One remarkable improvement in my language learning is definitely my mindset. Before I joined this class, I had not been learning Chinese for more than two years. Therefore, when I first attended the class, I was so scared of speaking Mandarin and overwhelmed by how well my classmates spoke Mandarin. I even once thought of withdrawing from this course and attending the lower level. However, because the department said I could only attend 300 levels based on the result of the placement test, I had no choice but to take this course. To be honest, at first, the workload and the content of the class were so heavy for me, and sometimes I felt I was not being able to catch up with the classes, but as I saw my classmates trying so hard to speak Mandarin as much as possible, I was inspired and motivated to do the same. Also, I really like the environment in which laoshi pushed students to get out of their comfort zone and let students learn from their mistakes, and after we managed to complete the question, we celebrated together. This safe environment let me overcome the feeling of being scared of making mistakes. As a result, my Chinese improved much faster in terms of speaking and writing than I thought, and my parents also feel happy about that. From this course, I think I learned a few important tips. First, being an active learner. Though the learning material provided by laoshi was so well contented if I had not had the motivation to learn the most out of it, I would not have been able to improve that much. So, mindset, or attitude toward what we want learn is very important, I think. Secondly, learning with friends with the same goal is not only fun but also a fast way to improve myself. I really learned a lot from my classmates like learning attitudes, new vocabulary and so on, which I would never have obtained if I had studied by myself. Last but not least, even if something seemed impossible at a first glance, once you give it a try and work hard, almost nothing is impossible at all. Thus, I think not being too timid and being courageous is so important in learning languages.
What I enjoyed in the classes is practicing Chinese with my classmates. Since we share the same interest, we can help each other out if there is something we can not understand. This is really meaningful and joyful for me because I always feel connected with my classmates and can realize I am not the only one who is struggling.
My next goal for learning Mandarin is, firstly, obviously not to quit learning Chinese even if I am not taking Chinese courses anymore. To be more concrete, I will spend at least ten to twenty minutes every day learning Chinese. I am also thinking of studying for HSK level 4 by myself before I graduate from college. Wish me luck and I wish you all the luck from Japan!
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