Graduation is almost here. So close! 6 days away! Very excited to march and call an end to my undergraduate career. I've got 3 days of instruction remaining in my Student Teaching placement, and few loose ends to tie up, but otherwise I am set.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Rosetta Stone Training and Graduation
The PC has sent me a subscription to Rosetta Stone for some pre-training training in simplified standard Mandarin. Very cool. I've logged about an hour and half on it so far, and I'm very pleased with the software, ease of use, and pedagogical strategies I've seen so far. Has anyone else tried this software? Any China 14s receive this, or is it new for China 15?
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3 comments:
Christian, I am so psyched for you! This Peace Corps adventure...in two years you'll be fluent in Chinese, living in China, the US economy will be back on it's feet, and you'll be able to write your own ticket! Keep up the great work. Love ya, Dad
We (China 14) had the option to use it, but I didn't do it then. I do use it now occasionaly, though. However, we now have the option to use Chinese Pod, which is very cool because you can do it anywhere. We got a 20% group discount and the PC reimburses us each month for the monthly cost. I think I paid $48 USD up front, and I get back 1/12 of that each month.
We have 500RMB each month available for tutoring. (Not sure if yours will go higher. Hopefully not lower!) I have two tutors and I pay for Chinese Pod with it. I've also used it to buy an AWESOME dictionary and some a workbook.
If they don't tell you about Chinese Pod in training and you want it, hit me up, I'll get you in contact with the peeps that can get you set up. (They offer a 7 day free trial, btw, so you can check it out. www.chinesepod.com)
If you ever want any advice about what to pack, let me know, I'd be glad to tell you my opinion.
Hey Christian,
I'm also a 14 and I honestly wasn't impressed with Rosetta Stone. But I guess it works as an introduction to the language. One of it's major flaws is that it doesn't give you much useful stuff, like saying hello. You should check out ChinesePod, as Rebecca said. You can get a 7-day free trial of it. But it would be worth it to get a better idea of what the language sounds like in a conversation, since Rosetta Stone is just words. Also, you can get free downloads of the Newbie ChinesePod podcasts on iTunes. Finally, you should check out the explanation of tones on the ChinesePod website. Rosetta Stone says nothing about the tones, but they're a pretty critical part of the language.
And if you're still having some problems with the language, don't worry! The language training is great once you get into the country.
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