Catshanghai

According to the Shanghai Daily, I am making rapid progress with my Chinese studies. This is news to me, because I have not been to formal Chinese lessons since March 2006. I understand a lot more Mandarin than I did before, because I hear the TV and Jenny talking to her friends. I guess I have a lot to live up to, but I can not see myself being able to attend a Chinese language school again until the summer holidays. I’d like to take an intensive course. This is what was written in today’s Shanghai Daily. (Please note that I am not an English teacher)

Matt Seigal, from England, English teacher

A teacher at the British International School in Pudong, Seigal is making rapid progress.

Though a fan of Chinesepod, he also urges learners to check out www.activechinese.com. “It’s flexible, practical, fun, accessible to Westerners and it doesn’t have two-hour lectures about obscure grammar points,” says Siegal. “Active Chinese lessons, however, are more interactive and give students pronunciation and vocabulary drills that I have found very useful.” Both offer trials so that learners can decide which style suits.

As with many English-speaking Chinese, Seigal has found it useful to watch subtitled movies and listen to Mandarin music, though he would like to see pinyin as a subtitle option.