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Photo & Reflection due by 11AM, Tuesday, September 8
1. Please upload the photo taken for #1 CBEL meeting
2. Share with us your overall learning experience in the first 2 weeks and meeting with Chinese friends at the 1st CBEL meeting.
Guided Prompts below:
1. What do you feel about the online course? Pre-class activities and during-class activities?
2. Reflect on your experience in interacting with native speakers. To what extent does it help you learn Chinese language and culture?
3. Anything else? Comments and suggestions?

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恭喜你们完成第一个单元！

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恭喜你们完成第一个单元！

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My first two weeks of class have been good. I haven’t spoken much Chinese since last semester, so I had to practice a lot in order to feel comfortable again. After these two weeks, I feel confident speaking Chinese again. Our first CBEL meeting went well, and I enjoyed getting to know Li Ya and Xiaoxuan.

Because the end of last semester was also online, I have adjusted to the online course very easily. The pre-class and during class activities are interesting and very useful for my Chinese education.

I feel that speaking with a native speaker helps my listening comprehension skills. In addition, it helps me practice conversational skills in Chinese. I look forward to utilizing the CBEL part of this course to improve my listening and speaking skills.

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Unit 2 relates to my immediate life experience because I am living in Charlottesville during school. Because of that, I am constantly thinking about how university life has changed because of the pandemic. In addition to this, I am nervous about how jobs will change after college, and if I will have trouble getting a job after college. I enjoyed learning about phrases that pertain to COVID because I feel that it will be relevant for years to come.

I am getting used to the online learning setting and routine for CHIN 3010. I think the cycle we follow is useful in helping me learn the material and then apply what I have learned to real- life situations. I think the pre-task prepares me for the Task in Action because I am able to think about the material we have learned and how to apply it to a real conversation. I enjoy the learning process much more than I did for CHIN 2020 because I feel I am learning in a way that better prepares me to speak Chinese in real life.

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我二十岁生日的时候， 我的妈妈送我这个礼物， 在我的公寓收到礼物。我收到这个礼物，因为我需要一台新电脑。这个礼物很特别，因为我不小心把水泼到我的老电脑上。收到礼物的时候让我很高兴，因为我不常见妈妈。 这个电脑是很友用的， 因为在大学我常常用电脑做功或者上网课。电脑是灰色和很大。 我觉得美国没有很多收礼送礼的禁忌。我认为美国没有很多的文化习惯， 但是收到人应该说“谢谢”。这个礼物没有文化意义， 但是电脑是贵重的礼物。我说 “谢谢你，这个礼物是非常好！” 我的心情是很高兴， 因为我想一台新电脑。她给我一个意外的惊喜， 她也很高兴 。

Character Count: 267

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我二十岁生日的时候， 我的妈妈送我这个礼物， 在我的公寓收到礼物。我收到这个礼物因为我需要一台新电脑。 我泼了水在我的老电脑。收到礼物的时候让我很高兴，因为我不常见妈妈。 我觉得美国没有很多收礼送礼的禁忌。我认为美国没有很多的文化习惯， 但是收到人应该说“谢谢”。这个礼物没有文化意义， 但是电脑是贵重的礼物。我的心情是很高兴， 因为我想一台新电脑。她给我一个意外的惊喜, 她也很高兴 。

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巴黎又称为世界花都因此法国人很盛行送花给亲友。 对于讲究送花的数量种类很讲究。 会针对送礼对象来选择适合的花。 像是玫瑰的花语是爱情， 就不能送给已婚的女性。

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One of the most interesting things about this unit for me was learning about the different aspects of feng shui. America does not really have many traditions like this, so it was interesting to see how Chinese people use these guidelines to organize their homes. I was really surprised by how many different meanings there are for the color red, and how important it is in Chinese culture. I don’t know if I believe all of the Chinese feng shui guidelines, but some of them seem very relevant. During my CBEL meeting, I learned that in China, many people think you should sleep with your head facing the north and your feet facing the south, so your hands face east and west. This is because east and west translate to 东西, which means things, so by laying in bed like that you are able to take things in your hands or take control of things.

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This week I enjoyed our meeting because it was nice to talk to Julia and Xiaoxuan freely. We discussed our exams during midterms and how they went. She asked how our Chinese midterm went, and Julia and I agreed that it was manageable and we felt prepared for it. I think the workload for the midterm was manageable. Since everything was broken up into its own days, it was easy to do the workload without being overwhelmed. I think I was very well prepared because of all of our class activities. I think the review before the exam was the most helpful in making sure I knew the material and was ready for the exam. I enjoyed the oral report and the voting on Feng Shui because they were interactive. I liked the option to record the report beforehand a lot because it took some stress off of me on the day of, and I felt ready to discuss it further.

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This week's CBEL was interesting because we were able to see how gift giving traditions we learned about in class compared to an international student's experience with gift giving in China. I think the most interesting experience was learning about different gifts that can’t be given because their name sounds similar to an unlucky word in Chinese. This is interesting because there really isn’t something like this in America. I enjoyed the breakout rooms because it allowed me to work more on conversational Chinese. Additionally, it allowed me to hear my peers’ perspectives on this unit. I enjoyed the Task in Action this week because it allowed me to practice more organically. I liked the chance to polish my story narration because it allowed me to use new grammar that we had just learned and practiced. This helped me make my Chinese writing more advanced, which can help me in the future.

