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Day 25 of 57 · Week 4 · Actual conversation

Ask follow-up questions

Ask what, where, when and why without moving the question word to the front.

Start with the guided teaching

Move from a memorized introduction to recognizing the question that comes next.

A question word replaces the missing information. 你是美国人 is “you are American.” 你是哪里人 asks “you are a person from where?” Keep the word 哪里 in that slot.

Introduce yourself and catch a question — complete guided explanation

Do the work in five passes

  1. Listen and pronounce — 25 min · shadow 6 phrases; compare a recording.
  2. Read and recognize — 25 min · complete the guided teaching, then read today’s words.
  3. Build and speak — 25 min · build a guided request; then make 10 variations.
  4. Solve a situation — 25 min · practice both sides, then hide the hints.
  5. Retrieve and review — 20–80 min · due review, quizzes, and a spoken recap.

Completion records effort; quiz results measure recognition. Neither proves conversational fluency. Use the interactive trainer for review scheduling and saved progress.

Today’s sentence machinery

正在 / 在: happening now

在 before an action can mark an action in progress. Before a place it marks location. Context tells you its job.

我在学中文。

Wǒ zài xué Zhōngwén.

I am learning Chinese.

I + in-progress + study + Chinese.

Your language for today

你喜欢什么？

Nǐ xǐhuan shénme?

What do you like?

you + like + what

我喜欢学习。

Wǒ xǐhuan xuéxí.

I like learning.

I + like + study

我对科学感兴趣。

Wǒ duì kēxué gǎn xìngqù.

I'm interested in science.

I + toward + science + feel interest

我觉得很好。

Wǒ juéde hěn hǎo.

I think it's good.

I + feel/think + good

Practice the situation

Pay for a purchase

Try payment, discover a failure, find another option.

一共二十五块。

Yīgòng èrshíwǔ kuài.

Twenty-five yuan in total.

A useful response

可以用微信支付吗？

Ask whether WeChat payment is accepted.

可以，请扫码。

Kěyǐ, qǐng sǎo mǎ.

Yes, please scan the code.

A useful response

在哪里扫码？

Ask where to scan.

支付没有成功。

Zhīfù méi yǒu chénggōng.

The payment did not succeed.

A useful response

可以用现金吗？

Ask whether cash is accepted.

Outside the trainer: spend 10–20 minutes repeating these exchanges with a Mandarin speaker when available. Ask them to change one reply so you must listen. Fixed audio and scenarios cannot reproduce every real conversation.