Not been on here for a while, so here's a little update...
The study group kind of went down hill a little bit. First couple of meet ups had about 10 of us, then I missed one because of work (apparently only 4 turned up), then it was hard to get anyone together. Now there are 3 of us (plus 1 Chinese person to help us) meeting weekly, which isn't what I really wanted but think it's working for me this way (fitting in with other commitments). It's quite good just to relax in a cafe bar with a beer and have an informal lesson with people in the same situation as me. We also have a WeChat group, where we share stuff through the week (although this has 13 people, with only the 4 of us talking on it...). After the summer, I don't think I'll be able to fit it in unless we move it to a Sunday afternoon. See what happens.
I'm coming to the end go the first part of the Glossika fluency course. (done over 800 out of 1000 sentences). It's pretty boring now and I can't wait to finish it. Not sure when I'll start the next part tbh. But I do feel it is quite helpful and will come back to it eventually.
I've started a new book (not that I've used many properly before). It's Short Term Spoken Chinese. I started doing it on my own using a pdf and audio from a torrent but ended u buying the physical version so I'm not looking at my computer too much and it's easier to flick through pages when looking back at vocab too. I did have a problem doing exercises on my own as I had no answers to refer to and sometimes got stuck. So Ive started using my online tutor again to make sure I go through them properly. Its a massive help and something I really need.
This week, I also started learning my first Chinese song. I got the lyrics, used google translate for rough translation and pinyin. Used the pinyin to sing a little, then went through the whole song to see what I didn't understand. Anything I didn't understand, I made sure I understood it and made my own sentences using it. After that, just went back to singing, sometimes with pinyin, sometimes with characters for help. Did a little review of what I didn't understand before and now I can sing it pretty well, with only using characters to help me. Pretty good feeling doing something like this for the first time.
Also, making sure I watch bits of Chinese TV with only Chinese subtitles. Anything too long and I get bored, so Ive been watching some web based cartoon about sex and zombies that is about 10 mins per episode and the Chinese dub of Pokemon (helps that I liked this as a kid so understand the background to keep me interested)
Found a pretty good App (Decipher) that has short Chinese news stories, sorted by HSK levels and shows the meaning and pinyin of characters when you touch them. Really good little tool to use when you have a spare 5 mins!
From September, my son will be going to kindergarten on mornings, so it gives me a chance to plan my time a bit better and study without the distractions as I don't usually work weekday mornings. My study plan is something like this...
Monday morning - online lesson reviewing textbook
Tuesday morning - self study textbook - dialogue, vocab and grammar
Wednesday morning - online lesson reviewing textbook
Thursday afternoon (long work break in other part of town) -self study textbook - writing
Friday morning - self study textbook - dialogue, vocab and grammar
Sunday afternoon (long work break in other part of town) -self study textbook - writing
Then Mon, Weds, Thurs, Sat, Sun I'll be travelling to other parts of the city on the bus, so I can listen to ChinesePod and review flashcards. Tues and Fri need to make sure I find time to review flashcards at home in the morning.
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