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Teaching myself Mandarin SL


Ryoika

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Why don't you discuss this with your school coordinator, without appearing to criticize your Mandarin teacher?

You are, after all, concerned with your learning: so talk not in terms of your final grades but in terms of your learning and education. The IB coordinator in my school usually worked on our behalf but never against another teacher. She was very good at conveying our worries. I am not sure all coordinators are like this. She was quite diplomatic too, which went over well with teachers.

In this case, seeking out the coordinator might be your best alternative. You've already approached the teacher about the issue, so are not really going behind her back. You were not given any constructive alternatives. And it is clear that you are not just trying to get away with doing less--in fact you want to do more! And you want to be taken seriously. Now try the next logical step: go to the next level to be heard.

So,if you are open (as you have been here), uncritical of your teacher (tread softly, but confidently) and show that you concerned with your learning and doing the best you can - no one can complain about your attitude. ;) Good luck!

Edited by Blackcurrant
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  • 2 weeks later...

My teacher got me to practise writing lots of essays with the past exam papers and to articulate my ideas effectively when given a picture. Do many practise exams, and in terms of vocab... I didn't need much help with that because I speak mandarin. But I reckon that reading while looking up vocab is a fast way of learning new characters. Hope this helped :)

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I guess what I can say is pretty obvious but learn vocab that apply to the core and options topics mentioned in the Language B syllabus.

I just sat my language B exam and when going through past papers, I notice there is nearly always a text on the environment, culture (talking about some country eg. Singapore they seem to like including Singapore a lot) and a text on technology and it's use (eg. computers, phones).

Same goes for Paper 2 essay, it can involve topics on culture, health, technology etc.

I found that going through as many texts as possible, circling words I didn't know and looking them up helped to expand my vocab.

I know how you feel, my teacher just let us do whatever because majority of our class are native speakers except me, so I struggled a bit too!

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My mandarin teacher does exactly the same. She prints out copies from her books and make us read it. For me, it doesn't really help because it's so boring (we do that like every lesson)

Books that we used - Chinese made easy book 5 & 6, Boya Chinese blue book

I think the best way is to do past papers, learn vocab (try to give yourself a spelling test after learning new words) and just read and remember words.

I speak mandarin so it's ok for me but my friends in class learn really fast if they try to make a conversation in mandarin.

Self study may be a little bit difficult unless you have someone to guide you.. just to know where you're going and what you're doing right/wrong. Maybe write more essays to practice your writing and ask your teacher to mark it.

Good luck! x

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My mandarin teacher does exactly the same. She prints out copies from her books and make us read it. For me, it doesn't really help because it's so boring (we do that like every lesson)

Books that we used - Chinese made easy book 5 & 6, Boya Chinese blue book

I think the best way is to do past papers, learn vocab (try to give yourself a spelling test after learning new words) and just read and remember words.

I speak mandarin so it's ok for me but my friends in class learn really fast if they try to make a conversation in mandarin.

Self study may be a little bit difficult unless you have someone to guide you.. just to know where you're going and what you're doing right/wrong. Maybe write more essays to practice your writing and ask your teacher to mark it.

Good luck! x

My mandarin teacher does exactly the same. She prints out copies from her books and make us read it. For me, it doesn't really help because it's so boring (we do that like every lesson)

Books that we used - Chinese made easy book 5 & 6, Boya Chinese blue book

I think the best way is to do past papers, learn vocab (try to give yourself a spelling test after learning new words) and just read and remember words.

I speak mandarin so it's ok for me but my friends in class learn really fast if they try to make a conversation in mandarin.

Self study may be a little bit difficult unless you have someone to guide you.. just to know where you're going and what you're doing right/wrong. Maybe write more essays to practice your writing and ask your teacher to mark it.

Good luck! x

LOL I'm doing Chinese Made Easy too! XD

It's a good book, but sometimes it's so frustrating because it's originally for Hong Kong people, so they just assume that students know

words that they haven't taught and puts random new words (not in lesson) to confuse people.

Well, thx for your advise!

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