Pandas are delicious...or back row Americans studying Chinese

Tuesday and Wednesday mornings are very similar. The order varies only a little. On Tuesday my day starts with a Chinese class and is quickly followed by me teaching a listening class across campus. Wednesday starts with listening class and finishes the morning with Chinese class. It is kind of fun changing from teacher to student in a manner of 15 minutes, and it does help me empathize with my students more, but for some reason it doesn't motivate me to be a better student... hmm, ironic.

This is my first semester actually taking a formal Chinese class. Although I have had years of tutors who come over and taught me Chinese one-on-one, there is nothing quite like learning in a real classroom. My classroom consists of students from Korea, Russia and Mongolia. On Tuesdays I sit in the back row with fellow American Sonny. Sonny's love for the Chinese language is most apparent when he gets to break down the different parts of a character to come to the "logical" definition. (actually, I joke about this, but it is actually very interesting). As our fairly short, energetic 30 something teacher jokes with the class and asks the if we understand Sonny is giving me 23 other possible uses of the new vocabulary word that he has found on his ipad while the teacher was talking.

Wednesday add another element of fun because Johnny joins Sonny and me in the back row of the classroom. Now, I have to admit my Chinese is the lowest of the 3, so I have to pay close attention to what the teacher is saying. In the meantime Jon and Sonny are using the new grammar structures to make various jokes usually involving pandas. So for example today's grammar pattern was: "not only (A) but also (B)." Which of course became; “Not only are Pandas (cute) but they are also (delicious).” （不但熊猫可爱而且好吃）Or the pattern; "A compared to B, A is adj adv." So naturally this became, "Panda meat compared to pork, Panda is much better." (熊猫肉比猪肉很好吃）And finally the structure; "You shouldn't just (verb) (noun) without (verb) (noun)." Which could likely became, you shouldn't just drink tiger blood but also eat panda. （不要光喝老虎血不吃熊猫肉）Okay... maybe they didn't come up with that last one.

Either way my first introduction to a formal Chinese classroom has been a positive experience. And although joking about eating one of the national treasures may not be found in the next Chinese textbook I buy anytime soon, it is sure helping remember grammar structures!