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Beyonce 是歌里人，我觉得她长得相貌出众。她看上去雍容华贵。 她穿得很艳丽， 也穿得特别讲究。 她长得浓眉大眼， 让她看起来很活泼。她有棕色长的头发。 她的性格是比较外向， 她给人自信的印象。 她很有能力， 而且她特别有才干，所以她是很著名的。 我觉得她是很有意思的名人。

Character Count: 129

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Idris Elba 是英国人，是好莱坞的演员。我觉得他长得非常眉清目秀。我觉得在好莱坞里Idris是最好看的人。他也是非常好的演员，题别是在“Luther” 和“Thor”。除了电影和电视以外，他也喜欢唱歌，写书，敲打什么的。

character count -114

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这个人是Dwayne Johnson。他出生于加州，父母来自加拿大和萨摩亚。他是在加州长大的。在学历方面，他就读于迈阿密大学。除了学习以外，他也是在橄榄球队。现在他是很有名的人。他的肌肉看起来很大，因为他每天都锻炼，非常棒！我觉得他穿得打扮比较素雅，因为他不是时髦的。他说起话来不但很男人味，而且很有见解。他的性格很外向，所以他给人一种自信乐观的印象。他也喜欢在 Instagram 上发很幽默的视频。

198

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巴黎又称为世界花都，因此法国人很盛行送花给亲友，对于讲究送花的数量种类很讲究，会针对送礼对象来选择适合的话，像是玫瑰的话于是爱情就不能送给已婚的女性。

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J. Cole 是一个很有名的美国说唱歌手。他在德国的一个军事基地出生，后来搬到北卡罗来纳。他很小的时候，他的爸爸离开家了，让他的妈妈很伤心。他写了一些歌表达他小时候遇到的困难。Cole长大的过程中，他虽然很穷，但他是一个很聪明的学生，在大学拿到了3.8GPA。说起话来很有知识。这张照片里，你可以看见他的头发长长的，胡子比较浓密，看起来像一个不重视自己的外表的人。他身上穿着一个很便宜的T恤衫。他其实有很多人听他的音乐，付钱去他的音乐会，但是他不喜欢自夸。因为他很谦卑，各人都喜欢他，不管他们喜欢不喜欢说唱音乐。

character count: 二百五十七

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My learning experience during the first two weeks of Chinese was good. Not only did I re-emphasize what I previously learned, but I also learned many new vocab words to be able to introduce myself in Chinese. My first CBEL experience was pleasant. Tingyu Yang and Wei Song are both nice and fun people to talk to.  It was nice getting to know both of them more.

I am currently well adjusted to online classroom settings so this online class is very manageable for me. The pre-class and during-class activities are useful and I learn a lot from both of them. Speaking with native speakers help me practice Chinese a lot. I really have to think about everything I learned just to keep up and continue the conversation. Not only do I get to practice Chinese more, I also get to make new friends and learn their culture. I found talking to native speakers during the summer with my Summer Chinese class and with the CBEL meetings are very interesting and eye-opening.

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It has been a while since I have spoken in Mandarin on a consistent basis. I tried to speak Mandarin with my parents, but the conversation usually transitions to English because my vocab is not up  to par. With this being my first Chinese course at UVA, I was nervous at first but I can say with confidence I have settled in.

The first CBEL experience was very good. I did not expect too much but it was very interesting to learn about both Chen Lu and Rui Si's backgrounds. I really enjoy the CBEL environment because it allows me to practice Chinese in conversations compared to a learning opportunity in our Chinese classes. I am looking forward to these in the next units.

For me, I am still adapting to the online class environment since March. I feel like I have been given more work in my major-specific courses. Taking CHIN3010 has given me an outlet when I need to take a break from homework for my other classes.

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I personally was somewhat skeptical of taking a language class online, but after two weeks of Chinese, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to have been proven wrong. I’ve found the breakout rooms extremely conducive to learning the new vocabulary and would almost go as far to say they enable greater individualized, in-class practice than in-person classes do. That being said, there definitely still is somewhat of a learning curve that goes along with having so many online classes simultaneously that I have yet to overcome.

I have always enjoyed practicing with native speakers, as it’s interesting to hear their own experiences and how they may be similar or different to our own. Even though I am able to gain insight into Chinese culture at home being of Chinese background, oftentimes the information I learn is rather outdated, as my primary sources of information are my mother and my grandparents. It’s nice to have a more contemporary approach to the culture. In regards to the session itself, though, I think it went really well, as Xiaoxuan is very personable and was very accommodating to Sloane’s and my schedule.

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The first two weeks of class have been challenging but good. I'm slowly but surely getting used to the way this class goes and am excited to learn more. I've always struggled with reading and writing Chinese, so I started to pay more attention to these aspects of learning the language at the start of this semester. The activities we do help a lot in my learning, especially helping with my listening skills. I've learned a lot in the first two weeks and am excited to learn more as the class progresses.

Meeting with a native speaker was fun and educational. I had a good time talking with Chenlu and practicing Chinese with her. We talked about the prompts and ourselves, getting to know each other. I like these meetings because I tend to learn more about modern day Chinese culture, which I find a interesting supplement to my Chinese education. I feel that talking to a native speaker greatly helps with conversational skills, my main motivation for taking this class. Chenlu was also really helpful in correcting my pronunciation and sentence structures. I'm excited for more of these meetings as I find that I learn the best from one on one practice.

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After taking a 3 month break from learning new Chinese vocabulary, I have enjoyed the past two weeks of class. The structure of this class was very different from previous Chinese classes I have taken, but I am now mostly adjusted.

I felt that this first CBEL meeting was an interesting experience. It allowed me to practice my Chinese in a less structured and more conversational context making me work on the flow of my Chinese sentences and phrases. It was also very interesting being able to converse with someone who has lived a decent portion of their lives in both the US and China. I enjoyed being able to ask my CBEL partner about her experiences and the differences between the two countries from her perspective. Although my mom sometimes does talk to me about her life in Taiwan it feels different when talking to someone from the same age group as me. I look forward to future CBEL meetings and getting to know both Yuxin and Leyu better.

