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An Interesting Mental Exercise for Chinese as Second Language Class

Back in my day, I remember we kept memorizing what was called bon toi (written as 问题, Wèntí in Mandarin) without understanding them. I hated memorizing those. I guess another reason was to parrot what one can't understand. We had the biak diam too which is Hokkien for oral recitation. Memorizing the question and answer (written as 问题和答案, Wèntí hé dá'àn in Mandarin) would actually not be so tedious if Chinese was taught as a second language. My bizarre idea is to think about having only one bon toi but there are five answers to memorize. 

Memorizing (and understanding) why some don't want to learn Chinese


These five reasons (above) have to be memorized in both Chinese and English. The teacher (老师, Lǎoshī) would say the question, "不学中文的最大借口是什么？" (Bù xué zhōngwén de zuìdà jièkǒu shì shénme?). The question can't be answered until the student actually translated it as, "What are the top excuses not to learn Chinese?" 

The student will evaluate them from the numbers one to five. Of course, teachers must teach them how to rank first, second, third, fourth, etc. with the sequence like (第一的, Dì yī de). So, the answers would be ranked from first to fifth answer would be in this format in Chinese as an example:

  • 第一的. 我没有足够的时间. (Dì yī de. Wǒ méiyǒu zúgòu de shíjiān.)
    • English: First, I do not have enough time.
For each and every line, the teacher will have the student translate it into English. This would be to avoid parroting. It would make more sense to biak diam and you understood what you just recited. Each and every line needs to be translated into English. 

Learning about why the Chinese language can be very rewarding

Now, the next exam will only have another one bon toi with five answers. This would have this question in mind, "What are the five reasons to study Chinese?" The question would be stated as, "学习中文的五个理由是什么?" (Xuéxí zhōngwén de wǔ gè lǐyóu shì shénme). The answers would be in the picture below.

The same format goes. With Mandarin having more than one billion speakers worldwide, it'd be fun to try and learn another one bon toi with five answers. Of course, a significant gap must be placed in order to give the mind to recuperate. Once again, the drill is to never let the student answer the question until the question is translated into English. The same sequence goes that each and every monster is stated first in Mandarin and then in English. 

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