MANDARIN CLASS SUMMARY Monday, June 3, 2019 -- sorry for delay!!!

MANDARIN CLASS SUMMARY FROM LAST WEEK:    

Last week, we finished the Grammar and Language Practice sections of Lesson 4 Dialogue 2 and we previewed Lesson 5 Dialogue 1's vocabulary and dialogue. We will begin class today with this material and spend maybe 30 minutes learning some new stuff pertaining to visiting friends. 

From here, we will spend the rest of class tonight reviewing the general scope of what we covered this year in Mandarin I and discussing what might be next for each of you in your personal journeys to learn to speak and possibly even read Mandarin Chinese. I am happy to recommend appropriate "next steps" for each of you, both within our ALESN program continuing next fall as well as via self-studies and possibly even short-term immersion vacation trips to China or Taiwan -- something I have done for myself three times for one month each time (mainly in Hong Kong with side trips to Taipei, Beijing, and various towns in Guangdung Province). I also co-planned a several day side trip Mandarin language immersion "sights and shopping" bus tour in and around Shanghai with our Head Administrator for ALESN, Mr. Tsz Fong, for 2016, but I had to bow out at the last minute due to a personal emergency here in the US. will share brief stories of my trips to China and Taiwan and of the ways that I attempted to practice my ALESN-gained language knowledge while there in 2014 and 2017. 

I am also happy to share the names of all of my personal favorite Chinese language learning resources with the class and to tell you all what has inspired me most to learn and to improve my Chinese since I started studying with Tony Parisi at ALESN 10 years ago.

Many thanks to everyone who attended any of my Mandarin classes this past academic year. I will be taking a break from teaching for ALESN next fall in order to devote all of my time and energy outside of work to singing and recording music. I will, however, continue to offer reasonably priced 1 hour and 2 hour weekly or one-off private tutoring sessions for anyone who has enjoyed my teaching style and philosophy -- which I think I made pretty clear over the course of this past year, losing many students in the process, ahem...

Big thanks to my more serious and dedicated students with a passion and drive to learn who decided to stick it out with me until the end of this current academic year. I sincerely hope that I have helped you to grow your Mandarin Chinese knowledge and perhaps your confidence to attempt to speak with native speakers whom you do not already know...

Very best wishes to All!

Brendan