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So far, this Chinese class has been very smooth. The Collab site is very organized, and I think the class structure so far is great.
The CBEL experience is really helpful to me. When I did the Summer Language Institute, we had a similar system of interacting with native speakers. I definitely like practicing in small groups, it gives me a chance to ask specific questions or learn more about Chinese culture. It is also just a lot of extra time speaking aloud, which I think is good. Even though we only really did introductions last Friday, I’m definitely excited to meet with my group again.
So far, I don’t have any suggestions or comments.

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So far through the first 2 weeks of Chinese and through my first CBEL meeting I feel good. I haven't practiced my Chinese intensely in several months, but I think I'm starting to get back into the feel of things and I'm sure I will improve greatly by the end of the semester. I was a little worried at first because I'd only been in Huang Laoshi's class since starting Chinese, but I've been enjoying my new classmates and teacher a lot. The CBEL was good because it gave me a chance to practice the concepts from Unit 1 with not only a friend from class, but also a native speaker who could help us improve.

In terms of online courses, I feel like I'm beginning to adjust. Although I still get zoom fatigue, and my wifi isn't the best, I definitely think that zoom classes are doable and I should be able to succeed this semester. Pre-class and during-class activities are fine, and offer a good chance to improve my Chinese while also reviewing vocabulary that I've learned before.

I believe that my experiences speaking with native speakers, through CBEL and outside of CBEL, are great for improving. My tones and pronunciations aren't the best, and honestly one of my greatest weaknesses, so to have a native speaker is amazing for my personal improvement. Also, it helps me learn more about Chinese culture. Hearing them answer the questions but from their point of view helps me to learn about what they enjoy, as well as what is popular/current in China.

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石韦松

Self-Reflection

I found our fist CBEL meeting to be very informative, and a great way to develop my speaking skills. By entering into ordinary conversation, I could encounter and learn how to say new phrases in Chinese that are useful for me in everyday language. By discussing my interest in law school, Ting Yu was able to help me in the correct pronunciation for discussing the subject. It was interesting to discuss the various similarities between myself, Si Wen and Ting Yu. We are all in the Arts and Sciences Department of the University, as well as find cooking to be an enjoyable hobby. Discussing education was very interesting, as Ting Yu explained the rigid nature of education in China, as well as the view that Chinese students have of American universities. Our discussions of music were also very insightful, as I was able to gain experience in describing genres such as Pop in Chinese. Another aspect of discussing music that I found interesting was that I learned about Chinese musical artists such as Zhou Shen, exposing me to more of Chinese culture.

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These first two weeks have been tough for me. Ending my final year by sitting in my room, staring at a screen, learning Chinese online for the 3rd Semester in a row just was not how I was expecting my 4th Year to go. Its definitely an adaptation, and I definitely enjoy learning in-person so I hope this semester and/or this year becomes easier to handle. I recently came off of a summer of intense Chinese learning, having 2010 and 2020 Chinese being taught a chapter a day for 8 weeks, so adapting to it has come easier than most, but it's wearing me out! This Chinese class is luckily slower-paced and more in depth, with a heavy emphasis on speaking, a huge step up from other online course I have taken. And now with a tutor taking time to help me, I look forward to my speaking skills improve!

I love meeting with native speakers because I feel like teachers (definitely not Tseng Laoshi) like to dial down the speed of their speech , but having a native speaker speak to you, and having the ability to understand most sentences really gives me the confidence to speak more! I also enjoy seeing the other cultures from the other side of the world while being a more personal learning experience. I definitely enjoyed this first CBEL Meeting!

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Although my parents are experienced translators, I am by no means fluent in Chinese. In taking this course, I wanted to be able to hone a skill that has long been directly related to my heritage, for reasons both practical and symbolic. It was not just that my grandparents don’t speak English and I wanted to communicate with them, nor was it solely because I wanted to work with Chinese human rights advocacy groups. Rather, my ongoing journey of Chinese learning is valuable to me because it helps me view my identity with more clarity. It certainly helped that I felt very much at home with Haorou and Yuxin, who were able to comfortably share their personal experiences with me. On the whole, it was a welcoming experience.

One aspect of the learning process that is a new concept for all of us is the digitalization of it all. In my eighteen years of exposure to Chinese, I have never attempted to learn it online, so adjusting to Zoom meetings was a difficult transition. The key to overcoming my technological anxiety was open communication and mutual respect; exercises and activities relating to speaking and writing in Chinese become a lot more manageable in the warm “classroom” environment. The same can be said for the CBEL meeting, in which everyone’s willingness to listen allowed productive conversation to flourish.

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#2 UNIT 1+CBEL 社区体验学习  Photo & Reflection due by 11AM, Tuesday, September 22

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#2 UNIT 1+CBEL 社区体验学习  Photo & Reflection due by 11AM, Tuesday, September 22

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恭喜你们！又完成一个新单元了！
请根据下面的问题，用英文写下个人的反思经验。

1. Does UNIT 2 relate to your immediate life experience? To what extent does it help you express ideas and thoughts about the spreading pandemic?
2. UNIT 2 has a standard 2-week cycle. Are you getting used to the online learning setting and routine for CHIN3010? Why and How?
3. Does the Pre-task (2 versions) better prepare a smooth transition for your performance in Task in Action? To what extent?
4. Just to remind you that Discord是我们这门课的社交媒体/社群平台，请你们要踊跃参与。这学期当中，至少要参与五次，多于五次就能得到加分。
5. Any other suggestions and comments

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Unit 2 has related with my immediate life experiences. By learning words relating to the COVID-19 Pandemic, I could talk about the changes going on in my life, COVID-19 epidemic safety measures, and my opinions on how our leadership is dealing with COVID-19.

