BEWARE!

The end of the term is the first week we come back from Christmas break. BE PREPARED FOR IT! Make sure you have all of your assignments and homework points in, and tests made up. Time is running out, so use it wisely.

Before-break schedule

CHINESE ONE:

Wednesday Dec. 10th - More practice writing, reading, and listening to sentences. Review game.
Friday Dec. 12th - Tai Qi, practice listening comprehension; powerpoint and computer programs.
Tuesday Dec. 16th - Food test, focus on the usage.
Thursday Dec. 18th - Last day before break, will get new vocab sheet to practice with over the break (Dates and times!) Singing Christmas songs in Chinese, a little bit of culture and a taste (very small!) of some of these foods we've learned about.

CHINESE TWO:

Wednesday Dec. 10th - Vocab kaoshi on the xuexiao unit. Begin practicing using these words and grammar principles.
Friday Dec. 12th - Tai Qi, a bit of review of the previous characters; begin learning new character unit (adjectives). (whiteboards)
Tuesday Dec. 16th - review some of the new characters; work on sentences in the school unit
Thursday Dec. 18th - last day before break. Christmas songs in Chinese, a little bit of culture, and Christmas character writing.

Gan En Jie Kuai Le!

Here's a good practice for you. Read it through, see how much you can understand, and then create your own list. :) (p.s. Sorry there are no tones. I haven't figured out how to post with tones - not even sure if it is possible.)

Wo hen gan en you feichang hao de jiating. Tamen zhen de hen bang! Wo ye gan en you zui hao de xian sheng. Wo hen ai ta. Wo gan en wo huai yun le. Women xia tian de shihou hui you xiao haizi (xiao "baby" [said with a Chinese accent...]). Wo gan en wo hen jiankang; wo jiu you yidian bushufu. Wo gan en you hao de shiwu. Wo hen xihuan cai, shuiguo, mianbao, huoji, stuffing (I don't know the Chinese for that one), deng yi deng. Wo feichang gan en you Tian Fu. Ta gei wo zui duo er zui hao de zhufu, li liang, he cibei. Wo hen ai ta.

Wo zhu nimen dou gan en jie kuai le!

Back up and running!

Ok, so I promise to be better about posting here. To my students: DON'T FORGET TO PRACTICE OVER THE BREAK! You can have Thanksgiving Day off, but don't let that get you out of the habit. Better to practice too much than too little, right?

Jia you! (It's a phrase of encouragement)

Chinese I: change of schedule

As most of you noticed, the vocab test was today, and thus the actual unit test will NOT be next time. So it's ok, you can stop sweating bullets. We'll just push back the schedule a few days and be fine with that. I expect to take the test next Wednesday (October 15th). So be prepared for that! Great job on the test today guys!

Book List

You can try to find these books anywhere, from any library; but be flexible in case you can't find the one you first choose! Most of you already have a book anyway, but if you don't have one yet, or you change your mind and want to switch books, here is a list already checked out with me:
(It is listed title author - (and maybe a brief description)
Fiction
The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck - (ancient china)
Brothers: a novel Da Chen -(cultural revolution)
Knife Edge Douglas Reeman - (Hong Kong and Britain)
Bound Donna Jo Napoli
Chu Ju's House Gloria Whelan
Sons of Heaven: a novel Terrence Cheng - (Tiananmen Square)
The Kite Rider: a novel Geraldine McCaughrean - (13th century china)
The Master of Rain Tom Bradby
Lili: a novel of Tiananmen Annie Wang
Ties that bind, ties that break: a novel Lensey Namioka
The excluded wife Yuen-fong Woon
Mei Fuh: memories from China Edith Schaeffer
The middle heart Bette Lord
The plum in the golden vase, or, Chin P'ing Mei Hsiao-hsiao-sheng
Flashman and the dragon George MacDonald Fraser
Noble house: a novel of contemporary Hong Kong James Clavell
Snowflakes Shuo Yang
Three kingdoms: China's epic drama Guanzhong Luo
The Time of the Dragon Dorothy Eden
Tai-Pan: a novel of Hong Kong James Clavell
The Bonesetter's daughter Amy Tan
The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan
The Hundred Secret Senses Amy Tan
The Kitchen God's Wife Amy Tan

Non-Fiction
Wild Swans: three daughters of China Jung Chang
Mao: the unknown story Jung Chang
Struggling giant: China in the 21st Century Kerry Brown
Dragon rising: an inside look at China today Jasper Becker
One China, many paths Chaohua Wang - (collection of essays)
China: empire and civilization Edward Shaughnessy
Understanding contemporary China Robert E. Gamer
The Subject of gender: daughters and mothers in urban China Harriet Evans
Qian zi wen yu Gui xun qian zi wen / Master essays in a thousand characters trans. Herbert Allen Giles
Gentlemen's prescriptions for women's lives: a thousand years of biographies of Chinese women Sherry J. Mou

So there you go! Have fun; these books are meant to broaden your minds, improve your reading (because if you can read well, you will write and remember things better), and help you get a little different taste of China. Happy reading!

October 1st

Shi yue kuai le! Today in chinese one we practiced the vocabulary and reviewed it's usage. In chinese two we wrote a short story (10 sentences) using the character vocab we've been reviewing, and then started (or re-started from last year) the unit on hobbies. Since it's not entirely new, the vocab test will also be on Tuesday for Chinese two students. Enjoy the first day of October!

Countdown

The vocab test for Chinese one is coming up soon! Instead of Wednesday (as I was late getting you the vocab sheets) it is scheduled for Tuesday, October 7. Be Prepared!

Huan Ying!!

Nimen hao! Zhe shi Lone Peak High School de Zhongwen blog! Here will be posted announcements, practice ideas and helps, a review of what we did in class, revised schedules, etc. So stay tuned!!