300 words and 3 references. Please insert as many Chinese characters as you can.

NB: The following are only suggested topics for you to choose and expand on. Your writings do not have to include each and every one of the following topics, but may include all of them as you see fit in your writing. Any ideas or resources cited from the Internet are counted as references. (mainly for non-native Chinese speakers)

1. Pick up some of the Chinese characters, phrases, or sentences, that you recognize are Chinese, and write their English equivalents, and a short explanation on when it was used, who used it to whom, what do you understand it to mean to you. If you want to use them, how you will use them.

2. Pick up one or more of the characters from a movie/TV program, and write on their words, behavior, personality, arguments, conversations, etc., paying more attention to what you understand as very much Chinese, or somewhat different from your expectations.

3. You may choose your own theme to write about. Please write mainly on how you understand your own watching and interpretation.

4. From the textbook, Ni Hao, and/or its Workbook, choose some Chinese words (characters), phrases, or sentences that you think are interesting, that you may want to use them yourself, and write about how you understand them. Examples can be: their origins, their historical development from ancient to present, their components, how to write them, are there any stories about them, and how you will use them yourself.

5. From the notes in the textbook, Ni Hao, and/or its Workbook, as well as some resources online, write about how you understand some of the festivals, cultural events, interesting stories, etc. Examples can be: are there similar stories in your own culture, how are they celebrated that interest you, etc.

6. From any resources, write about how you compare some of the ideas or concepts in Chinese that you think interesting, with some of the ideas in your own language (English, Korean, Vietnamese, Spanish, or any others). You may compare some stories, some cultural legends or events, festivals, Zodiac symbols, pronunciation, relatedness, etc.

7. Based on your own learning of the Chinese language and culture, write about your “aha” moments, e.g., how you discovered some new understanding, new interpretation, surprising phrases, concepts, etc., and share with us how you treated and processed some Chinese language and cultural concepts.

8. Referring to an attachment, or URS, Can-Do Statements Benchmarks Indicators wide, please write a summary of what you can do with Chinese based on NOVICE/INTERMEDIATE level, e.g., “I can communicate with others from the target culture in familiar everyday situations, using memorized language and showing basic cultural awareness”, and provide your own examples of different situations, what you did, and how to you understand the situation, supported with the language you used in that situation.