I am getting used to the standard 2-week cycle. Because, I have went through this cycle twice I know what to expect. I am prepared for the rest of upcoming cycles.

I think completing the self checklist once before class helped me review what we learned from the past few days. It caused me to review past words and grammar phrases. I felt more prepared for the Task in Action. I think completing it again for the second time did not help much though.

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Unit 2 is definitely related to my immediate life experience. I think every single person has been affected by the COVID-19 in one way or another. I enjoyed learning about relevant phrases so I can talk about current events regarding the pandemic.

Yes I think I am getting used to the 2 week cycle because it gives me a lot of time to plan out my learning for this Chinese class. I am able to budget time specifically towards Chinese review/studying. In addition, the 2 week cycle really gives me time to learn the new vocabulary without quickly rushing to new topics.

I think that the pre-task was helpful in the sense that it essentially already provided me the framework to prepare for the interview with my partner. I think the feedback and second version was good as well, albeit a bit tedious.

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This unit definitely relates to my life right now as my life has been greatly changed by COVID-19. There are many things that I had to change in my day to day life and this unit has helped me describe these changes better. This is especially true when talking about how COVID-19 has changed my college experience. There are a lot of things that I had to think about when trying to describe what was different about college and this unit has helped organize these thoughts while teaching me different and easier ways of saying these changes. There are also many phrases or words that we've learned (like full of life, impatient) that can be used outside of talking about COVID-19.
I am getting more used to this cycle of learning and actually find it very helpful that each two week cycle is structured the same. While it is fast paced, I find that I am learning faster along with the class. I do wish I had more time to learn grammar structures and certain vocabulary words, but I enjoy the overall structure and how it affects my learning.
The pre-task was helpful for me as it essentially provided me a guideline of what to do in the task in action. The task in action was still slightly challenging because of the interview and presentation aspect, but I think it would have been a lot harder to do had I not done the pre-task.

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Unit 2 relates immediately and profoundly to not only my current life experience but perhaps the life experiences of everyone in the world now. As such, having the vocabulary to deeply and intelligently contribute to conversations surrounding Covid have been particularly rewarding. I've been able to talk to my grandparents about how Covid has affected my time at school in a much more eloquent and coherent way, and it's allowed them to gain a greater understanding into my life. I've also been able to better understand how they feel about Covid, how it's impacted their lives, and how they think the US has done in handling the virus in comparison to other nations.

As for the weekly schedule, I think I've finally gotten the hang of it! I would even go out on a limb and say that I've acclimated to online classes. I think the predictability of the Chinese course schedule has helped in that. Finally, I do think the pre Task-In-Action homework helps. The document is quite thorough and although it's slightly time consuming, it saves time when it comes to preparing for the CBEL and actual Task-In-Action. It helps solidify everything we've learned.

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Unit 2 definitely related to my current life experience as the pandemic is still greatly affecting our country and UVA. I was able to freely express my thoughts on the pandemic as well as my thoughts on UVA's actions to deal with the pandemic. I felt that our discussions about this were thoughtful and meaningful.
I'm still having trouble settling into this routine/cycle, but that's likely because I still dislike online classes. I'm working on creating a more consistent routine, and hopefully that will help with Chinese and daily life. Having the Discord definitely is a huge plus in terms of helping me organize reminders for Chinese work and class.
I personally do believe that the Pre-task better prepares me for my performance in the Task in Action. The Pre-tasks allows me to practice using the new terms and sentence structures which I then practice even further for my Task in Action. Encouraging constant usage of Chinese is the best way to learn (although it does mean a lot of work too).

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This unit did reflect my real life experiences with the pandemic, I was happy to be studying something topical I could discuss with some of my Chinese friends, I usually talk to them about things that aren’t as important so I was happy to be able to express my real feelings and thoughts about what was going on.
I like the 2-Week unit cycle, and I’m definitely getting used to the online setting as more time passes. I know that there is always something to be working on, and I frequently check Collab and emails. I think it is really helpful that Tseng Laoshi sends out emails after class with the homework.
The pre task definitely helps me a lot, because it gives me an opportunity to get as much feedback as possible. I feel good doing my work because we get really detailed and helpful feedback.

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I feel like this unit’s material relates to my current life experience and the life experiences of many other students very well. The covid-19 pandemic is currently a hot topic in many places in the world especially with all the implications it has on other aspects of society like the economy, politics, and globalization. I feel that this unit allowed me to acquire more vocabulary that allows me to talk about the pandemic outside of being just a public health crisis. I also thought this week’s CBEL meeting was particularly interesting as I have heard that China’s situation has much improved since the beginning of the outbreak but I wasn’t aware of the exact details. Since Yuxin is currently living in Shanghai she was able to share more details on the situation there which I was very interested in especially with the current state of America.

I feel like I am starting to adjust to the two week unit structure. I think the biggest contributor is just starting to get used to doing online classes. I feel like the Pre-Task assignments do help us prepare as they allow us to consolidate our understanding and practice using the new vocabulary we learn at the beginning of the unit.

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1. Unit 2 has directly related to my lifestyle this year due to COVID. Not only am I more conscious about how I can help prevent a sickness for myself, but how I can stop the spread for others. It was especially interesting to see a viewpoint from across the world!
2. The 2 week per lesson plan that we have going is very helpful because it is a lot less stressful than the 1 Lesson Per Day that I experienced this summer. I am definitely getting used to it and enjoy it more.
3. The Pre-Task Action does ensure that I am prepped for the Task-in-Action. I just have to start working on it earlier.

