Hello, readers. This pandemic continues to be very taxing, as I’m sure it is for everyone. My family is affected and there are times when I would like to give in to emotion. But I have many rocks to lean on, and one is Chinese. The language is like an immense mountain and I am hauling myself up it, an inch at a time, with a sense of effort being rewarded. When I say rewarded, I mean that not everything is happening for the first time. The other day, I was listening to an episode of ChinesePod and it concerned the 是 … 的 construction, which I’d met before, as I am learning grammar from this excellent website, the Chinese Grammar Wiki.

Without further ado, here are three photos from my recent efforts. First, here’s my study tracker. The idea is to make sure that I am spreading my efforts across different types of activities over time. I’m concentrating on grammar right now because I know my vocabulary is good enough for HSK 1 and then some. So I want to make sure that my grammar is rock-solid before I start studying in earnest for HSK 2. One dot in this chart is equal to half an hour.

Next, here is a new thing that I have introduced into my daily journal that I use for organising my life. If the phrase ‘bullet journal’ means anything to you, you will have spotted by now that I am an avid user of one, complete with washi tape. So much washi tape.

Anyway, this photo shows ‘Today’s Chinese News’. I don’t want to spend massive amounts of time each day writing a full diary in Chinese, but I can manage one sentence even on a very busy day, so this is working out great.

The next photo shows my grammar notes. I love grammar and I learn better when I really understand WHY sentences have a certain structure, so this is much more fun than it looks.

Right, I must go and do some actual Chinese because it is already 8.30pm and I haven’t done any yet, because I’ve been working all day.

See you soon! 再见