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Hello everyone! I'm Meg, living in Taiwan.
How was everyone's weekend? Did anyone think, "It's way too hot, I'm not stepping a single foot outside!"? ...Don't worry, you're not alone. That was me (haha).
Now, continuing from last time. After experiencing that "storm of complaints" at the language school, what exact preparations did I make for my lessons?
The answer was... "Thorough lesson planning in BOTH Japanese and Chinese!"
That said, back then I had no idea how much Chinese I should actually use, so I decided to prepare 100% of the translations in Chinese just in case.
Just imagine for a second. Back then, AI tools like ChatGPT didn't exist like they do today...!
Which meant endless hours of looking up words in dictionaries and books—"Research, research, research, and MORE research..." What a painful process! How many days did that even take?! (sob) If someone asked me to do that all over again today, I'd definitely refuse (haha).
The reason I pushed myself that far was to find that perfect sweet spot where students felt, "Understanding only Japanese is a tiny bit challenging, but doable."
At first, I provided plenty of Chinese explanations, and then gradually reduced the amount of Chinese in each lesson. (As expected, at first students were like, "Teacher, that's way too much Chinese! haha")
However, after honestly explaining my situation and intention to the students, and working together with them to build the class...
Believe it or not, that storm of complaints vanished completely! (Well, okay, I still got small suggestions here and there haha.)
It was through this experience that I made a firm decision: "I REALLY need to get serious about studying Chinese myself!"
studying Chinese myself!"
And so, my full-fledged Chinese learning journey began. How did I manage to master Chinese...? I'll share mystudy methods in the next column, so stay tuned!
☕️ A Little Note from Meg "Studying before the AI era was truly tough!" "I really respect how you improved your teaching through trial and error!" I welcome all kind comments! Because I've spent years tailoring my teaching to students' real needs, I offer attentive and practical lessons. Grab a drink and join my Free Talk lesson for a fun chat!
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