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It was very interesting to discuss the effects of the pandemic with Tingyu. In going over the effects on students, she described how many decided to take a gap year, engage in an internship, or other such things to pass the time. Discussing the impact that social media has had during quarantine was enlightening, as we went over how people hold social events, such as concerts, online to foster a sense of community. Her opinion on online classes was very interesting, since although she did miss the traditional classroom, she enjoyed the safety and convenience of the online classroom. We all hoped that everything would return to normal by the spring, which she talked about being problematic due to the fact that people can catch COVID-19, recover, and after a period of time, be susceptible to it again. We all agree that the effect on colleges has been substantial, changing students’ lives in many ways, from food to transportation. It was interesting to consider her take on how the pandemic has forced colleges to push the use of more technology in learning, and how they have gradually become more adept at it.

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Our second CBEL meeting was certainly very topical, as the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many aspects of ours lives and arguably changed them forever. Sometimes I get caught up in my own mind as a result of living at home with only three other people to frequently interact with, so talking about the pandemic with other people helped to put things into perspective for me. It's always comforting to know that you aren't alone and my group did a fantastic job examining the pandemic as a national problem and as a personal problem. In addition, they had some well-constructed suggestions for how the university might do a better job curbing the spread of the virus on campus, including limiting the amount of people allowed to gather at once, so that the university would be safe enough to remain open during the second term.

Our two-week cycle is something that I've started to adapt to now that I've experienced two full rotations of it. It allows me to keep learning while remaining just predictable enough to allow me to stay comfortable. In my period of uncertainty, a set timeline of when we do the pre-tasks or when we complete homework or when we meet with our CBEL groups can help me stay organized. I especially like having the pre-task as a preface to the task in action.

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This unit was very interesting because it related to my life at home. My parents decorated our house with different Chinese feng shui items but I never really realized this and they never told me the meaning of the items. I grew up with a large Chinese knot in the living room and many different baifu tu and chunlian around the house. Learning about what these things mean and relating it back to how my parents decorated our house helped me connect and engage with the material more. The most interesting lesson in this unit was about colors and their meanings because my mother always told me the different meanings behind colors in China and I've followed them since learning about them; I've never written a letter in red because of this. While I've known these meanings all along, this helped me with learning the Chinese and I am happy that I'm now able to put these ideas into words. All this has also made me want to incorporate more Chinese feng shui and culture into my surroundings.

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Congratulations on completing Unit 3 and the 3rd CBEL meeting! We have come a long way, and it's almost the middle of the fall semester! This unit focuses on the description of your room in relation to Chinese Fengshui and cultural symbolic meanings (colors, shapes, furniture and space arrangement, etc.) Please summarize the most interesting perspectives of this unit and your learning experiences. Anything that you have learned from the class and from your Chinese friends are worth mentioning here.

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3010的同学们跟中国熊猫一起加油！ 

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3010的同学们跟中国熊猫一起加油！ 

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This unit was probably the most interesting to me thus far. Growing up, I learned about some Chinese Fengshui but never to this extent. I think one intriguing perspective to this unit was that something as simple as a color could have very different meanings in two cultures. Green is seen as a source of wealth in a lot of cultures, but green is essentially a bad omen for men in Chinese Fengshui. I was surprised to learn about the "green hat" because I did not think that a Fengshui would only apply to one gender. I was already familiar with the meaning of a circle because every Chinese New Year, my big family would always have "tuan yuan fan." It was always a pleasure to see everyone at the round table eating good food and having a wonderful time together. I did not think that a circle rug could be more desired than a rectangle rug. It surely was a unexpected but neat learning moment!

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This unit was very interesting. By learning Chinese Fengshui, I was able to learn more about Chinese culture. By learning cultural symbolic meanings of colors, shapes, and arrangement; I started to think about my own culture even more as well. For example red in China means happy, successful, and popular. When I was talking to Tingyu, I find it very interesting that Stocks in China is red when the prices are going up and green when it is going down. In America, we see red as bad, while green means good and our economy is doing well. Another thing I find interesting is that green in China and America are seen as the same: environmental. Learning about cultures is very fascinating to me so learning about Chinese Fengshui and traditions was definitely very interesting!

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Although I already knew some of the information we learned pertaining to feng shui and the associations made with certain colors because of my mom and grandparents, I found our CBEL meeting with our Chinese friend to be the most illuminating aspect of the unit. As I've said previously, having conversations pertaining to what we've learned in the unit with our Chinese friend gives us a unique perspective that is probably more reflective of current Chinese culture. According to Xiaoxuan, Sloane and I's Chinese friend, she said that young people in China -- and even older people -- don't really pay much attention to feng shui when organizing their rooms anymore. She did admit that the small size of her apartment bedroom didn't lend itself to much feng shui, but she also conceded that even at her bedroom back in China that she largely ignored feng shui. The only element she really followed was not putting her bed in front of the mirror. She did, however, mention that it is part of Chinese culture to have your head facing north and your body facing south so that your hands are going towards east and west. This symbolizes that you have everything (东西）in your hands.

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In this unit, we learned about Chinese Fengshui! This is something that I've seen a little of in my own home, and so to learn about the meanings in our class unit was really cool. In my own home, my mother likes to hang a lot of Chinese couplets and charms around our home. I even have a Chinese charm in my room, it adds a cultural feel. In this unit, we learned about how colors and shapes have a big symbolic meaning in China. In comparison, colors and shapes in the U.S. aren't as symbolic. For example, in China the color red and round shaped furniture/objects are good for Fengshui. Our professor has a lot of those Chinese Fengshui elements in her office. She has a painting in her office, similar to how my mother has several around our home as well. Plants are also important as they symbolize vitality, and my home has two just like Laoshi's office. Although it's cool to see Chinese Fengshui everywhere, it was also cool to hear from the perspective of a younger Chinese person. Our Chinese partner from CBEL talked about how Fengshui isn't as popular as it used to be, and how she doesn't practice it herself. Even so, it was cool to compare the meanings of colors and Fengshui between our two countries.

