INTRODUCTION

    Although it was certainly a lot of hard work, Chinese101 was one of the best classes 
I have taken at UVa. A combination of the subject matter, the teacher and the class 
composition mad this class great and well worth taking.
    The Chinese language is so completely and incomprehensibly different from English 
that learning the words, grammar, and characters is almost like learning to think in a 
different way. Tonal pronunciation is difficult to master, and must be the aspect of 
learning Chinese that most challenges English speakers. However, it was a lot of fun 
learning to speak with the different tones during the class, because all of us read 
foreign words and made sounds we had never imagined making before. The first few weeks 
of class were the most enjoyable for this reason. Character practice is just as much 
fun because the characters are so much prettier than the English alphabet.
    The teacher, Tseng laoshi, made the class enjoyable and extremely educational. She
has so much experience teaching the Chinese language to English speakers that she has 
mastered the correct way of explaining the grammar and characters so that we can 
understand them. She is also very actively interested in her students’ progress, and 
spends countless extra hours working on a website for her Chinese students and making 
sure that we master pronunciation and character writing. She comes up with fun 
activities to do in class, and for our final oral presentation, a potentially terrifying 
event, she has planned a fun night of skits and a potluck dinner.
    The students who take Chinese 101 are a fun group of people, by nature willing to 
try new things. As an American, I gained knowledge about Chinese culture from the large 
number of native Cantonese speakers in the class, and also heard from them about Chinese 
cultural events here on grounds. In the end, I felt very involved with and knowledgeable 
about Chinese culture, even though I had originally thought to be only studying the 
language. 
    In short, I would recommend Tseng laoshi’s Chinese 101 class to anyone. It is fun, 
educational, and a whole lot more than a language class.

My most excellent work
1.   Lesson 5 - Visiting Friends
2.   Lesson 6 - Making Apppointments
3.   Lesson 7 - Studying Chinese


Self-Introduction:         Image File         NJ Star File        Audio File	
Visiting Friends:          Image file         NJ Star File        Audio File
Making Apppointments:      Image file         NJ Star File        Audio File
Studying Chinese:          Image file         NJ Star File        Audio File