Dear Mike , You are an exchange student from America and you have just come to China for a month. I know it isn't easy for you to learn Chinese. I have some ideas that can help you. I think you should practice speaking and listening. I think that doing lots of listening practice can improve your listening and speaking skills. Watching Chinese movies can also help a lot. As for writing and grammar. I suggest you should take lots of grammar notes in every class. Chinese is very useful and I hope you will get an A in your Chinese learning. Yours , Wang Lin 采纳!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!