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This unit was a lot of fun for me. I had a vague idea of a lot of things we discussed, like the meaning of the colors in China, but it was good to go deeper into their meaning. In terms of Feng Shui, a lot of the elements of it make sense, and I think a lot of Americans probably incorporate elements of feng shui into their homes without even realizing it. I think a lot of it makes sense, and it also makes the home more comfortable. I was glad I didn’t have many feng shui taboos in my bedroom. But now, when I return home, I should probably tell my little brother to burn his green hat.

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Learning about fengshui this unit has been a very interesting experience. Growing up I had picked up on a few basic aspects of feng shui like red being an auspicious color, but my house growing up did not have many Chinese decorations or particular aspects of feng shui. At most my mom would tell me how I shouldn't arrange my room, but I was never told any reasoning behind it. It was also interesting learning that most people in China currently do not place extreme importance on feng shui (or most younger people do not), but it does make sense with generational changes. One thing I found very interesting is that even among those who don't believe in feng shui, many do follow the rule of not having a mirror face the bed as they do not like seeing themselves in the morning. I also learned that another "reason" for the rule is that if a mirror faces your bed a monster can come out and take your soul away.

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I always been interested in Feng Shui, and the art of organizing a room because I have lived in 14 different homes, so designing and floor planning is both fun and interesting. I've currently started to practice Calligraphy so soon I will be able to hang my personal paintings on the wall! I also need to buy more plants to bring my room life and to cleanse the air, since I'm in the attic. We also talked about how a mirror facing the bed will be distracting, which is very interesting because I remember having a mirror facing my bed one time and I did get very distracted! I really enjoyed this unto because it was a lot more about learning about Chinese superstition and ideals!

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The meeting this week was very interesting due to the cultural differences that we were able to dive into between China and the United States. Talking about unlucky numbers in China, such as 4, whose pinyin pronunciation closely resembles that of the Mandarin word for death, was an enlightening experience. The closest thing that I can recall in America is relating the number 13 to a Friday, due to the influence of popular culture and horror movies such as “Friday the 13th”. We also discussed how red items are often featured at Chinese weddings, due to the popularity of the color in Chinese culture, while funerals feature white colors. In the US, weddings often feature white color, while funerals tend to focus on black, which is an interesting contrast to the color palette in China for such events. Moving to discussing the photos in the link, it was interesting for us to discuss since Tingyu also does not abide by Chinese fengshui. After reviewing the photos, which instructed things such as not to place an AC unit directly overhead or to avoid placing the bathroom directly next to the bed, it was clear that Chinese fengshui has rationality behind it.

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恭喜你们考完了第一个大考！应该好好跟熊猫一样，休息一下！ 所以你们这次跟中国朋友见面可以聊聊你们感兴趣的话题，自由讨论任何有趣的事情，最让大家高兴的事情是，你们只要上传CBEL照片，写英文的反思就可以了，不必写CBEL的文章，这是给你们的礼物！因为我们下周开始要学中国送礼文化，所以老师先给你么一个特别的礼物。

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The 4th CBEL has free topics in preparation for the following unit on gift-giving and gift-receiving in Chinese culture. Do you welcome free discussion at the CBEL meeting? What did you and your Chinese friends talk about? In addition, please reflect on your experience in taking Mid-term 1. Is the workload manageable? Compare the content and format of the exams that you took in other courses. Did you feel that daily preparation, quizzes, and review help you relieve pressure in the past 2 weeks and get ready for Mid-Term 1 in CHIN3010? Did you enjoy the oral report (35 points) and in-class voting on 谁是最红的中国风水设计师？Why and why not?   Any other feedback to share?

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I do welcome free discussion at the CBEL meeting. We were able to learn each other cultures and bonded well over shared interests. Tingyu, Seth, and I talked about Chinese gift giving, Chinese and American holidays, Chinese cities, etc. My experience with taking Mid-Term 1 was manageable. Compared to other UVA courses though, this midterm week was stressful only because we had a lot big consecutive assignments to complete everyday. Even though it was stressful, I was prepared for it because Tseng Laoshi helped us prepare a lot for the midterm week. I enjoyed the Oral report and in-class voting. It was nice to see who has the best idea of Zhongguo Fengshui. I do not have any other feedback. Thank you for preparing us a lot for the midterm!

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The free discussion for CBEL 4 was very nice. Chenlu, Chris, and I were able to talk about a variety of topics ranging from the new iPhone 12, bubble tea in America, and home quarantine activities. I think that Midterm 1 went very well overall because I enjoyed the different aspects of the exam. It was not just one exam with multiple choice questions, writing sentences, etc. I think that the review from class lecture was very helpful. It allowed me to prepare accordingly for the midterm. I liked the oral report because it helps us practice our Chinese listening skills when we have to answer questions at the end of the presentation. Looking forward to the next CBEL!

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Given that midterm season is upon is, this week, Xiaoxuan, Sloane, and I talked about how our weeks have been in regards to managing our workload in addition to taking exams. Xiaoxuan asked us how we thought our Chinese midterm went, and Sloane and I both agreed that we did better than we were anticipating! We also talked about how we thought the spring semester was going to play out, and I think we all felt that it would be similar to the fall.

Personally, although I was initially overwhelmed by the multi-day nature of the exam, it ultimately ended up being extremely straightforward. I think the time that Laoshi took with us to ensure that we understood the exam schedule was particularly helpful, and I appreciated that all the necessary resources were already on Collab.

As for comparing this exam to other exams I've taken in Chinese, I don't think I really have much to compare it to because I've never really taken a midterm in my previous Chinese classes (from what I remember). I think it's because we used to have tests more frequently and would have a project instead of a midterm. That being said, the learning curve for 3010 was not too steep!

