Target audience

I've really enjoyed my Chinese classes, and I know that my teacher has picked what she believes the best books for my study. It is interesting, though, that the textbooks for this style of learning, one-on-one, are usually more geared toward businessmen, rather than stay-at-home-moms. I've learned names of every piece office equipment, how to sign contracts, and how to book hotel rooms. I have yet to read in any of my textbooks how to ask for a playground or how to buy diapers.

My lessons then, are usually supplemented beyond the books with words I specifically request that are more relevant to our life. For instance, I think I might be one of the few foreign women in Shenzhen that knows how to say "American football" (gan lan qiu) or any of the words for baseball equipment in Mandarin. My teacher also brings copies of pages from other books she uses with other students if she thinks it fits with something else that we have been discussing.

This week we worked on some common command verbs, like must, should, not allowed, etc. One of the exercises in the sheet she handed me was clearly not something I would ever say in real life. In fact, I would hate to witness this conversation taking place in real life.




Maybe someday someone will write a really great Chinese textbook series for the mothers at home. Until then, I will just have to take my teacher's word for it that yinggai or yao are more appropriate words to use than gen hao when telling your Chinese girlfriend she needs to do something about her cooking.