3 Other Ways to Learn Chinese

Intro:

我在高中第一次学中文的时候，我经常用我的记忆力学中文，但是中文课一点一点变成得更多困难。结果，这种情况迫使了我发现新的方法学中文。所以，我跟你今天要分享三个学中文的其它方法。

1. 声音联想 (Sound Association)

第一是声音联想。这个方法包括: 类似的声音、经验、和观感。

比如:

o   我在Kumon学习数学和阅读的时候，我很苦闷，因为他们给了我太多的功课。

o   如果你计划参观Maui, 你应该带一件毛衣，因为Haleakala很冷。

o   Dakota Fanning 得到她的电影奖以后，有开心的反应。

2. 汉字图画 (Chinese character pictures)

第二。汉字不只是笔画和线条，也是漂亮的艺术名作。这是ShaoLan对汉字的印象和用这个看法做汉字图画叫“Chineasy"。"Chineasy" 是一个视觉的学习系统教汉字、简单的故事和短语。

ShaoLan 说："我要人们懂中国、中文和中国文化，不迷失在翻译 ("I want people to understand China, Chinese and Chinese culture without getting lost in translation"). 

3. 短故事/短电影 (Short Story/Short Film)

第三。使用新词汇做短故事或者电影。这是一部我自己做的短电影。它是婚和恋的爱情故事。

Conclusion:

而且，

如果你还是觉得你的中文不好，不用担心。

Combining The Arts and Sciences

Although we are naturally born to be three-dimensional thinkers, we still somehow like to separate everything and place things into their own categories, especially the arts and sciences.

Most people see science as being more analytical while art is more creative and therefore, totally separate entities. However, it turns out that science needs art just as much as art needs science. They are actually interdependent on each other.

For instance, the fiction stories found in novels like Harry Potter often have some element of imagination (in this case, witchcraft and magic) which many readers will consider as art. However, creating fiction stories require an increasing amount of research on the author's part. In addition to this, imagination also requires knowledge in order for it to work. Imagination cannot work solely on its' own and neither can science.

In the case of science, art is often used to enhance the text that author's and publisher's present in science textbooks. If they were to only include text about the subject without any detailed illustrations and graphs of the concepts they present, most people would never understand concepts like DNA transcription and physics projectiles. No one would probably even bother to pick up a science textbook if this were the case. This also doesn't suit people who have different learning styles-- those who are more visual learners.

The difficulty with this kind of integration of the arts and sciences is that our society and the culture in our society often places higher value on the sciences which is now referred to as "STEM" or science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Many schools across the United States as well as in other countries around the world are currently trying to implement more of these "STEM" programs in high schools, universities and are even promoting it to students as young as elementary school age. There's nothing wrong with trying to implementing and encouraging students to study the  "STEM" curriculum. However, schools shouldn't only be focusing on just teaching students about science. Rather, schools need to develop and then, implement a curriculum that includes a plate of diversity-- one that includes both science and art.

It shouldn't stop there. Many schools and universities will claim that: "Yes, we already have the curriculum that teaches both subjects,"  but an even larger problem is that schools, parents and our society does not teach our world's youth about the interrelatedness and interconnectedness of art and science. They only teach them how to separate the two, categorize them and treat them as two completely different fields of study.

The College Experience at The University of Hawai'i at Manoa

 

PHYS 151 Lecture class at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa

Of course, college is not always fun at times-- the homework, the one-hour and 20 minute lectures; and the 3 hour science labs. However, there are many ways you can have fun while also learning something valuable.

Here is a list of things you can do to enrich your college experience:

1. Be Bold, Take a Risk and Give Non-major Related Courses a Chance
Don't just take courses that you need for your major. Try to diversify your schedule and explore new classes and academic departments that are of interest to you and/or courses that you have never heard of, but are curious about. Don't be afraid to step out of your field of study. If you have an interest in literature, art, science, and/or history, etc., don't hesitate and take the initiative to enroll yourself in these classes while you're still in college. It will also help broaden your mind and help you to see things from different perspectives, so that you can apply the knowledge you learn in these classes to the classes related to your field of study as well as to the field of study called "life".

The UH Manoa campus, in particular, has a number of amazing life-changing classes to enroll in. UH Manoa is also known for its' challenging curriculum in the arts, literatures and languages.

Recently, the university has been recognized as a teaching university specifically in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature and has been granted permission to teach a professional Chinese curriculum under a national flagship program. This program aims to increase students' language proficiency level in Mandarin Chinese, so that each student can use their language knowledge in any sector of work that they choose to do. Students will also get free Chinese tutoring and this program will require students to take their major-related courses with instruction in Chinese. For example, if you are a Biology major, you have to take some Biology courses that are taught in Chinese to stay in the flagship program.

