My name is Camden, and I am a sophomore at Lakewood High School in Denver, Colorado. I am a Pamoja student currently taking IB Mandarin ab initio and have found it to be an excellent learning experience with a multifaceted approach to language development and acquisition.
I initially decided to study Mandarin after a family trip to Beijing and Shanghai when I was in 7th grade. The language had always interested me, and I liked knowing that it would enable me to communicate with a large percentage of the world’s population.
Developing my interest in learning Mandarin
Over the last three years, my family has visited China multiple times. We enjoy the culture, the people, the food and the history. During our first few visits, I began to pick up individual characters, piecing together small words such as “出口” and “入口” (exit and enter) simply from context. However, I was nowhere near fully understanding full words, or even understanding how to pronounce the characters.
This inability to communicate in a foreign country piqued my interest in Chinese, and I have been looking for as many ways to learn the language as possible ever since. As a result of my experiences in and connection with China, I decided to plan and execute my Boy Scout Eagle Project in Inner Mongolia in March 2018. For the project, I organised a group of 16 US volunteers, 10 Chinese university students and 8 members of the local community to work together to plant 100 trees in conjunction with The Nature Conservancy. My experience in communicating with these Chinese volunteers from the local university and community only convinced me even more that I should begin learning Mandarin at an IB level – and led me directly to Pamoja.
Finding my Pamoja Online Course
Because my school in Colorado did not yet have a Chinese program, I began exploring language education options. After researching many programs, I determined that Pamoja was the most effective and most efficient way to learn a language at an IB level. Additionally, I found that Pamoja employs the best online learning tactics and utilises the most rigorous curriculum to ensure that students not only prepare for IB assessments, but also find ways to apply the subjects they are learning in the real world.
Over the course of our next few trips, I was able to communicate in little bits, understanding a sentence here or there and ordering simple things at restaurants. However, nothing prepared me for the breakthrough I had when I began learning with Pamoja.
Towards the end of my first semester with Pamoja, my family visited China during November 2018 and travelled to Shanghai and Beijing. Through the online IB Mandarin ab initio course, I had been studying basic introductions, daily life, and hobbies. In addition to studying and writing the characters, I also focused on tones, pinyin, and Chinese grammar.
This method was vastly different from other programmes that I had used before, as many methods just focused on either writing or speaking. Conversely, Pamoja is a comprehensive approach to language learning. It also made a significant difference to my understanding and acquisition of the language, and made me appreciate their teaching style. Moreover, it was extremely rewarding to be able to communicate entirely in Chinese, enhancing my experiences and understanding of the Chinese culture on our visit.
Building my confidence in Mandarin with Pamoja
One of my fondest memories from our last trip was when we had just arrived in Shanghai and were looking for transportation to get us to our hotel. Despite being extremely jetlagged, I was able to find the taxi stand, request two taxis, and explain that no, we were not moving to China, as was assumed based on the number and sizes of our suitcases!
Additionally, once in the taxi, my mom and I were able to communicate with the taxi driver, without the typical hotel taxi card. We successfully told him the name of our hotel and its location, and maintained a full conversation with the taxi driver, covering topics including where he was from, his age, his family, and what he liked to do in his free time. All in Chinese!
This conversation alone was a massive success for me, and there were many more like it over the following 10 days. I was able to request ice cubes for our family when ordering drinks at restaurants, tell our massage therapists not to press our feet as hard, obtain the correct tickets at many attractions, and order all sorts of delicious food. I was also able to make great friends with many members of our hotel staff, who were more than willing to talk about their families and hometowns – again, all in Chinese.
My absolute favorite memory from our trip however was during a lunch at a popular restaurant – joking with our waiter and clarifying that we wanted to order twenty single dumplings, not twenty orders of ten dumplings!
What I’ve learned – and why I’d recommend the, IB Mandarin ab initio online course with Pamoja
In summary, Pamoja has been a meaningful tool in teaching me the Chinese language and enabling me to use my newly developed skills while traveling in China. Three years ago, I never would have imagined that I would be effectively speaking, reading, and writing Mandarin Chinese. However, thanks to Pamoja and my teacher, Wenyi Chu, I am now able to converse and communicate effectively in the language – after completing just one semester of learning. If this is the result of the education I can develop from Pamoja in one semester, I am excited for the advancement of my skills and knowledge over the next three!
