1) In high school I took Chinese, and my class focused a lot on vocabulary, writing, and getting comfortable speaking the language with others (we were not allowed to speak any English in the class). However, by 11th grade the class was focused more on reading and writing, since by then most students had previous experience with speaking the language at home, which made me feel a bit lost in conversations and like I haven't improved much since then.
2) My course goals this semester are to improve my pronunciation and grammar, both of which I'm currently pretty bad with. In order to improve, I will practice speaking words aloud, memorize the tone marks for pinyin, and give extra attention to any teaching in regards to grammar.
I'm excited to see how the class goes this semester :)