Regarding to the rapid spread of Covid-19 in Taiwan, the national Level 3 alert was implemented on May 19. Many schools have suspended in-person classes and switched to online learning instead. 「Vietnam Abei」, an international student from Vietnam pursuing his master’s education in Taiwan shared his recent experiences with the editor of the “New Immigrants Global News Network”. Ever since the national Level 3 alert began, his classes have been held online. He could not leave his house to go to work or to school, so he had a lot of spare time on his hands. 「Vietnam Abei」 made use of his time by learning Chinese from watching movies and dramas. He shares that he was able to improve his Chinese language skills by reading the subtitles. He learned more about daily conversations that are not taught through textbooks. He even says that he learned more effectively with this method. 「Vietnam Abei」 mentioned because we are encouraged not to leave the safety of our homes, he recommends that new immigrants, international students, and migrant workers can take his advice in improving our Chinese language skills.
「Vietnam Abei」 shared with “New Immigrants Global News Network” his secret to improving our language skills effectively. “You have to choose the kinds of shows you already like, that way you are invested. You will also be patient enough to finish the series. Because of your interest in the show, learning the language gives you more meaning.”, 「Vietnam Abei」 shares. This method is mainly to help in improving your vocabulary and understanding idioms. If you encounter a word or sentence that is not clear to you, you must quickly pause the show to take down some notes.
Learning language from the movie.
While watching the drama, 「Vietnam Abei」 writes down the lines of the characters and he pays special attention to the pronunciation and tone of the words. He writes down the pinyin and Vietnamese translations to the Chinese characters. 「Vietnam Abei」 organizes words he is unfamiliar with and then searches their definitions online. Writing the characters down also helps make it easier to memorize them. Chinese characters have a lot of strokes, and you will soon forget these characters if you do not write them down. Especially nowadays, with all the latest technology, many international students are used to taking notes on their computers. Hence, they do not improve so much their writing abilities.
Furthermore, 「Vietnam Abei」 lists down synonyms for each new word, and example sentences allowing him to better understand the usage of these new vocabulary.
「Vietnam Abei」 makes use of different colors when writing his notes. He says that it makes it easier for him to distinguish the new words and for his notes to look more interesting and appealing. This also serves as motivation for him to continue his learning process.
take notes of the new vocabularies you have learn form the movie .
Aside from writing down words and sentences from the drama series, 「Vietnam Abei」 also collects cutouts from posters, advertisements, newspapers, and magazines with unfamiliar words and pastes them in his notebook. This expands his vocabulary into different topics and aspects that he can encounter in his daily life.
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Finally, there is one thing that we must emphasize in this learning method, you must try to find opportunities to apply what you have learned in your daily life. It can be in daily conversations, writing reports or doing homework. That way, you can successfully memorize these new words. 「Vietnam Abei」 shares: “Instead of spending your time scrolling through Facebook, why don’t you review the vocabulary in your notebook?” This will definitely help you retain what you learned. It is also important to remember where you wrote them in your notebook, making it easier to find them when you need them.
prepare few pens with different colors , take notes of new vocabularies , it helps a lot for the language learnings
Lastly, to all foreign friends, we would like to remind you to have your personal protective measures, such as proper hygiene, covering your mouth when you cough, and wearing your masks. Only leave your homes if necessary and avoid visiting crowded places and areas with high risks of infection. Let us all cooperate and work together in following these epidemic prevention measures. While you are staying safe at home, you can follow the advice of 「Vietnam Abei」. You can spend the time improving your Chinese language skills by watching drama series and movies. Protect yourselves and take good care of your health while still learning and cultivating our language skills.
