Curriculum of Chinese at EW School

• Chinese 1: for beginners with no prior experience.
• Chinese 2: for students who have completed Chinese 1 or similar course.
• Chinese 3: for students who have completed Chinese 2 or similar course.
• Chinese 4: for students who have completed Chinese 3 or similar course but plan not to take AP exam.
• AP Chinese: for students who have completed at least Chinese 3 and plan to take AP exam.

Desired Educational Outcomes

Because it’s a 9-12 program, students who complete the 4 years curriculum will reach the level of Intermediate Mid by ACTFL Proficiency guideline. [1] (Languages and Children; Curtain, Dahlberg, p.476)

Analysis

Instructional Problem

• Verbal systems: Pronunciations
  • Tones
  • Finals (Vowels)
  • Initials
    • Initials j, q, x
    • Initials zh, ch, sh, r
    • Initials z, c, s
    • Medial yu
  • "Pinyin" vs. English
• Writing Systems: Characters
  • Pictographic vs. Phonetic
  • radicals and components
  • Strokes and Stroke orders (?)
  • Learning Strategies
    • Reflection on prior personal experience and Assumptions
    • Flash Cards vs. Vocabulary lists
    • Categorizing
    • Character Tree

Learner Characteristics

Students

• Age 16 to 18, all girls
• high achievement (SSAT), college oriented
• non-native speakers
• Above average social economic resources
• with personal computer (required by school)

Classroom

• overhead projector with screen
• chalk board and bulletin board
• bookshelf for future "library"

School

• Each course meets 4 times a week, 55 minutes a period.
• Student population:

315 students, all girls,

60% boarding, 40% commuting, 25% international students,

10% native speakers and/or heritage speakers. Not allowed to take Chinese, but can be language partners.

• Resource:
  • no collection in Chinese (books or media)
  • Learning Platform: Moodle

Assessments

3 modes of communication (ACTFL)

• Interpretive: Students will listen audio clips or read passages, and list basic personal information of the characters,such as names, genders, occupations, ages, birthday, nationality, hobbies, and abilities.
• Presentational: Students will create 3 webpages to introduce themselves to 3 kinds of audience:
  • 1) other students in class;
  • 2) future host family in China;
  • 3) future employers/ academic advisor in China for internship.

These webpages will include texts in Chinese characters, pictures with notes, and audio/video to demonstrate their speaking skills.

• Interpersonal: Students will interview 1 of their classmates in Chinese 1, and 1 of the students who are native or heritage speakers. They will report to the class via VoiceThread or PowerPoint with audio recording.