aims to collect and bring together the best Mandarin learning resources online. In doing so, it enables other learners to share the same resources with each other. An online Mandarin resource, can be anything from a music video to a word list. It is defined, by how you learned Mandarin from it. So as long you can let us in on how you learned something from it, you can post it here. So join in!

It certainly does all this and more. There are four main content sections, Beginner, Elementary,  Intermediate and Advanced.

Other divisions of the site include;

1. Speaking
2. Vocabulary
3. Learning Tools
4. Culture
5. Writing
6. Listening
7. Reading
8. Grammar
9. Pinyin
10. Characters
11. Music
12. Film
13. Art
14. Other
15. General

The site certainly includes every sort of content a Chinese learner could need. There seems to be something for everyone on Social Mandarin.