First Week Report

(The English translation follows.)

第一個星期忙得不可開交。每天七點半就上課。五年級只有“中班”，就是說不是小班，也不是大班。在一節課上有四五個同學，但一共有十七個五年級的學生。十點半下課，而去吃午餐。一般來講，吃飯的時候我們去北京師範大學附近的中國餐廳。校園也有食堂，但飯館提供的服務和吃的選擇好一些。吃完中飯以後，就有“個別談話”，就是一個一對一的中文課。這是學生跟老師比較自由聊天的機會。上早上的課的時候，很少學到口語方面的詞，可是單班課讓老師強調學生的興趣。單班課以後，我就馬上開始做功課。我一直做到晚餐的時間，然後休息一會兒，就繼續做到要睡覺的時間。有的同學早上兩三點鐘才睡覺，單在我看來這種睡眠習慣是不可持續的，而且一定會影響到學生課上的表現。雖然告訴別人的時候感到一點不好意思，可是我天天都九點半左右就去睡覺。

基本上迄今為止我有兩個好朋友，就是我的同物和他的朋友。來到普北班（PiB)以前他們已經是好朋友。從第一天開始，我只是跟著他們一起去吃飯，學習什麼的。他們沒有別的選擇，只好和我交朋友。他們都是IU的本科生，但中文水平跟我差不多一樣。

就我而言，普北班執行的語言誓約（無一例外學生只能講普通話）算是一個挑戰，不過我覺得對二年級的學生來說，語言誓約帶來很多溝通上的困難。聽他們盡最大的努力討論甚至最簡單的話題很有意思，就讓我的中文水平想起我跟他們一樣底的時候。

這個星期六普北班給學生安排一個去爬長城的活動。我們去的一段叫做“金山”，而離北京比較遠（兩個半小時）。我們早上八點出發了，然後爬了四五個小時，疲累死了！

The first week has been extremely busy. The classes start at 7:30 every morning. The 5th level is only a “medium-sized group,” meaning not a small group and not a large group. There are about 4-5 students in each class. There are seventeen 5th level students in total. The classes are dismissed at 10:30 a.m. for lunch. Generally speaking, we go to a Chinese restaurant near Beijing Normal University. There is food service on the campus, too, but the service and menu selection is better in the restaurants. After lunch we have “individual dialogue,” a one-on-one Chinese lesson. This is an opportunity for free conversation between the teacher and the student. Morning classes don’t teach vernacular terms, but during the individual lesson, the teacher emphasizes the student’s interest. After my individual lesson, I start my homework right away and work until dinner time. After dinner I take a short break, then continue doing homework until bedtime. Some students stay up until 2 or 3 a.m. I think this kind of sleeping habit is not sustainable and will interfere with their performance in the classroom. Even though I am a bit embarrassed to tell people, I go to bed about 9:30 every night.

So far I have made two good friends, my roommate and his friend. They were already

good friends before coming to PiB. From the first day, I have been taking my meals and going to class with them. They don’t have a choice but to be friends with me. They are Chinese

majors at IU and about the same level as me.

As for me, the language pledge (Students can speak only Mandarin--no exceptions!) is a

challenge. The language pledge has brought many communication difficulties for the level 2

students. Hearing them spend a lot of effort expressing the simplest idea is interesting. It reminds me of when I was at that level.

This Saturday PiB arranged a field trip to the Great Wall. We went to the section of the wall

named “Gold Mountain,” a bit farther away from Beijing (2.5 hours). We started our trip at 8:00 a.m. and climbed for 4-5 hrs, after which we felt exhausted.