Reflections on Week One of Class

Remember how I said the workload wasn't that bad? I take it back. When the weekend rolled around, I got slammed with essays. Three, to be exact, ranging in difficulty from write an e-mail to a friend who's having a hard time at work, to defend why gun sales should be restricted, using vocabulary and grammar from two lessons that discussed health and fitness...

If anything, IUP definitely focuses on learning to use our newfound vocabulary and grammar in various contexts. No tingxie here. Instead, classtime consists of intense verbal drills, first using the vocab as it's used in the lesson, and then using them to discuss widely disparate topics. Even though at times the lessons seem rote, it is definitely working. A fellow IUPer and I were out Friday night, and found ourselves using a lot of our new vocab comparing the status of women in China and in western cultures.

note:
Unlike the other programs, IUP's language pledge is only in effect at IUP and at IUP-sponsored activities. Outside of class, we can speak whatever. This is mostly because there are many grad students and professionals in the program (average age this summer is somewhere around 26) for whom a language pledge outside of class just isn't practical. Everyone seems to like speaking in Chinese, though, so thus far, I've really only spoken to IUPers in Chinese.