Using a wechat group for learning

[Flickserve]

I joined a wechat group for learning Chinese but without any clear objectives.

 

I sort of fell into a system that works quite well with my intermittent style of learning.

 

This group is just over two hundred people and some come and go inactivity. Luckily, there are a couple of members who are Chinese learners who have good Chinese and keep the group active quite daily. Also there are others who are learning English.

 

On my phone, I have anki installed and my flashcards from Growing up with Chinese. When I was making the cards, the group was useful in cross checking the audio as sometimes the audio didn't match up to the written text. I would play the audio through the speaker and record it on the group chat asking questions. Surprisingly, some incomprehensible dialogue (to me) could be understood and some other native speakers would be stumped. This helped tremendously in card creation.

 

Sometimes I would miss things and when reviewing my cards have other questions. My card setup at present is an audio sentence that repeats five times with no text. I try to understand it. Repeating five times gives me some repetitions to try and catch words that I missed. I then expose the card.

 

If there are any problems, I can take a screenshot of the card, draw a bit on it to highlight important areas and send it to the group chat. After getting feedback, I can readjust the card in my computer. If I have another query on pronunciation, I save the card in my phone, go back to the PC to get the relevant sound file and record it into wechat, and then send the relevant picture of the card. It's a great way of getting quick feedback as someone is always using with wechat.

 

The second way I have been using the group chat is to check the audio from my book 发展汉语 （listening course). Although the audio is standard Mandarin, some of the consonants by one of narrators are very soft and confused me. For example I heard a 'hong' but it didn't make sense. I was able to check very quickly on the group and they told me it was 从 with the initial consonant spoken very softly. For other 短文，i realised I can use the group to confirm or refute what I think is being said. I open the audio file in workaudiobook app which allows easy looping of sentences and record the voice into the group chat. 

 

I have not used the wechat group for feedback on speaking. Sometimes, after a chorusing a sentence on my anki, I send it to a indivdual person who gives me feedback. That proved to be quite useful. For example, 我相信你们一定能成功 my stress on the 一定 wasn't enough and then when I corrected it, my 成功 went off key with the tone. Luckily, the person on the other side seems to be on the same wavelength to me about giving just the right amount of information to help without over whelming. She's from guangdong but can give me corrections on where I am missing certain stresses in a sentence. Maybe I will try someone from the north soon and explore a bit more.

 

[Flickserve]

Forgot to add that I am using a note phone with which I can annotate pictures that need corrections or better explanation.

[Jessica2001]

Hey, can I join this group? I'm an English teacher who speaks standard Mandarin. I'm trying to find out how I can help my students to learnin English by forming a Wechat group. I hope I can learn or observe sth. useful in your group. Or I can also help you with your Chinese learning.

[道艺]

Nice, sounds similar to a wechat group I run.

[mackie1402]

Since buying a new apartment over here, I've joined about 4-5 different groups regarding decorating, such as balconies, kitchens, built in wardrobes and cupboards, appliances etc. I'm the only non-native in the group chats and they're all at about 300-500 members. I've learnt a tonne when it comes to new houses and decorating! Now, if only I could find groups for photography, basketball and Netflix...

[Flickserve]

@Jessica2001

 

Hi. I hadn’t visited the group for a while. 
 

It was born out a Hellotalk group but I don’t know why they moved to WeChat. Perhaps it was just more convenient. 
 

I remember it was quite good because they had a core few people fairly proficient in the target language who remain active. Then each week, they have an English week and a Chinese week and then a third week where it can be either language. The system works quite well for those who are good intermediate in the target language. 
 

Obviously for me, I usually use English to ask Chinese all the time. There is quite a lot of idle chatter interspersed with some serious questions. 
 

This group has been going on for quite a while whereas the Hellotalk groups I have experienced tend to drift in obscurity. 
 

If you do a group by yourself, it’s more about the personality of the members who can drive the group forward.