Best Practices in Chinese Language Classrooms: A Teaching

Clinic

Lixing Tang （唐力行） , PH.D.

Wei-ling Wu （吴威玲） , Ph.D.

National Chinese Language Conference

San Francisco, April 15, 2011

Goals of the Session

Review and critique three authentic

Chinese lessons by three novice

teachers of Chinese

Explore teaching strategies for best

practices in Chinese language

classrooms

Discuss areas in these three

lessons that need improvement

The First Lesson First year Chinese in a suburban high

school in Rhoda Island Teacher: First year teaching Textbook: Integrated Chinese, Part One,

Lesson 5 12 students Theme: Visiting friends’ home, making

compliments Color coding: Red-new vocabulary;

orange-sentence pattern; light blue-words just learned; dark blue-familiar words

An Outline of the First Lesson

PPT-Teacher self-introduction using new words: 介绍 , 认识 ,

在……工作 PPT-Picture introducing 很大 , 漂亮 PPT-Picture introducing 请进 , 快进来 , 请坐 PPT-Picture introducing 介绍 , 在……工作 , 高兴 PPT-Character reading 介绍 , 在……工作 , 高兴 PPT-Picture introducing 你们想喝点儿什么？ PPT-Pictures introducing 咖啡 , 茶 , 水 , 可口可乐 , 一瓶 , 一杯 ,

瓶子 , 杯子 PPT-Pictures with characters reviewing the words for drinks

PPT-Picture introducing 要…… , 可以吗？对不起。请给我……

PPT-Characters practicing all of the above new words

Discussing the Use of PowerPoint

Make the theme stand out clearly Make what is distant closer Do not make what is close distant Make it alive, make it moving Think as if you are a student Keep the objectives in mind Use ppt. to bring China into the

classroom Use ppt to encourage students to be

more interactive Use ppt. to provide students with a

model conversation

Discussing the Use of English

Why should we use Chinese to teach Chinese?

Should we use Chinese to teach Chinese at the beginning of Chinese level 1?

How do we introduce the meaning of new language items without speaking English?

Discussing the Objectives of the Lesson

PPT-Teacher self-introduction using new words: 介绍 , 认识 ,

在……工作 PPT-Picture introducing 漂亮 PPT-Picture introducing 请进 , 快进来 , 请坐 PPT-Picture introducing 介绍 , 在……工作 , 高兴 PPT-Character reading 介绍 , 在……工作 , 高兴 PPT-Picture introducing 你们想喝点儿什么？ PPT-Pictures introducing 咖啡 , 茶 , 水 , 可口可乐 , 一瓶 , 一杯 ,

瓶子 , 杯子 PPT-Pictures with no characters reviewing words for drinks

PPT-Picture introducing 要……。可以吗？对不起。请给我……

PPT-Characters practicing all of the above new words

Revised Version of the First LessonObjectives: Identify different kinds of beverages.

Make a conversation for visiting a friend and introducing people.

Major Activities: I am thirsty.---T-S interaction, ppt (Introducing 咖啡 , 茶 , 水 , 可乐 , 一瓶 ,

一杯 , 瓶子 , 杯子 , 你们想喝点儿什么？ ) TPR/games---activities and competitions (Practicing the new language

items)

Visiting a friend—a short video clip (Introducing the new items in context: 请进 , 快进来 , 请坐 , 介绍 , 在……工作 , 高兴 )

What are they talking about?—T-S interaction (Checking the understanding of the video clip)

Picture cards—pair work (Practicing the new language items)

A Dialogue in cartoon—PowerPoint with the dialogue in characters (Providing a model dialogue)

Visiting a friend--Group work making a dialogue following the model dialogue in cartoon on the PowerPoint (Applying what is being learned)

Homework—Write a dialogue (Reinforcing and reviewing)

A: 请进！请坐！

B ：谢谢！

A ：我介绍一下。 这是我的儿子。

C ：认识你很高兴。

B ：我也很高兴。

A ：你想喝点什么？

B ：你有没有可乐？

A ：对不起，我没有 , 可是我有茶。

B: 好，我很喜欢喝茶。

A Dialogue in Cartoon

The Second Lesson Setting: A K-12 school in New York city Second year Chinese learners Twenty-six 8th graders Teacher: Second year teacher of

Chinese Textbook: Objectives of the lesson: Past

continuous tense

How do we improve this lesson?

Make it purposeful

Make it communicative

Use inductive approach

An Outline of the Second Lesson

Objectives: How do we talk about a past action over a period of time?

DO NOW. Write a short story to describe the picture you see. Introducing the sentence indicating what someone was doing in

the past--- Using a sentence structure chart. 我昨天晚上在看书．　昨天晚上我在看书．

Introducing the sentence indicating what someone was doing at a specific time in the past---Using a sentence structure chart. 　

我昨天晚上八点半在看书．　昨天晚上八点半我在看书． Practicing the new sentences---Using pictures and the English

time phase given. 我昨天中午在打棒球。 Introducing the new sentence indicating what someone was

doing over a period of time in the past. 昨天晚上从六点到七点半我在吃饭。

Introducing the new sentence indicating two actions happening at the same time. …… 的时候，……

Applying the new sentences---Pair work providing an alibi. H 先生昨天下午被人打了，你们昨天下午从一点半到两点在做什么？On the board: 昨天下午从……到…… , ____(A) 在…… ___(A) 在……的时候， ____(B) 在……

Homework: Write down a statement about what you were doing yesterday between 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. E.g.:

1. 　从 cóng 昨天晚上六点到 dào 七点半，我在…… 2. 从七点半到八点半，我在……

The Third Lesson Setting: A suburban school in Rockland

County NY Level: 7th grade, second year of Chinese

(first year two classes a week) Teacher: Second year teaching Textbooks (reference only): 《你好》《远东少年汉语》《轻松学汉语》

Objectives: Describing a person

Critique of the Third Lesson

Has this lesson reached its goal?

What good practices can we see from this lesson?

What needs to be improved?

An Outline of the Third Lesson

Objectives: Name the parts of a face in Chinese. Recognize the characters for the words for parts of the face Describe a person’s facial features.

MAJOR ACTIVITIES: Quick review on how to say the words for the parts of the face---First using

the teacher as the model; and then using PPT with a girl’s head labeled in characters and pinyin

Quick review on characters—Using the same ppt with characters only

Alien from Mars---Group work to label the aliens with characters (4 groups)

Introducing descriptive adjectives---Using ppt. to teach pairs of adjectives Introducing measure words for---Using ppt. to teach MW 个 , 只 , 根

Alien from Mars---Group work to describe their aliens

Backup activity---Listen and draw the aliens. Closure: Review words with Ss and hand over homework

Follow-up Lesson: Ss will learn more descriptive adjectives and describe their classmates and teacher.