Potpourri

Yesterday IUP emailed us the results of our placement exams. The textbook for my reading/writing class is called “思想与社会” (“Thought and Society”) and the text for my listening/speaking class is called “实话实说” (“Frankly Speaking”). Though I can’t really tell what, if any, year or level of Chinese these books are intended for, my impression is that they’re the highest of IUP’s intermediate level texts. I asked Song Fang, the IUP teacher I am living with, about the texts, and she said they are IUP’s main textbooks (a plurality of students are assigned to these books), and that they’ll give me a good solid foundation from which I can later branch out in any direction. I haven’t seen the books yet, but this sounds like a good place to start, especially for a year-long program.

I am also pleased about the timing of my classes. My first class isn’t until 9, which, although ungodly early in Yalespeak, is considerably better than starting at 8 am, the earliest classes IUP offers. I have three 50 minute classes with 10 minute breaks in between, an 80 minute lunch break, and one fifty minute class after lunch. This means I have class every day from 9-2. Of course, the schedule will change after the first eight weeks, and I may not be so lucky in later modules.

On a different note, I bought a little Chinese magazine today full of short stories. It’s called “百花故事” (literally, “Hundred Flowers Stories,” although I think the gist of the translation is something like “Potpourri Stories”). It’s more or less like a Chinese version of Reader’s Digest. I read the first couple stories today, and, without a dictionary, I had a decent (but definitely hazy) idea of what was going on. My reading skills could definitely use a lot of improvement, so I’m hoping to use this magazine, and perhaps other Chinese publications, as a measuring stick of my progress this year, external to IUP. Of course, the actual process of reading the publications ought to be beneficial in its own right. I hope I can have the discipline to stick with it.
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