I have decided to take this opportunity of extra face time with the students to increase their exposure to the Chinese language. In addition to having them say "thank you" in Chinese, whenever there is a birthday celebrated, they are prompted to sing 'Happy Birthday' in Chinese.
With my goal of immersion this year, I decided to 'Kick it up a notch' with speaking Chinese in the cafeteria. I have started asking the students what they want to drink (in Chinese) and then point out and say the choices, also in Chinese. Finally, I have them say the name of the beverage in Chinese before they leave the lunch window. What they learn and say in the cafeteria reinforces what they learn in the classroom. This this year, instead of beginning with family or numbers, the students are learning to say 喝(he1) for drink, and the words for the beverage choices in the cafeteria, 水 (shui3, water); 牛奶 (niu2 nai3 --white milk), 巧克力牛奶 (qiao3ke4li4 niu2nai3--chocolate milk), 蘋果汁(ping2guo3 zhi1--apple juice), and 桔子汁 (ju2zi3 zhi1--orange juice). I believe that with reinforcement at lunch and learning n the classroom, most of the students at our school will be able to say "please, may I have (name their beverage)" without prompting and feel comfortable enough to use their Chinese when they go out to a Chinese restaurant. In the classroom I will also teach them additional related phrases as well as additional beverages, like CocaCola (可口可樂--ke3kou3ke3le4) coffee (咖啡--ka1fei1), and of course, tea (茶--cha2).
What was encouraging was that even the students that I have not taught before understood what I said to them in
the cafeteria and were able to respond appropriately. By making the effort to speak Chinese to my students in more situations at school, the students become more used to speaking Chinese back to me in a variety of situations as well. My hope is that they will be more comfortable using the Chinese they know in situations outside of school.