FrozenUnicorn Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 Hi guys, I'm taking Mandarin AB Intio as my foreign language and I have it as an online course. For the first few weeks of the lesson, I thought the class was fine. But few weeks passes and the class begins to become a burden for me and I start neglecting my tasks by that time. I have also received few reminders from my teacher and I can't help but to be lazy and do what I want. I realized that I'm a different person when I'm in all the other classes. I take everything seriously, I do my homework and I love them. Now I'm in my second year of IB and I have few more months before finals. Plus, my mock exam for this subject will be tomorrow. since I can't do anything for tomorrow's mock, is there anything that I can in order to raise up my spirit to study Mandarin or is there any other tips that you guys used to study something that you don't like? Sincerely, An IB student who desperately needs a help. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
splendipity Posted February 25, 2015 Report Share Posted February 25, 2015 I also take Mandarin ab initio online, and yeah, you're right, it can be a total burden because the responsibility is on you completely to actually do stuff. I used to leave my assignments to the very last minute without actually learning the vocab and I definitely sort of regret it now. I'm guessing that you've probably just had/already had your oral IA if you're doing the course with Pamoja, so it's just the two papers to study for now. At this point the coursework your online course will give you probably won't matter that much at all (unless you care a lot about your term grades), so if you end up skipping weekly assignments it shouldn't really matter (though it's probably best to do the past papers they give you which happen more towards the end). I have mocks in all subjects this week and I have skipped maybe 2 weeks worth of assignments, which really isn't great, but eh. So maybe it would be better on yourself to just concentrate on studying for the exam, rather than following what the online course is giving you. I mean, all the vocab is in the syllabus/guide, so just work on memorizing that and the grammatical structures that are important. This is probably a good idea if you've missed out on some vocab also from not completing assignments. When you get closer and closer to the exams all teachers are going to give you more and more freedom in studying, so you could probably start exercising that freedom now. I think I'll probably continue doing the coursework myself, but I'll hold greater priority over studying how I want to instead with the homework assignments that Pamoja gives me. I actually really dislike Pamoja's layout when it comes to being able to study; the flashcards are really inconvenient so I barely use it in that respect. Let me know how everything goes though! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenUnicorn Posted February 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2015 I also take Mandarin ab initio online, and yeah, you're right, it can be a total burden because the responsibility is on you completely to actually do stuff. I used to leave my assignments to the very last minute without actually learning the vocab and I definitely sort of regret it now. I'm guessing that you've probably just had/already had your oral IA if you're doing the course with Pamoja, so it's just the two papers to study for now. At this point the coursework your online course will give you probably won't matter that much at all (unless you care a lot about your term grades), so if you end up skipping weekly assignments it shouldn't really matter (though it's probably best to do the past papers they give you which happen more towards the end). I have mocks in all subjects this week and I have skipped maybe 2 weeks worth of assignments, which really isn't great, but eh. So maybe it would be better on yourself to just concentrate on studying for the exam, rather than following what the online course is giving you. I mean, all the vocab is in the syllabus/guide, so just work on memorizing that and the grammatical structures that are important. This is probably a good idea if you've missed out on some vocab also from not completing assignments. When you get closer and closer to the exams all teachers are going to give you more and more freedom in studying, so you could probably start exercising that freedom now. I think I'll probably continue doing the coursework myself, but I'll hold greater priority over studying how I want to instead with the homework assignments that Pamoja gives me. I actually really dislike Pamoja's layout when it comes to being able to study; the flashcards are really inconvenient so I barely use it in that respect. Let me know how everything goes though! Thank you so much for your reply! Finally I found someone who's in the exact same situation as I am! I just had my IA yesterday and I felt horrible since I wasn't really sure of what I was saying and most of the time I just said sorry that I don't know. And yes, I totally agree with your opinion regarding on what you said about Pamoja. The slide is the worst part. Plus, the works given are pretty hard (in my opinion). I mean, we're taking other subjects too but it's not that hard, I guess? P/S: I just realized we have almost similar subjects except for History and Biology. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
splendipity Posted February 26, 2015 Report Share Posted February 26, 2015 Yeah, the IAs are super tricky... I missed out the entire bit where you're supposed to talk about your WA because I couldn't understand what the question was... I think we're basically all in the same boat with Pamoja, the bi-weekly conversation sessions didn't really prepare me for the actual IA, I don't think. I completely agree about the works being very difficult though! I've always struggled with Paper 1, and my mock went terribly. Even with things like Chemistry and Eng. Lang Lit (which we both take, yay! ) don't find myself in a situation where I have to guess half the things that are being said in the question... But you know the transcript of the sample IA that they gave us that got a grade 7? I read it over and I thought that there's no way that this can be ab initio, there was vocabulary in that transcript that we hadn't even been given, probably not even on the syllabus either... Crazy. I'll be pretty satisfied if I get a 6 in this subject, I reckon! 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenUnicorn Posted February 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2015 Yeah, the IAs are super tricky... I missed out the entire bit where you're supposed to talk about your WA because I couldn't understand what the question was... I think we're basically all in the same boat with Pamoja, the bi-weekly conversation sessions didn't really prepare me for the actual IA, I don't think. I completely agree about the works being very difficult though! I've always struggled with Paper 1, and my mock went terribly. Even with things like Chemistry and Eng. Lang Lit (which we both take, yay! ) don't find myself in a situation where I have to guess half the things that are being said in the question... But you know the transcript of the sample IA that they gave us that got a grade 7? I read it over and I thought that there's no way that this can be ab initio, there was vocabulary in that transcript that we hadn't even been given, probably not even on the syllabus either... Crazy. I'll be pretty satisfied if I get a 6 in this subject, I reckon! Exactly. I'm not looking forward in speaking Mandarin, at all. The course is fairly hard and the weekly tasks + vocabs are impossible for us to remember everything within one week! Btw, which major are you going for and which country are you heading to, for university? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
