This Tuesday we will learn about writing characters with a brush. It will give us a chance to reinforce previous vocabulary and to add some new basic spoken words through a hands-on task-based approach. Plus, (as always) more Chinese tea, treats and a brief, but insightful cultural presentation.
**During the 2 hours we are building up practical vocabulary. A few characters will be taught as well as an expanation of the culture surrounding the words. We have already had some good questions and discussions about politeness in Chinese interaction and 'who speaks what Chinese where,' to name only two. We hope to incorporate as much language practice with activities and food as we can. We are geared toward intelligent beginners or those who already know a little and want to improve speaking and pronunciation. Proposed topics are: Tea, Food, Geography, Chinese Zodiac, Geography, Chinese Tatoos, and many more to come. Christy is a college student from Taiwan who is fun, bubbly and loves to teach. Her English level is great. Dave will also share teaching and planning responsibilities and has lived and studied Chinese in Taiwan for 6 years. Our schedule is Tuesdays 7-9p until we have enough members to add another night. We are shooting for 10-12 students each meeting max and are setting a minimum age at high school, preferring college age or older. We are assuming all are starting from zero Chinese ability, but hope to accomodate those with a little knowledge. The focus will be speaking, but there will be some time devoted to characters. We will use the pinyin method (looks like the English alphabet) of writing Chinese that they use in China. If you pay in advance it will be $60 for 4 classes. If you just want to pay as you go it is $20 per class. Website photo by Laurenz Bobke, Wiesbaden, Germany. http://www.free-photos.org/Link.php