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Free discussion with a couple of guiding questions is definitely a fun experience! In our call, we talked about one gift that each of us had received in the past couple of years and gifts that we had given to others. We also talked about gift taboos in the US and China as well as holidays such as Christmas and birthdays. One gift that Hollis (HeLi) received recently was a bundle of Star Wars action figures from his mother. Florrie (AoXin) said that a couple years ago her and her class gifted a teacher a stamp of their name, a meaningful gift that he loved. I told them about a basketball, signed by UVA basketball players Kihei Clark and Jay Huff, that some of my best friends gifted me on my 19th birthday. All the gifts we mentioned were very cool and meaningful to us.
The mid-term that we recently wrapped up was very long but also manageable in terms of time and energy. It was definitely unusual to see so many parts in an exam compared to my previous Chinese class which would only have reading, writing, and oral. In comparison, our mid-term this class had multiple choice, oral, writing, and some listening (with the videos) tested over a longer period of time. I did feel that all our work in the class had prepared us for the exam, and the review was good. The oral report was not bad, although a bit time consuming (I spent a decent amount of time recording to get everything right). That's all for I got! :)

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This week we talked about gift-giving and although we didn't have any clear prompts or questions, we managed to talk for a long time about gift-giving! We learned a lot about each other as well learning about Chinese Taboos (don't give gifts in groups of 4!) We didn't talk about our midterm, but I felt that the midterm went pretty well! I studied hard and really practiced with my tutor on the speaking part. The whole week of exams was especially helpful to be able to study more. The voting on Feng Shui was great because I'm glad someone took pity on me and voted for my Feng Shui Living Room!

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I enjoyed just being able to casually chat with my CBEL partner/group this week. We talked a little about gift giving in China especially in a school setting and also things that we've received and given. Yuxin asked us about what we thought would happen during the spring semester and we all agreed it'd probably still be online. We also talked about how we've been doing with school and exams. In terms of our Chinese midterm I found it a little long compared to other exams I'm used to taking due to all the different components but I did feel well prepared to take it. I liked having the option to record the oral report since we could have multiple tries and didn't have to stress about forgetting to say certain things as much.

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I find that it is very easy to get off topic in CBEL meetings because the material opens up more to discuss beyond what we do in class. I really enjoyed being able to discuss whatever we wanted in this meeting because of this. In our 4th meeting, Chenlu and I talked about movies, gift giving, and painting, and we found that we have a lot in common on these subjects. I found it harder to speak Chinese in this meeting because it was not centered around one topic that we talked about in class, but this only encouraged me to think differently and more critically, and it also encouraged me to ask more questions about Chinese and Chinese culture.
The workload for midterm 1 was a lot but manageable. I thought it prepared me well for the midterm. I was still nervous about many aspects of the midterm, but not as nervous as I was for other classes' midterms. I liked that the midterm was spread out over multiple days because I could focus on studying for one part at a time as opposed to studying for the whole test all at once. My favorite part of the midterm was the oral presentations and voting because it was the most creative and fun. I enjoyed seeing what my classmates came up with and listening to their presentations.

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This week’s meeting was very interesting as our discussion about gift-giving also led into an in- depth discussion of Chinese holidays and culture. We began with taboo items in Chinese culture, such as clocks, whose pronunciation in Mandarin resembles that for death, and that generally shar objects such as scissors are avoided. From there we began to discuss gift giving in relation to holidays, which led to an enlightening conversation about the Spring Festival. Ting Yu described how her family often goes back to the rural hometown of her parents, where she gets to reunite with many of her family members. An interesting tradition is that they make pork and vegetable dumplings, with one containing a coin, which is a sign of goodluck for whoever gets that dumpling. We also discussed Chinese cities, particularly Shanghai. I asked Ting Yu, since she is a finance major and Shanghai is a major financial center, if it contained an area similar to New York’s Wall Street. She said that it does have one, which is called Lujiazui.

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I definitely enjoyed the free discussion with Chenlu and Jei-Ming. We talked a lot some about what we do during quarantine, some American shows and cartoons, and other things. It was fun learning some new vocabulary as well as learning more about each other.
My experience with the mid term was good overall. I was thankful that the workload was very manageable, especially considering the amount of work I had to do for other classes. I liked how it was set up, and it didn't stress me out too much. I know I could have done better with the oral report, and had a bit of trouble answering my classmates questions. Overall, I was happy with the midterm.

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上上个星期二我的朋友寄包裹 送礼。她送一幅画，自己画的。这是因为十月六号是我的生日。我非常高兴因为我好久没收到一个寿礼。这是我唯一 的寿礼 。我特别喜欢我的礼物因为她化了很多时间做这个礼物。他需要寄包裹因为他现在住在宾夕法尼亚。

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我是去年送一封信件的，是送给我的最好朋友的，是在弗大送的。我送了一个礼物因为这天是他的生日。我送给一封信件因为我认为信件是最真诚的礼物。我是当着他送给礼物的，可是我要他在别的地方打开礼物了。我认为在美国送信件没有禁忌。如果你写与好的意图，那信件会是很好的礼物。送信件有很多文化习惯与传统因为以前写信件是非常受欢迎的做法。送信件的意义是送礼物的人在想他们。送给礼物的时候，我的心情激动。他说他看信件的时候，我的信件让他的心情很开心。

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上个星期我有一个朋友过生日，我有叫她那天晚上来我的公寓过生日。我们一边聊天一边吃甜点。她在跟别的朋友聊天的时候我去拿礼物给她，因为我忘记了买袋子，没办法八里区包装起来，所以我就叫她闭着眼睛一下然后把礼物放到她面前再叫她打开眼睛。我送给他的礼物是两个（偶数）娃娃，一个是熊猫另一个是马。收到的时候，她非常高兴，因为她父母准备搬家，所以她杠八很多娃娃捐了。

