I'm in Massachusetts. Mandarin is getting quite popular here. My district (Brookline) has a school that start in Kindergarten, and out in Western Mass (Hadley) there is a bi-lingual charter school!
I'm from North Carolina and I know the high school I went to started offering Mandarin the year after I graduated. *Cries* I'm honestly not surprised that it's getting more popular because of that. I'm from a small town, after all. :P
Hmm it's hard to explain. I've never thought of 了 and 过 as words that have any sort of connection.
Here's one way to look at it. 过 is for something that has already passed, been gotten over.
我吃过了。 I already ate. A meal is something that you can get over and done with.
你睡了吗？ Have you slept? For example, you call someone in the middle of the night, and you want to ask that person if you disrupted his sleep. You can't use '你睡过了吗？' because this would mean the person finished sleeping already and got up.
我的孩子不见了。 My child has gone missing. You can't say '我的孩子不见过了' because the child is still missing and the 'missing status' is not over yet.
However, if you are telling someone that your child ever went missing, you can say: 我的孩子曾经不见过。 My child went missing before.
过 may not necessarily go hand in hand with 了.
我说过的话，你还记得吗？ Do you still remember the words I said?
你去过哪些地方？ Which places have you been to?
Simply because the sentences still sound complete even without 了, which brings me to the next point.
+1 on kurodatenshi's comment. 了 is more of a particle; its main purpose is to indicate the relationship of the verb to the rest of the sentence. It does not always indicate something that has been done and can be used to indicate intention - 我走了！ = "i am going now" (or perhaps better translated to "i (intend to) be gone"), 我起床了！= "I (intend to) be out of bed!" etc.
过 is in no way a particle and, as everyone else has said, usually means something that has both already happened and has now ceased to continue happening. Furthermore, 过 has the meaning of "to cross", such as in 过马路. But I'm sure you know that.
Academic Chinese grammar is impossible. Good luck with this!
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What I'm fishing for is more about when to use 了， and when to use 过。
I've my old friend
http://www.amazon.com/Mandarin-Chinese-Functional-Reference-Grammar/dp/0520066103/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251235780&sr=8-1
but his explanation is a bit too difficult for middle school kids.
I've always been bad at explaining grammar. I always end up going into too much detail and their eyes fog over.
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http://www.amazon.com/Schaums-Outline-Chinese-Grammar-SCHAUMS/dp/B001T4277U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251237712&sr=1-2
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Here's one way to look at it.
过 is for something that has already passed, been gotten over.
我吃过了。 I already ate.
A meal is something that you can get over and done with.
你睡了吗？ Have you slept?
For example, you call someone in the middle of the night, and you want to ask that person if you disrupted his sleep. You can't use '你睡过了吗？' because this would mean the person finished sleeping already and got up.
我的孩子不见了。 My child has gone missing.
You can't say '我的孩子不见过了' because the child is still missing and the 'missing status' is not over yet.
However, if you are telling someone that your child ever went missing, you can say:
我的孩子曾经不见过。 My child went missing before.
过 may not necessarily go hand in hand with 了.
我说过的话，你还记得吗？
Do you still remember the words I said?
你去过哪些地方？
Which places have you been to?
Simply because the sentences still sound complete even without 了, which brings me to the next point.
了 is more often placed at the ( ... )
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过 is in no way a particle and, as everyone else has said, usually means something that has both already happened and has now ceased to continue happening. Furthermore, 过 has the meaning of "to cross", such as in 过马路. But I'm sure you know that.
Academic Chinese grammar is impossible. Good luck with this!
♥
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Also: my two "le-as-intention" examples were both for colloquial speech. You wouldn't use it in narration.
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