splendipity Posted February 28, 2015 Report Share Posted February 28, 2015 I'll be going to study Biomedical Sciences at university in the UK, hopefully! How about you? 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horserad1sh Posted February 28, 2015 Report Share Posted February 28, 2015 I also take mandarin ab initio. My advice is if you are struggling, it is worth investing time back into the core basics you did in year 10 and year 11. writing with the correct stroke order is A LOT MORE IMPORTANT than most people think. This is because you learn to break down characters into different "modules" which makes memorising easier as you progress. I also write out individual characters hundreds of times over the year to build it into muscle memory. The difference between group 2 subjects and others is that second language knowledge is cumulative. This makes it more difficult to a certain degree. Hope it helps. 2 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
behaaa Posted February 28, 2015 Report Share Posted February 28, 2015 I am not studying mandarin, but I am studying Japanese. and one thing that trips me up is memorizing all the kanji, and words. For that I can recommend you a great app called Anki, it uses Spatial Repetition System, which helps you remember (like flashcards). You can get it for free on your phone and for your laptop. 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horserad1sh Posted March 1, 2015 Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 I am not studying mandarin, but I am studying Japanese. and one thing that trips me up is memorizing all the kanji, and words. For that I can recommend you a great app called Anki, it uses Spatial Repetition System, which helps you remember (like flashcards). You can get it for free on your phone and for your laptop.Yeah Anki is good for memorising characters, but con is: doesn't help with sentence structures and grammar... so you can't really be reliant on anki Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
behaaa Posted March 1, 2015 Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 I am not studying mandarin, but I am studying Japanese. and one thing that trips me up is memorizing all the kanji, and words. For that I can recommend you a great app called Anki, it uses Spatial Repetition System, which helps you remember (like flashcards). You can get it for free on your phone and for your laptop.Yeah Anki is good for memorising characters, but con is: doesn't help with sentence structures and grammar... so you can't really be reliant on anki But you can have flash cards for sample sentences and audio, so that could help out as well Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenUnicorn Posted March 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 I'll be going to study Biomedical Sciences at university in the UK, hopefully! How about you? I'm going for Computer Engineering. I'm not quite sure where yet, I'll get to decide probably by May Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenUnicorn Posted March 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 I also take mandarin ab initio. My advice is if you are struggling, it is worth investing time back into the core basics you did in year 10 and year 11. writing with the correct stroke order is A LOT MORE IMPORTANT than most people think. This is because you learn to break down characters into different "modules" which makes memorising easier as you progress. I also write out individual characters hundreds of times over the year to build it into muscle memory. The difference between group 2 subjects and others is that second language knowledge is cumulative. This makes it more difficult to a certain degree. Hope it helps. Thank you for your opinion! Totally agree with your point on how this course is more difficult Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenUnicorn Posted March 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 I am not studying mandarin, but I am studying Japanese. and one thing that trips me up is memorizing all the kanji, and words. For that I can recommend you a great app called Anki, it uses Spatial Repetition System, which helps you remember (like flashcards). You can get it for free on your phone and for your laptop. I wish I could've taken Japanese. But my school doesn't provide my level of Japanese though. But I'm still studying Japanese at school so I kind of get what you're saying. The best way to study Japanese (especially kanji) is writing the kanji itself over and over again. 助言をã‚ã‚ŠãŒã¨ã†ï¼Türk müsünüz? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Djsporting Posted March 1, 2015 Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 Try producing study guides, and write texts in Mandarin. It might not seem like a very good way to study and improve your vocabulary, but it is believe me. Look at Past papers and try to do them. Use the translator if needed, but try to do it on your own (Sometimes using the translator can hel you to expand your vocab, at least in my case with Spanish) Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
behaaa Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 I am not studying mandarin, but I am studying Japanese. and one thing that trips me up is memorizing all the kanji, and words. For that I can recommend you a great app called Anki, it uses Spatial Repetition System, which helps you remember (like flashcards). You can get it for free on your phone and for your laptop. I wish I could've taken Japanese. But my school doesn't provide my level of Japanese though. But I'm still studying Japanese at school so I kind of get what you're saying. The best way to study Japanese (especially kanji) is writing the kanji itself over and over again. 助言をã‚ã‚ŠãŒã¨ã†ï¼Türk müsünüz? ã©ã„ãŸã—ã¾ã—ã¦ï¼ãƒˆãƒ«ã‚³äººã˜ã‚ƒãªã„ã€ç§ã¯ã‚¦ã‚ºãƒ™ã‚³äººã§ã™ã€‚I tried learning the kanji that way but my progress was really slow. Now I use a book called remembering the kanji by Heisig, which creates mnemonics using the primitive elements of the kanji in order to help with memorising them. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 Read read and read. and read and read and read. Chinese is really all about reading and recognizing the characters. åŠ æ²¹ Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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