A major focus of the Chinese course I attended in Germany was the description of a place. We learned many words and constructions to describe placement of objects relative to one another including cardinal directions, in front, behind, as well as the (place) 离 (other place) 很远 construction to show distance between places. This construction along with comparisons [(something) 比(other thing) 很 (adjective)], I found to be very useful. At this point I became more confident with my Chinese ability as i could describe and express myself much more effectively. This particular writing sample allowed me to describe my future plans to visit China and see many of the landmarks. I was able to parlay this plan into a description of the geography and layout of both Beijing and China. This sample also allowed me to showcase some of my knowledge about Chinese culture and landmarks including the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, and Chongqing. Savannah's comments on the sample were more stylistic than grammatical. This was very encouraging as it showed to me my progression in writing ability to the point that Savannah was no longer correcting my language but rather my style and organization.
