Excelling in Learning Chinese
Excellence is what humans strive for; it is often achieved through a lot of persistence. It may differ for different people because it is the best that they can do. Here is my excellence in the 9th grade:
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Learning a new language can be tough. If you have an interest for it though, it makes it easier to learn. I think that the Chinese teacher did a good job keeping us engaged. One of the projects that we worked on was the Rap Project. The Rap Project required us to create a rap song, which would be performed in Chinese. I was lucky to work with a skilled group, who had the expertise in cinematography/producing music. We worked well together, as each person in the group was bringing something new to the group. My Chinese vocabulary was an asset, so I contributed in making the lyrics. Our end project turned out to be excellent. Many people complimented us on this video. The best part was that we were able to apply our knowledge into something that we appreciated. The rap is a good way to memorize Chinese vocabulary. This Rap Project is best understood when the video (down below) is watched.
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Another indication that I did well in Chinese this year is the IPA. The IPA is a test which stands for Integrated Performance Assessment. The goal of the IPA is to assess if you can understand and translate a Chinese conversation, if you can write a letter discussing different topics, and if you can hold a conversation in Chinese. The IPA tested the knowledge we had gained and were good indicators of where we were, and what we needed to work on. I felt comfortable with this type of testing. I usually scored very high in all the areas. My IPA grade average is 99%. A result of this was being able to help other people learn Chinese! Peer Tutoring is a mid-day event that I attended to help a tutee. This was a great time for me to practice myself.
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The Rap Project and IPA were just two examples of the progress I made in Chinese this year. They encapsulate two different sides of the whole experience: projects and test-taking. We also did many in-class activities, which I hoped to show. I cannot because they are done in-class, meaning that there is no video evidence of it. Since the Rap Project was displayable, it is easy to see how we excelled in the project. The grade that we get on the IPA is also an obvious measure of how well we did in Chinese. While excelling in 9th grade, I am even more excited about the projects we might do next year!
Rap Project
A video was played on the screen, which showed a conversation between two Chinese speaking individuals. We then had to answer the questions on page above. These questions were testing your ability to interpret Chinese.
We were assigned a partner to talk to, and had to be able to hold the conversation listed above. This tested if you were able to hold a conversation in Chinese. The bottom half of the page is a letter I wrote, to make plans with a friend. This tested if you were able to write the Chinese characters.
A video was played on the screen, which showed a conversation between two Chinese speaking individuals. We then had to answer the questions on page above. These questions were testing your ability to interpret Chinese.