- In high school, I took a Mandarin class all 4 years. My teacher focused mainly on listening comprehension and some speaking, but less reading and writing. She was not the most organized, especially given that all of the different levels were squeezed into one or two classes. We would often have multiple days of the week without instruction or assignments, as she'd be working with each level individually despite being in the same class. I tested out of the language requirement at my prior institution in freshman year (with German, not Chinese), and took a gap year after that, so it has been 2 full years since that high school class.
My mom used to live in China and was fluent in Mandarin at one point, so occasionally I have been able to practice with her, but hardly.
2. Moving forward, I hope to improve my tone pronunciation, expand my vocabulary (and be able to think on my feet better), and practice my character writing! My plan to execute this is to practice characters, dictation, and speaking out loud every single day, even if just for a little bit. I'd like to make it a part of my routine!