(This article is a real teaching case, the student name is a pseudonym)

Introduction

"As a Chinese teacher for many years, how many students have you coached to pass the HSK Level 6 exam?"

"Then let me ask you, what percentage of foreign students majoring in Chinese pass the HSK Level 6 exam when they graduate?"

"This may be an unsolved mystery. I only know that foreign students studying for a master's degree and a pre-doctorate degree in China must reach HSK Level 5 in Chinese."

"Then let's listen to Parker's story first."

Enrollment in waveChinese

In January 2018, Parker began to take one-on-one online classes with me to learn Chinese. He is a Chinese Australian who is nearly 40 years old. Perhaps because of the family environment, although he has never taken formal classes, his enrollment level is intermediate and advanced. Since he will bring his family to Guangzhou, China to work in eight months, Parker wants to study formally, with two classes a week, to improve his business Chinese level.

Parker's Mandarin pronunciation is standard. Apart from his Chinese appearance and occasional grammatical errors in typing, he is no different from a Chinese person in communication. Of course, his goal is to be proficient in Chinese in a work environment.

The first half year

After testing his specific level, I made a study plan for him and chose the textbook - "Essential Spoken Chinese for Business and Economics·Volume 2". This is a set of elementary Chinese business textbooks.

The first class was over, and the homework was to answer questions. In fact, it was also a test to test whether he remembered the relatively uncommon words in the text. "Are there any stalls in Australia? Where are they usually set up?" "Are there any morning markets in Australia?" "Are there any halal restaurants in Australia?" "Are there any food plazas or food streets in Australia? Are there any trade fairs? For example, clothing trade fairs, food trade fairs?"

Although Parker's Chinese level was very high, he still answered every inconspicuous question in a down-to-earth manner. This humble and patient learning attitude laid the foundation for his subsequent progress.

"Essential Spoken Chinese for Business and Economics·Volume 2" is from Lesson 27 to Lesson 50, and we spent nearly half a year to finish it. This also means that Parker's Chinese level has completely jumped from intermediate to advanced.

The second half of the year

The next step is practical training. We studied 25 in-depth news reports together in class, such as "The world is caught in a leadership competition, and seeking win-win is the right way", "How to understand the "social original sin" in the carpooling controversy?" "Is the "unmanned hotel" an innovation or a show?" and so on.

Parker learned more and more advanced vocabulary, but because these economic news are too professional, the endless stream of advanced vocabulary made him a little overwhelmed, and due to the lack of systematization, the low repetition rate of vocabulary led to great learning pressure, which also became a problem.

The second and third years

In 2019, Parker has come to China to take up his CEO post. Although the company has equipped him with a professional translator, he prefers direct communication. Obviously, being able to communicate in daily life and work in all aspects and without obstacles in Chinese has become his most important learning task at this time.

So, I adjusted his Chinese learning plan for him. On the one hand, I chose the advanced Chinese oral textbook "Chinese Oral Idioms" and on the other hand, I chose the advanced business textbook "Business in Business". These two books, one has 16 lessons and the other has 20 lessons. After nearly two years of hard study, we finally completed this arduous task in November 2020.

Practical exercises again! We read five professional articles from 21 Economic Network, such as "Prologis' Elephant Turns Around", "Streaming Competition Intensifies, Global Market May Stage "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "In-depth Analysis of "Shantytown" Transformation", etc. So Strange! Why are there still so many new words? Why are there so many words with similar meanings that are hard to figure out?

I analyzed for Parker that it was because your Chinese level is not high enough, and your current level is just the beginning of HSK Level 6.

Fourth, fifth and sixth years

So in the spring of 2021, we embarked on a "less traveled" road - attacking HSK Level 6. There is no doubt that "HSK Standard Course 6·Volume 1" is our first choice textbook, with a total of 40 lessons in Volume 1 and Volume 2. HSK Level 6 has very high requirements for writing skills, and each lesson requires a short essay of 300-400 words.

Parker is very strict with himself. He writes his essays on grid paper like a middle school student. After I revise it, he will carefully rewrite it again.

Parker is diligent, hardworking, and with strong execution capability. He always attends classes strictly according to the plan. Sometimes, it is inevitable that life affairs will conflict with class time. Parker is not like most people who simply skip the class that week, but will find another time to make up for it.

Time flies, and we are carrying out our study plan step by step. From March 2021 to the end of 2023, spring goes and autumn comes, year after year, nearly three years have passed, and the HSK Level 6 textbook has finally been completed!

Although the listening questions of HSK Level 6 occasionally stumped even an experienced Chinese teacher like me, Parker's determination to overcome the difficulties has never wavered, and he has always firmly accumulated and practiced step by step.

Unsurprisingly, Parker finally passed the HSK Level 6 and HSKK Advanced Oral Tests. Of course, he had no obstacles in daily communication in Guangzhou any more. Because he has a Chinese face, when he first came to China, people always asked him, "Are you Taiwanese or Hong Kong?" But now, his Chinese is no different from that of Chinese people. Not only can he communicate fluently and appropriately, but he is even better than some ordinary Chinese people.

Ending

In six years, he has gone from intermediate to advanced, and from advanced to the ultimate level of Chinese learners - he is the first one to pass the HSK Level 6 test! The first one I have ever taught! For me, who has been teaching Chinese as a foreign language for fifteen years, Parker's learning experience is a miracle. He achieved a great goal in 282 classes.

It is not easy to balance family, career and spare time study. Parker is a devout religious believer. I often think that this may be one of the reasons why he has gone further than others.