Here are some of the most interesting courses I've taken throughout my earlier years in college:
1. Biomimicry (Zoology)
2. Structure of Chinese (Chinese Linguistics)
3. Chinese Semantics and Communication (Chinese Linguistics)
4. Stories of Personal Peace (Peace and Conflict Education)
5. Introduction to Women's Studies (Women's Studies)
6. Introduction to Sociology (Sociology)
7. Dystopian Fiction (English)
8. Asian American Literature (English)

2. Get Involved and Be an Active Participant on Campus

Here are some of the coolest ways to get involved around campus:
1. Get involved in student government
2. Write for the college newspaper (they always need students to write a good story! This is not limited to writing, you can be a photographer, a comic artist, etc. So many different things to do!!)
3. Start your own club/organization (video game, dance, journalism, major-related clubs, etc.)
4. Join an athletic team (swimming, golf, cross country, soccer, etc.)
5. Volunteer (be a tutor on campus for difficult subjects, library volunteer, etc.)
6. Get an on-campus job (If you love to eat, why not work at your favorite eatery on campus?)
7. Study Abroad (travel around the world with a group of travel savvy students)
8. Participate in Internships
9. Do undergraduate research
10. Keep an eye out for giveaways, prizes and events around campus (talent shows, raffle drawings, social events, dances, movie night screenings)
11. Be a peer mentor or a peer-counselor (help students transition from high school to college life, give academic advice to fellow students and direct them to the right resources to achieve college success, etc.)
12. Be a campus tour guide for prospective students (help students navigate the campus, share your own experiences and what you've learned in college so far, give insight into what student life is really like. What are the best eateries on campus?)

3. Be Your Best Self and Have Confidence in What You Know. Then, Inspire Others To Do The Same.
Most Importantly, be your best self every single day and inspire others around you to do the same. Be an advocate for change in your college community.

College: The 4-year Pathway

 

Year 1 (Freshman)

This is one of the most exciting, but also one of the most anxiety-provoking years of your college experience because you are still transitioning from high school to college life. You may know recognize a few of your high school classmates and friends, but you may not know the majority of the students attending your university. You also have no clue as to where all your classes are. Your classes, your teachers and your environment are all new and this can often be intimidating. 

Solution: familiarize yourself with your university and network with other students and teachers who will help you to feel more comfortable and show you around the campus. Sooner or later, you will know how your university's system works as well as all of the cool hot spots around campus to buy lunch. Just don't rush yourself in trying to join on-campus clubs yet. That can be saved for your second year. It is important to focus on your schoolwork and be informed about what your university has to offer. 

Year 2 (Sophomore)

Okay, so you are already familiar with your university's system inside and out. Your second year is about keeping up-to-date with all your academic progress and making sure that you have completed your prerequisites for your major. This year is pretty much a continuation of your first year. However, you have to make sure that you have officially documented your major at your university and that you have decided  to continue studying your chosen major. Go to your academic adviser if you need assistance in creating your four-year plan or need to track your academic progress for both major and general education requirements.

In addition to keeping track of your academic progress, your sophomore year is a great time to join some on-campus clubs that you may find interesting. There are a variety of different clubs to choose, so don't limit yourself and be open-minded. The University of Hawai'i, in particular, has over 1,000 different clubs including an array of major-related clubs, service clubs, religious-affiliated clubs and athletic clubs.

  

Year 3 (Junior)

Your Junior year is when you can finally take all of those non-introductory and upper-level courses that you've been dying to take ever since you were a freshman. Take a bunch of different classes and again, stay open-minded; and expect the unexpected. Junior year is stressful and involves a lot more studying, but it can also be fun if you make it fun. If you are taking a bunch of science classes or difficult classes, also incorporate a few easy classes to create balance in your academic schedule. This will also help to take off some of the stress load, so that you can still have some leisure time to spend time with friends and family; and to spare you some time to do your hobby. 

Experiences of a CSL Student (一位中文学生的经验)

Learning any language is very difficult and often frustrating for many people. Foreign students or English second language students (ESL) who come to an American or European university to study often find it difficult to learn English. However, it's not only foreign students who find it difficult to learn new languages, but American students studying other languages besides English also find it just as difficult, particularly Chinese second language students (CSL). 

