How to optimize your Chinese lessons
When you decide to tackle learning Chinese, you're investing a considerable amount of time. Seeing how long it takes to get fluent in Chinese, using your resources wisely can quickly save you dozens of hours. Many people therefore get a Chinese teacher or tutor to speed up the process. However, to really get the most out of this experience (and your invested money), it's crucial to approach your Chinese lessons the right way. Let's have a look at what to focus on before, during, and after your lessons to make your learning as efficient and effective as it can be. Let's go!
What you shouldn't use your Chinese lessons for
First up, let's talk about what might not be the best use of your precious lesson time. If you spend a lot of time on the following activities under a teacher's supervision, ask them to change the course structure, if possible.
Learning new words
Building your vocabulary is obviously vital, but having your teacher watch you as you slog through new words and create flashcards is not a good use of time. If you are attending group classes there won't be time for this anyway. I used to rock up to my Chinese course completely unprepared during the beginning stages of my Chinese learning journey. While we were discussing the new vocab, I would frantically look up the words and create flashcards for them. I quickly realized that that's a foolish way of doing things and started creating the flashcards in advance. Just make sure that you have seen all new words at least once before showing up in class. It's really a game changer.
Writing
This is another task that involves a lot of dictionary work and can be quite time-consuming. It's usually not part of group classes, but you also shouldn't do it during private teacher/tutoring lessons. Writing is a great way of turning your passive vocabulary into active vocabulary, but having your teacher sit through it with you is not a good use of anyone's time. Instead, have your teacher review what you have written at home.
Writing exercises are great, but should be done during your own study time. Let the teacher correct what you have written next time.
What you should use your Chinese lessons for
Now, on to the good stuff - where a teacher or tutor really becomes invaluable. Spending time with your teacher on any of the following activities is definitely a good investment.
Correcting your pronunciation
This is something that's hard to master on your own, especially with tones in Chinese. Don't expect your native friends or the guy from the bāozi shop down the road to correct your pronunciation. It's not their job and you are probably butchering every single word you say, especially in the beginning. For a teacher however, that's what they get payed for, so try to make the most of it.
Correcting your writing
While you should do the actual writing on your own, having a teacher correct your work can help you understand your mistakes and learn from them. Writing also includes the grammar exercises in textbooks, where you have to form your own sentences. This, and correcting your pronunciation, are in my opinion the two most important areas where a teacher can have a massive impact.
Explaining unclear topics
English and Chinese are very different languages and most grammar concepts do not carry over from one to the other. A teacher can provide explanations and examples on top of what you can get from a textbook. Furthermore, a lot of words in Chinese translate to one word in English but are used in different contexts. For example, I still remember the massive diagram my teacher drew on the whiteboard to explain the relationship between 猛烈, 剧烈, 激烈, 暴烈, and 劲烈. They all have the same character "liè" in the second position and all translate to "violent/fierce", but have slightly different meanings and usages.
Side note: I just asked ChatGPT to explain the difference between those words to me and it did a good job. However, current AI models still tend to make up random stuff and as a beginner or intermediate learner it is basically impossible to tell what is correct and what is not.
A "fierce"-looking lion from the Shanghai Natural History Museum. He is here to make you smile and cheer you on. 加油！
Providing real world context
Textbooks are good at introducing new grammar and words, but the dialogues are often outdated and sound corny or just boring. A teacher can teach you how people actually talk, so you don't sound like from the early 2000s, when you go out into the real world.
Practice speaking
There is no way around it, to eventually speak good Chinese you have to speak a ton of not-so-good Chinese. Going out and talking to people can be very intimidating and stressful, so having a teacher or tutor is a great way to create a safe space. Speaking Chinese in a group class can also be intimidating sometimes. However, you should still try to get as much speaking time as possible.
Crafting the perfect Chinese lesson
Now that we know where having a teacher can have the biggest impact, let's look at what an ideal Chinese lesson would look like. The following is the approach that I have found to be very effective during my many many hours of Chinese lessons. It assumes that you follow a somewhat structured course that uses textbooks.
Preview new vocabulary
The perfect Chinese lesson starts way before you actually enter the classroom (or video call). You should preview the new vocabulary for the day, look up the new words in a dictionary, check example sentences, and create flashcards. Just getting a feel for the topic of the lesson is already going to boost your efficiency during the lesson. You will not be overwhelmed by all the new words and you will better understand the teacher's explanations. If you encounter any questions during your preparation, write them down.
Engage with the material
If you are struggling with listening comprehension, see if there's an audio recording of the new text. Listen to it and try to understand everything clearly, going back as often as necessary. Then, read the text, making sure you truly grasp every word. If your listening is better than your reading, reverse the order of these steps. Your goal is not to get any extensive input. Instead, analyze the material in as much detail as you can, going down all the possible rabbit holes. Write down your questions, so you can ask your teacher later.
Textbooks sometimes have really cringe dialog
Do your homework
Finish your homework and make sure to write down any lingering questions from the last lesson. Filling in the blanks in a workbook or writing sentences using new grammar is usually not a lot of fun, but it helps surface areas where you still have questions. Not doing those exercises means your teacher can not give you valuable feedback where it's necessary.
Write
This one is very time-intensive but extremely effective: Try to use the words you learned during your last lesson to write a short paragraph. When speaking Chinese, you will often get away with wrong grammar, strange word usage, and some mumbling. However, writing requires you to be precise. Think about everything you have learned so far and try to use it correctly in a sentence.
Be bold. If you are not sure whether you can use a specific word in a certain context, just give it a try. Your teacher will correct you if it's wrong and you will learn something new. Send your paragraph to your teacher ahead of time, if possible. This gives them a chance to review it and means you can spend more time discussing your mistakes in class. If you want to practice handwriting, this is a great opportunity, otherwise use your phone or computer. I still have dozens of my own "masterpieces" on my phone and it's nice to see the progress over time.
Attend the lesson
There is not much to say here, honestly. You are absolutely primed for a successful Chinese lesson if you followed the aforementioned steps. You have already internalized the content of the last lesson, are well prepared for this one, and brought a bunch of questions for your teacher. After you have done everything you could, it's now time for your teacher to show how good they are.
Closing thoughts
Real talk: You have to do the grunt work of learning Chinese during your own study time. Having a teacher is not going to make you magically learn Chinese. But while a teacher can't do the learning for you, they can act as a multiplier for your learning progress by clearing up confusion, providing feedback, and immersing you in the language in ways textbooks and apps can't. They also keep you from developing bad habits that take a lot of time to fix later. All it needs from your side is a bit of preparation for each lesson. As a result, you will suddenly feel in control instead of being overwhelmed all the time, which will make your Chinese lessons a lot more fun.
So take charge of your learning! It will make your Chinese learning journey more enjoyable and save you a lot of time and a bunch of money along the way.
Until next time, happy studying! 🫶