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去年我生日的时候，我的朋友们送了我一个礼物。我是在我的公寓收到这个礼物的。他们给了我一个玻璃菠萝，因为我认为菠萝一般不但好看，而且好吃，所以我觉得这是一个很好的装饰。我是受到包装纸的礼物的。手里有一些禁忌。比如说，甚至你不喜欢这个礼物你也不应该生气或者哭。他们不应该在送你以前告诉你礼物是什么。菠萝代表好客，非常欢迎！我收到的时候，我的心情很开心。他们知道我会喜欢他，因为我经常谈到菠萝。

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最近是我表哥的生日。我好久没有见到他因为现在是新冠疫情，而且他住在纽约市。我跟家人常常会去纽约市看亲戚，但是现在有新冠疫情所以暑假的时候都没有开车回去纽约市。我的表哥已经大学毕业了，现在工作。新冠疫情一开始, 每天在家里工作。我觉得在家里工作会加一点压力因为人们都不习惯这个新的工作经验。所以表哥生日过的时候，我得送一个苹果手表给表哥。我觉得苹果手表会让他工作的时候放松一点。

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我的十九岁的生日的时候，我的好朋友送我一个篮球。晚上的时候，我是在我的宿舍学习。我的好朋友都来我的宿舍让我非常惊讶。我们一起吃了蛋糕和他们送我这个篮球。因为他们知道我很喜欢打和看篮球，他们知道我最喜欢的篮球队人是KiheiClark和JayHuff所以他们送这个礼物给我。 在美国收到礼物的人会在送礼物的人面前马上打开礼物。我们说“太好了，这正是我想要的礼物，谢谢你。“ 我的性情很高兴因为他们给我一个意外的惊喜。

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今年圣诞的时候，我的妈妈最后送了我Star Wars Action Figures。 我知道这个礼物很可笑，可是我最喜欢这个礼物。我是小的时候，我的妈妈没有很多钱，有的时候我们不能买杂货，可是我的妈妈常常省钱了所以我可以看了电影特别是Star Wars。 那个年圣诞的时候，我要想Star Wars Action Figures， 所以我的妈妈送了我这个礼物。可是，这个玩具是便宜的Tree Ornaments. 我再玩了跟这个玩具。最后，我二十岁的时候，我的妈妈送了我真的玩具！我爱我的妈妈！

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生日的时候收到了这个礼物，我的父母送了我这个礼物。在我的老家收到这个礼物。我收到这个礼物因为我常常皮划艇（Pi Hua Ting）。我非常高兴，因为钱的时候在一个袋放着我的东西，所以这个框比较好。在美国，我们没重视机会，所以我的父母看我代开这个礼物。这个礼物有红色的包装纸（Bao Zhuang Zhi），可是我不知道了有什么建议。美国人常常哦送礼物行跟一个礼物。这个礼物是非常好的，因为我皮划艇的时候，常常在华厅里面放着水，所以这个河流不可以去到我的手机，不给我一个意外的惊喜。

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我今年二十一岁，所以在美国我可以喝酒。很多美国人有二十一岁的时候去酒吧，但是今年因为新馆肺炎很厉害，我没有机会过我的生日。我的生日是四月二十六号，那时候大家都得居家隔离，所以我只跟我的家人过我的生日。虽然有的人觉得跟你的家人过你的生日没有兴趣，我不同意。我是大一，二年纪的学生的时候，我咩年大考试过我的生日，所以我得学习，没有时间回家跟我的家人一起过我的生日。所以我认为居家隔离让我的外婆很开心因为她可以给我做面条，送红包。除了红包意外，我的外婆也送给我一个很漂亮的生日贺卡。因为我现在会看汉字比较好，她用中文写我的生日贺卡。她写的东西比她以前用英文写的东西很隽永因为它的英文不太好。这是让我非常高兴我学中文。

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我今年二十一岁，所以在美国我可以喝酒。很多美国人去酒吧庆祝二十一岁的生日。但是今年因为新冠肺炎很厉害，我没有机会在去外面过我的生日。我的生日是四月二十六号，那时候大家都得居家隔离，所以我只跟我的家人们在家里过我的生日。虽然有的人会觉得跟家人一起过你的生日并不有趣，但我不同意。当我是一年级和二年级的时，我的生日正是接近许多考试的时候。我得花很多时间学习准备考试，所以没有时间回家跟我的家人一起过我的生日。

我长大的时候，我跟我的外婆做在一起做很多事。所以我现在觉得她是我最喜欢的朋友。可是因为我已经两年还没跟她在一起过我的生日，所以我认为居家隔离让我的外婆很开心，因为她可以跟我过我的生日。她给我做我最喜欢的面条和买一个很好吃的蛋糕。我们吃蛋糕以后，她给我一个红包。每个生日我的外婆很喜欢给我红包和生日贺卡。但是今年的生日贺卡比较特别因为她用中文写我的生日贺卡因为我能看懂，理解汉字。以前，她用英语写我的生日贺卡，但她写的东西很基本，因为她的英语不太好。

看到她在生日卡里写的中文使我哭了。她终于可以写下她想说的话。虽然我经常告诉妈妈我真的希望她在我长大的时候对我说中文，但现在我很高兴和感激能够学习中文。

(501 个汉字)

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在台湾，如果你收到礼物当面折开被认为不太礼貌。

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在台湾，如果你收到礼物当面折开被认为不太礼貌。

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但在美国当面拆礼物却是种表心期待的行为。此外美国人送礼重视使用性，所以会随礼物附上收据。若是收礼物的人不喜欢也可以拿去退换商品。