In most American high schools, students are required to take two consistent years of the same language, so each student must carefully choose which language he/she would like to study during those two years. Many schools offer a selection of different languages including Spanish, Japanese, Chinese and occasionally, Hawaiian as well as many other languages. In the high school that I attended, in particular, I decided to study Mandarin Chinese because I wanted to learn more about their culture, customs and language. I didn't know what to expect on the first day of class and I came to find out that studying Mandarin Chinese was even harder than I thought it would be. At first, I felt frustrated learning the language because it was so different from English-- the sentence structure wasn't straight forward, the pinyin and tone marks made everything more confusing and writing the characters was extremely time-consuming. However, I constantly studied and went around my house trying to name every item in Chinese. "Pencil. Bi 毛笔... Book. Shu 书..." Besides doing this, I also had to come up with a fun studying method to make it easier to remember all the characters and how to pronounce them. For instance, take the word "外头 wai tou" which in English means outside. In Chinese, "wai tou" sounds like "wide toad", so imagine how massive this toad would be if you had it as an indoor pet. The toad is too wide to live inside, so it has to live "outside". 

The more and more I kept making up these fun ways to learn Chinese, learning the language was not only more fun, but it also grew on me and I ended up studying beyond the two year high school requirement and then, eventually studying it at the university. 

Although Chinese can be somewhat difficult at times, learning it as well as learning any new language can be an enriching experience and it's an experience that I highly recommend. Learning a new language will not only help you in your professional career, but it will also help you to see the world from a different perspective. You will also meet a diversity of people who are willing to learn and teach; and it will open a door to new opportunities to study abroad and travel with other students with similar interests. 

How to Make Reading Fun

Have you ever had those moments when you would have to re-read a line of text, a paragraph or even an entire page? This often happens when you are daydreaming or thinking about something else while you are reading. Reading can often be a very difficult task, especially when you have to read a book that you are required to read for class.  so in order to help you stay focused on the task ahead, use these strategies to keep your focus on what you are reading:

1. Keep a Pencil in Hand At all Times

If you are reading a print or hard copy book, always have a pencil or pen with you while you are reading, so that you can keep track of what's happening throughout the story. You can also jot down important notes on the side margins about the characters, important details and useful quotes that you can easily refer to later whenever you need them. This will help you do be an active reader while also help you to slow down your reading.

2. Create a Mental Picture

Instead of reading the text fast and rushing through all the words, slow down your reading and create a mental image. For each word and sentence, create a visual that you can associate them with. For example, if the sentence you are reading states, "When the boy was almost about to take a drink of his hot cocoa, his sister comes running through the kitchen and accidentally spills his cocoa onto the floor," focus on understanding your characters and your setting. Who is this story about? A brother and a sister. Where are we? In a kitchen. What is happening? The boy's sister ran into the kitchen and he wasn't expecting it. Then, after collecting the basic picture, try to create a clearer mental picture by asking what the kitchen might have looked like. How might the characters look? Did anyone get hurt?

3. Buy or Make Your Own Bookmark

Usually, bookmarks are not too expensive, but if you think that they don't meet your budget or can't find one that you like, you can make your own bookmark using card stock and other crafty, household materials. This will help to make the book you are reading more customized and feel more personalized. 

4. Relate What You Have Read Back to Your Experiences

The most effective method is to relate some of your experiences back to what you have read. This will help you to not only have sympathy for the character, but it will help you to temporarily become the character; and from this, you will be able to see their world more clearly and get a deeper insight into their thoughts, feelings and emotions as they experience them. 

How to Find Personal Peace

Although everyone has a different way of finding personal peace. However, finding it or getting it back may not always be that easy.

Here are some ways that you can regain your sense of personal peace:

1. Listen to Your Favorite Music
Whether you like to listening to pop, indie or hip hop music, turn on your favorite song while you are riding in the car or on the bus. While you are listening to the song, close your eyes and sink yourself into the music. Imagine that you are the singer of that song. Then, create a mental image of what you might be wearing, whether or not you are dancing while singing, what your setting might be like. This will help you to escape from all your stress and whatever you were thinking about prior to this. Listen to the lyrics and the melody. What is the song saying? Then, relate your own experiences back to the song.

2. Get a Hobby
There's nothing more enjoyable than doing something that you actually like during your free time from school and work. If you enjoy leisure reading, take a trip to your local bookstore and browse all the aisles to find that hit bestseller that you've been waiting to read all these years. If you enjoy dancing, join a dance club at your school's campus or in your community's recreational center. There are usually a variety of dance clubs and classes that you can join. Plus, you'll get a great workout at the same time. If you don't have a hobby, but really want one, try to do a lot of different things in order to find your hobby. Ask yourself what kinds of things you are good in. What are your talents? skills? interests? strengths? Once you know your interests, finding your hobby will be a piece of cake.

