Post 7- Week 3

Due to last week's change in plan, therefore there are also some slight adjustments for this week. Last week's plan was:

Previous Plan
Week 3- Practice speaking and writing the corrected version of the self-introduction. Keep on writing the self-introduction. Again, search up vocabularies and phrases and put them into sentences. Have at least 3 sentences done for this week. Start making vocabulary flash cards on Quizlet, as this will be able to help me memorise and recognise characters.

New Plan
Week 3-  Keep on writing the self-introduction. Again, search up vocabularies and phrases and put them into sentences. Have at least 3 sentences done for this week. Once this is done, give it to the native friend for correction. Then, start making vocabulary flash cards on Quizlet, as this will be able to help me memorise and recognise characters.

This week went really smoothly with writing the self introduction and testing out the apps. I also started to use Quizlet to practice vocabulary. 

However, I did come to pick up on some problems when I was making Quizlet sets. I realised that there was a vocabulary that I had written on my vocabulary list not being simplified Chinese, but instead traditional Chinese. This was Tiramisu, it was meant to be 提拉米苏 written in the simplified version however for some reason I wrote it as 提拉米蘇. I have forgotten which website or app I used for finding this vocabulary. Or it may have been I used this app (Translator- Translate Text and Speech) and entered I wanted a traditional translation instead of simplified. 

I most probably chose the wrong targeted language, instead of clicking onto the 2nd one, I clicked onto the first one. 

The two comparisions of Tiramisu, the first one being simplified Chinese, and the second one being traditional Chinese. 

I handed my work for my native friend to correct and most of the errors she picked up was my characters being in traditional instead of simplified Chinese. When I first learnt Chinese it was traditional Chinese, that may be why I am more familiar with that than simplified Chinese. 

Another interesting thing that I picked up on was when I wanted to translate the word keep. As in I want to keep a dog. I typed the word keep into 2 different apps, Translator- Translate Text and Speech and Chinese English Dictionary Bravolo they both gave me words that are not to be used in the right scenario. The keep meaning that they have provided me is to maintain (保持 bao chi). After my friend corrected my work, she told me the difference, Chinese is like Japanese, and there is special word for keeping a pet which is 养 (yang). After she told me this it once again made me think, this is the difference between face to face learning and technology learning. What I believe is that technology is indeed a great resource as it provides you with great deals of information, however, is it always reliable? For example translation, does this particular technology know in what situation you are using this vocabulary? Therefore what I think is that it is good to use technology for learning up to an extent, however, it is still necessary to find a professional/native person to teach you, especially languages. 




This week, as planned I also started making Quizlet flash card sets. I made 3 sets. I named them as Others (mainly adjectives, adverbs, verbs), Vocabulary (mainly nouns) and Place Names (Location names). I thought that if I sorted them into groups, it would also make it easier for myself to learn. 

To show an example of the Quizlet format on my ipad, I clicked into 'Others' and it comes up with all the vocabulary I have added in my 'Others' list. On the top, it has 4 tabs, 'Cards', 'Learn', 'Match' and 'Test'. I personally like the 'Match' learning system, therefore this time I will talk about how this works. I tap on it and the next screen that comes up is this.
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It gives you the instructions of what needs to be done and once your ready, press 'Start game'. What I thought was thoughtful and considering about this step is that, this 'Match' learning system is a beat your record game. Therefore you would not want to be not ready and play. Once you press start, this is the next screen.
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Tap onto a square and it turns blue, and find the matching one as fast as you can. If it is correct, the correct matched pair will turn green, however, if the pair that you touched on is incorrect, the pair will turn red. Due to the speed of the colours changing, I was not able to screen shot the process. Also there is a timer on the top right corner, allowing the learner to keep track of how fast/slow they are going.
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Once you have collected correct pairs, they disappear.
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Once you have cleared all pairs, it takes you to this screen, telling you what your best score was and your score this time. I believe in doing this, it gives the learner motivation to want to keep on trying hard and beat their best score. 









For something to end with, I will touch on this week's reading briefly, In this week's reading it touches on how "we have passed the peak of exclusive literacy, where only written artefacts had merit, and information only resided only in the written message". This leads me in thinking of digitization and how much people rely on digital technology in the 21st century. An example I thought of was, when I was still in high school, we would receive weekly newsletters from the school to take home, however, now, it is e-newsletter, the school no longer prints out a hard copy but just sends it through email to the parents and students. The same as filling out consent forms, the school would give us, the students hard copy forms to take home and return it, but due to the advancement in technologies, its all directly sent to the parents via email now. Something that I thought of was, what if you aren't able to keep up with all this advanced technology. How would you communicate with the school, if you were a parent.