Yesterday was orientation at MTC!
There are two sessions: morning and afternoon. I chose the morning slot (10:30 AM) during registration day, which turned out to be a wise decision because I now have to teach in the afternoon. Hopped on the bus to 師大. I couldn’t remember on which campus the center was, but I noticed a couple of Asian girls talking to each other in English. They got off at the same stop so I asked them if they were going to orientation. Turned out to be a good guess.
Found out they were from Cali. Thumbs up in my book. We walked to the Mandarin Training Center’s building and there were volunteers ushering us to the 5th floor. We entered a packed auditorium, full of foreigners.
The director of the program introduced to the school.
He welcomed everyone and wished us luck on our studies, the usual drill. We learned there are a shit ton of activities and extracurriculars at NTNU. But of course, he reminded us that our primary reason here is to learn Chinese so we should attend all our classes, study hard, and get a good grade. Fine with me- I’m paying for this shit. But for foreigners, their visa renewal chances depend on it. It would be utterly dumb of them to skip out on classes without a good reason.
Afterwards, a woman named Jenny gave a PowerPoint presentation in English and Chinese about the finer details such as visa issues, changing classes, attendance rules, etc. I was able to get a hold of the PowerPoint, and I’ve posted it. Dunno if it matters but all of it is NTNU’s property so don’t do anything illegal with it, whatever that would be.
When the presentations were over we went up to the 7th floor to get our class schedules and purchase books. It was also a good time to mingle.
Look at all dem foos
When I received at my class schedule, I interested to learn what class I was placed in. From what I gather, I think my class is going to be more writing-intensive, which makes sense because I totally botched that section during the placement exam. It’s a somewhat more advanced class, made for students who already have some Mandarin-ability and just needs to improve on it. Hopefully the class’ll mesh well when we meet each other for first day of classes on Monday (9/6).
Class sched
Many students will stress the importance of class chemistry. In the ideal situation, the teacher is in tune with the students’ needs and the students develop some camaraderie with each other. I’ve heard of classes where the teachers take the students out drinking. I’d sign up for that. The class sizes are small (regular classes hold 10 students while intensive classes have 8), so I’m really crossing my fingers it’ll all work out. I just don’t want to deal with the hassle of requesting class change; it seems like such a troublesome process.
Students enrolled in the regular course also have to take 5 hours of supplementary courses on top of the 10 hours a week they spend in the core class. I was very happy to see the availability of these classes: Learning Taiwanese, cooking Taiwanese dishes, and singing Taiwanese songs. For Mandarin beginners, they have to spend some of their hours at the audio/visual lab. I think I’m spared from that, thank goodness.
I copped my books (even had the presence of mind to try haggling down the price, but failed) and took a look at pictures of the club activities. There are so many activities like basketball and dragon-boat racing that I’m glad I didn’t sign up for intensive courses. I’m sure I’d be doing homework all day, which is not how I plan on learning. Will I be able to pack all these things in my schedule and still be able to travel? We’ll see.
The Chronicles of Greg 