3. Meditate
In order to let go of all your worries, do some meditation exercises which will help you to stay calm and keep your mind, body and soul happy. Although listening to music is one way of meditating, there are many other ways to meditate-- dancing, eating, exercising, playing a sport, reading, etc. Meditation has no limit. If you like to write, write about your day and your feelings--whether you are feeling angry, sad, happy...write whatever is on your mind and just spill it out on paper. This way, those thoughts will no longer be bothersome and annoying whenever you have to concentrate on your work or on your task. Just make sure that whatever type of meditation you choose, it suits your interests and it is something that you actually enjoy.

4. Go to Your Favorite Place
Is there a specific place where you can go to unwind and feel the most at peace? If so, spend some time there and be the observer. If your favorite place is the beach or near the ocean, set up a beach chair on the sand and watch the waves as they crash together and make their way back to the shoreline. As you watch the crashing waves, simultaneously let go of your worries and leave your stresses behind you; and let the ocean wash them away.

5. Create a Personal Peace Banner for Your Room

Buy a piece of fabric or canvas and decorate it using some colorful sharper markers. Draw what personal peace means to you. After you have finished designing it, you can hang your banner in your room. This is a great reminder of how you find your own personal peace and it helps you to stay true to yourself in times of struggle.

6. Volunteer in Your Community

Helping out your community is a great way to find personal peace because it will not only make you feel happy, but you will also make the person you are helping to be happy as well. Volunteer in something that you enjoy doing and that best suits your interests. There are a vast range of volunteer opportunities. If you are a pre-medical student and have interests in medicine, volunteer at your local hospital. If you have a passion for math, volunteer to be a math tutor at your school. The possibilities are endless.

7. Care for a Plant/Pet

Although getting a pet is a lot of responsibility, a pet can be a great addition to your life and your pet can be a great friend to have, especially when you are feeling down. If you decide that you don't want a pet, you can grow a plant or a garden. I recommend buying an older-looking sweet potato from your local farmer's market and growing potato slips directly from that sweet potato. It's an amazing event to watch how much your sweet potato will grow. The more you care for it and nurture it, the more it will grow. 

Sweet potato slips grown from an actual sweet potato that was bought at a local farmer's market.
If you want to grow your own, you'll need: a container, rocks, water, a sweet potato and sunlight.

It's Okay to Be An "Introvert"

Was there ever anyone-- either in your elementary or high school class who would always be reluctant to raise their hand? Did you ever meet or personally get to know someone who would always choose to sit by themselves at the lunch table, quietly sinking themselves into what they considered as a good book rather than socializing with a group of friends? 

Many times, these "shy" or "quiet" kids at school are ostracized by their classmates and are often viewed as incapable, disconnected, uninterested, unintelligent and sometimes, even snobbish. These kids are also being ignored by their peers and teachers, left only with the heavy feeling of isolation and abnormality. More often than not, these "shy" and "quiet" kids are the opposite from all of these negative stereotypes.

 Negative stereotypes such as these are continuously being circulated and further heightened by the media which inaccurately displays and portrays the nature and personalities of those who have a more "quiet" demeanor. As a result of such negative portrayals and stereotypes reinforced by the media, young children learn from an early age that being "extroverted" in this world and in this society is a must. They immediately learn that being "extroverted" is the ideal and often associate being "extroverted" with being more "likable" and "popular". For instance, a majority of the shows airing on television are often about the lives of "extroverted" people and characters which is problematic because this only shows half of the whole picture in regards to the diversity and complexity of human personalities.

As my young 14-year-old self, I used to come home from a long day of school to eat dinner while comfortably watching the Disney hit tv show, "Hannah Montana" starring Miley Cyrus which I now admit was one of my favorite tv shows of all time. I remember how much I couldn't wait for the newest episode whenever it was announced. It was always one of the things that made me excited. However, I never wanted to admit that this was my favorite show because I felt embarrassed for still watching the Disney channel as a teenager. In addition to this, my classmates never made it an easy thing to admit either. While they only viewed me as the as "the girl who didn't talk to anybody and liked to play with dolls and watch the Disney channel", my classmates never really understood the feelings and frustrations that went along with being an "introvert" in an "extroverted" world.

