Highlands School China Connection: March 2007

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Preparing for China!

Several other heads of schools and I will leave for China in less than two weeks! My plane reservations are complete -- I will leave on April 9 early in the morning and arrive in Beijing the evening of April 10. I decided to stay a day longer than the official NAIS China Connection program. I don't know when I will be back in China, so I thought I should take advantage of already being there by seeing one more day's worth of sites! I will return to Birmingham, Alabama on April 21. I am appreciative of Scott Wilson at Altec who travels to China frequently. He is helping me figure out what I might be able to do with a "free day" in Beijing.

Although this week was officially spring break, I completed my "to do list" to get ready for China. I completed paperwork for my visa application, got extra passport pictures to send with the application, and put the finishing touches on the job description for the Highlands teacher. I mailed all the paperwork along with my passport to NAIS so that the visa can be given.

I read on the internet about health issues for travelers to China, but I do not feel that I am at risk for malaria or typhoid or any of the other scary diseases that one might be more likely to encounter in other areas of Asia. I did undergo one preventive step -- a B12 shot! I have found that having a B12 shot helps me handle jetlag with ease. i don't have any scientific evidence to back up my claim, though. We will see how all of us react to having our bodies forwarded 13 hours in time.

I continue to listen to Mandarin CDs and read my National Geographic book about traveling to China. I have also subscribed to podcasts to help with my knowledge of China and the Mandarin language.

There are still more tasks to be completed -- I must figure out and buy gifts to take with me to give while in China, and I must figure out what to pack for a ten day trip to China in April.

Ten Reasons to Learn Chinese

Ten Reasons To Learn Chinese By Frank Middleton 1. Chinese, is one of the Sino-Tibetan languages, or more accurately it is a group of different dialects of which Mandarin (Putonghua) is one. Taken together there are more native speakers of Chinese than any other language. To put this in perspective there are approximately 915 million speakers of Mandarin (without including any of the other dialects such as Cantonese), compared to Spanish, the fourth most widely spoken language in the world with around 400 million speakers. 2. You don’t have to learn Chinese characters to learn to speak Chinese. Pinyin is a method of writing Chinese in the roman alphabet. Hanyu pinyin spells the sound, and includes tone marks to help give the correct pronunciation. 3. Chinese literature. The dialects are not mutually intelligible but the written language is shared between them all. Although you do not need to learn to read Chinese characters to speak the language, by doing so you open the door to an enormously diverse and rich literature. In fact, the earliest record of writing was in Chinese characters although very different in form from modern characters (of which there are many thousand). 3. The Chinese economy is the fastest growing economy in the world, and so in the work environment even speaking a little Chinese will give you a competitive edge, if your company invests in China or is considering doing so. 4. Language and culture are linked and learning something of the Chinese language will help give an appreciation of the cultural heritage of China. 5. China is accessible to the foreign visitor in a way that it has not been in the past and travel to and within China is becoming easier, but to make the most of this opportunity for travel, language at a basic level is important. Mandarin is spoken throughout China. 7. China is becoming increasingly important in the world and may be the dominant economic power in the not so distant future. 8. Food. You can eat in the tourist restaurants in hotels but if you want to see more of China it is more better to try the food and experience the culture in local restaurants. 9. In 2008 the Olympics are being held in Beijing. In 2008 many foreign visitors will descend on China to watch the Olympics. It is an ideal opportunity, if you are lucky enough to be going, to stand out from the crowd by being one of the few who has learnt at least a few words of Mandarin. 10. Like any other language, it is possible to learn a few words and phrases in Mandarin, enough to be polite without spending years in further education. ------------- Frank Middleton is a freelance author and writes occasional articles for http://www.linguata.com/ a site with a practical realistic and fast approach to learning words and phrases in a foreign language, using a combination of sophisticated testing and simple games.

Highlands School China Connection

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Preparing for China!

What time is it in Shanghai?

shanghai

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Ten Reasons to Learn Chinese