Class 100-04

As I have mentioned before I am currently studying Chinese at Beijing Normal University, 北京师范大学. Foreign students studying Chinese as a second language at BNU are placed in the College of Chinese Language and Culture, which is a university department much the same as the history or physics department.

The Chinese program is a four year degree program. Each year is divided into two semesters. The first runs from the beginning of September to the end of January. The second, from the end of February to the end of June. For the first year, students must complete three classes: Speaking (会话), Listening (听力), and Writing（精读). Passing requires at least a 60% mark. From the second to the fourth year an extra class is added: Newspaper reading (报纸). In the first year, students are encouraged to learn Chinese, which means for the most part they will pass no matter what. What the teachers are looking for is effort. If you are trying to learn Chinese then passing will not be an issue. However, how well you speak Chinese is a different story.

The only reason a student may not pass is if he or she miss more then 10 classes (15 if they have family, emergency or medical problems). They will not be allowed to write the final exam and thus will fail.

The students studying at BNU, both foreign and domestic, are incredibly friendly. Most of the foreign students are from Japan, Korea, Thailand and Indonesia. There is also an entire class from Great Britain. They are taking a four year degree in Chinese in Britain and they spend one semester here studying Chinese and getting first-hand experience of the country and its culture.

There is also a smattering of students from Europe, North America and Australia.

Jorge, a good friend of mine, and I are the only westerners in my class. Jorge is from Mexico and has spent extensive time living in the U.S. He is keenly interested in languages and currently speaks English, Spanish,  a little Japanese and Korean, and is learning Chinese. Having so many non-English speakers in the class makes things much more interesting as we learn about China and the rest of Asia. It is also an ideal situation for those living in the dorm as it forces people to speak Chinese as Chinese becomes the bridging language.

While at BNU I have managed to make some Chinese friends and I hope to make more in the coming year.

Below you will find pictures of BNU and my classmates. Some pictures on the blog have the title 同学 or 我的同学。The meaning: 我的同学=wo de tongxue.

我wo=me

的de=possessive

同学 tongxue=classmates.

The meaning of 同学tongxue is derived from 同tong =together and 学xue=learn.

Just a quick Chinese lesson.

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