When you are an "introvert", it sometimes feels as though the world has turned against you and I think that's the main reason why I loved watching the Disney channel so much. I admired those who were more "extroverted" and I wanted to be like them. I wanted to be that rock star who could confidently sing to millions of people without getting any stage fright. When you don't meet the "extrovert" ideal or standard, it feels isolating, dark and you just feel lost, cold and scared all the time. If you can imagine walking through a pitch black tunnel or a cave where there is only you and the darkness, it's the same exact feeling. These were my initial feelings. I felt like I was lost and confused. I couldn't find my way out and these burdening feelings would never disappear. They felt eerily haunting almost as if there was some sort of dark cloud over my head. No sunshine. No rays of light. Nothing. Only the presence of silence and darkness; and every once in a while, animal sounds filled in the empty space where the darkness resided. Whenever, I tried to escape and push my way through the small crevices between each rock wall, those small crevices felt like they were becoming even smaller. It left me with a painful, uncomfortable feeling. At the beginning, being an "introvert" was never a great experience. It was always a daunting task to work in groups with my other classmates whenever we had an in-class assignment. It was even more daunting whenever I had to present a speech and whenever I actually had to have a conversation with my classmates. American schools have designed each classroom in ways that are more suitable for "extroverts"-- the desks facing toward each other to encourage group work rather than independent studying, all of the in-class presentations and debates, etc. All of this was too stimulating for my mind to soak in.

[New stimulation occurs] Still processing... please wait... [another stimulation occurs] processing...your software will be downloaded in a moment...

I'm sorry. Your software has failed to download. Please try again later.
 
My mind failed at downloading the codes to my real identity because I kept downloading a bunch of unnecessary, foreign software that came from other people. I kept listening and taking in what everyone else was telling me of who I should be-- that I should be more "talkative" and "outgoing"-- the "extroverted" personality rather than listening to my body, mind, heart and soul. When you don't listen to your own self, this is when the CPU starts to go haywire and that's where things get the most dangerous. Eventually, I started thinking that I was "quiet", "shy", "boring" and "incapable of talking". Later, I became all of these things. At first, I was accepting and content with being these things because I thought they were all accurate descriptions of who I was as a person. However, I later realized during my second year of college that I had created my own destructive, stereotype that was programmed to discriminate and annihilate my own identity; and from there, I knew that I needed a way out of this. That is how I came across my university's student counseling center which was very shocking and uncomfortable at first. I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest every step that I took down the long, narrow hallway to the office. After making inside the office, I walked up to the sign-in desk and went speechless...um...um...only silence...After about 5 minutes of waiting, I met with one of the counselor's who asked me about my personal background in order to get to know me better. Family? Friends? School? Thoughts? It felt as though there was no end. At that moment, I for the first time, understood what it was like to be interrogated by someone although I knew she was trying to help me to accept myself.

That was one of the moments that I think helped in my transformation from a caterpillar to a monarch butterfly. It was one of those moments that you never want to experience again. The feeling like you've been caught or arrested and find yourself sitting in jail, feeling guilty about what you've done and never wanting to repeat the same thing over again. It's sort of like the feelings that one experiences as they grieve about the death of their loved one-- the stages of grief. There was a sense of loss and all the baggage that came along with it-- all the emotions, the feelings and all the tears that you just can't hold back even as hard as you try to conceal them. Soon enough, there comes a point where all of this baggage can no longer be lifted and needs to be removed and for me, that baggage was the fact that I wasn't being accepting of myself. I was desperately searching for my way home.    

Home, to me, doesn't only mean a literal house with a bunch of rooms and a family living in it, but I also see home as a metaphor for finding one's niche and purpose in life as well as finding and re-defining one's identity. Home is a maternal safe zone. It's a comfort zone where you can personalize and customize your own self-identity. It's where you can choose all the paint colors and choose which furniture you want to put inside of it. You have total control of the entire project. For me, "home" is that space where I can be the most creative without anyone telling me what I can and cannot do; and how I should do it. "Home" is the place where I can live in my imagination and in my fantasy world while also still living in the present moment-- in reality. "Home" is where I can become the character and write the story that I would want to read.

I have now realized that it's okay to be an "introvert" and it makes life even more exciting and colorful. In addition to this, there are many perks to being an "introvert" which many people don't know about. Just remember, that you are the only author of your story and that no one can write it for you. You just have to learn how to trust yourself and have faith in your abilities-- whether you want to become a writer or a physician or even both. You have to know your strengths and weaknesses and then when you do, you need to work on your weaknesses and sharpen your strengths. At the end of the day, that's what will help you to find your "home".