Anyhow, in teaching, much is said about using "authentic materials." So, what do you think? Does this qualify as "authentic"? Regardless, my students definitely enjoyed seeing it. I kind of wish there were more commercials that incorporate Chinese that my students could watch to experience Chinese in a more real-life context.
I saw a very funny commercial on TV recently. In fact, even though I've seen it several times since then, I still stop to watch it to the end, and manage to chuckle at the end every time, even though I know the punch line. This morning, I decided I would show it to my older students (2nd - 5th grades) as a cultural lesson. The take-home lesson that I wanted them to learn was that they can't make assumptions about who speaks what language. Even though I wasn't using this commercial specifically to teach language, I thought it was a humorous cultural lesson that my students would enjoy. Anyhow, in teaching, much is said about using "authentic materials." So, what do you think? Does this qualify as "authentic"? Regardless, my students definitely enjoyed seeing it. I kind of wish there were more commercials that incorporate Chinese that my students could watch to experience Chinese in a more real-life context.
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I was teaching my fifth grade class today, and some of my students are definitely very "American." I mean, they are mostly all American kids in my student anyhow, but some have their "Americanness" so ingrained in the way they talk and act, that it pervades their attitudes as well. They keep saying in my Chinese class "...but I'm so used to English..." or "...but it's so different from English..."
Why, yes, it is. But the point is, they are in my class to learn Chinese. So I'm trying to get them to understand why it's important to learn Chinese, and to learn to be sensitive to other cultures (not just Chinese but any other culture). One of my students said, "What if I don't want to work or live there--I just want to go to visit there and see what it's like?" I tried to have them imagine how people might react to their speech and mannerisms in Beijing. I asked them to think about whether it was more likely to make the natives of that city feel more comfortable or uncomfortable when they spoke English instead of Chinese. While most would guess uncomfortable, I still thought they might appreciate a better example, and came up with an analogy. (This was one that literally came to me on the fly.) I had everyone imagine the image of a coral reef underwater. I had them visualize the scene, with lots of fish swimming around, going about their business. Then, I asked them what they thought would happen if a SCUBA diver came through, swimming really awkwardly and flailing around. What would happen to the fish? They'd most likely retreat into their safe holes and cower there until the diver has left. Is this SCUBA diver going to see much of the fish going about their business? Probably not. What about the SCUBA diver that swims slowly, trying to blend in with the fish? They have more of a likelihood of seeing the fish going about their business, in their natural environment. Similarly, a person that tries to speak the language of the place they are visiting, that doesn't have mannerisms that make people uncomfortable, are more likely to have more meaningful encounters with the people native to that country. Dr. Eric Shepherd at USF often talks about how important it is to learn proper body language and mannerisms, even how one holds a glass is observed by people--it's not just the language, but how you act that affects how you are perceived. That's why it's so important to always be aware of our surroundings and how we are perceived. While we can't possibly know everything about a culture and how to act, at least we can know enough not to walk onto Tiananmen Square all "gangsta." You're not in "da hood" anymore! So, are we going to be the SCUBA diver that scares all the fish away (and then come home complaining about not seeing any fish) or are we going to be the diver that swims quietly, carefully, and tries to act more like the fish that surround them? I hope that this analogy helped my students be more sensitive and aware of cultural differences. I think I may need to refine and tweak it further, but I can probably use it with other grade level students as well. Let me know what you think...or if you have other examples of how important it is not to be a "bull in a China Shop" when you travel abroad! I have my classroom currently decorated for Chinese New Year. I decided to take some photos of my classroom in its festive state, before I take down a bunch of the New Year decorations. I am also including photos of our bulletin boards and one wall (I share the classroom with the Spanish teacher) and we have multilingual decorations. :-) We hang a dragon from the ceiling, but for Chinese New Year I also have a big banner and lots of hanging things. There's a couple paper lanterns and some pretend bunches of firecrackers too! The fire marshall told us we couldn't have curtains on the windows anymore. Other schools are no longer able to hang things from the ceiling either (fire marshall restrictions. I sure hope that's not going to be the case! We have two bulletin boards at the back of our classroom. I have one, and the other one is the Spanish teacher's board. Above my bulletin board is a timeline of the history of China. Obviously the events are not to scale on the timeline...but it is pretty cool to have it all there. I added in the Chinese names of the dynasties as well. The image of the Great Wall was made by the daughter of another Spanish teacher that I shared a classroom with when I first started teaching. Her daughter is very talented! Our classroom mascot. Several years before I started teaching here, the art teacher and some of her students made this dragon. It even has fabric to make up the body. They supposedly did a dragon dance with it. He sat guard over the cafeteria for several year, and then I volunteered to take custody of it. I suppose I should have a contest to name the dragon. I just call him "hong long" (紅龍) for "red dragon." He silently sits and watches over our classroom. This is my favorite time of the year. It's certainly my favorite subject to teach...about Chinese New Year, that is! One of the reasons I love Chinese New Year is because there are so many traditions. This holiday is rich with traditions, folktales, and myths. Then there's the food. I joke about how Chinese holidays are always about the food. Well, the holidays may not be *about* the food, but there are certainly lots we can learn and talk about regarding food, and of course, personally, I enjoy eating the food! :-) Even better, the Chinese New Year Spring Festival is celebrated for over 2 weeks, from the New Moon to the Full Moon. That means I can take 2 weeks to teach many of the different aspects of Chinese New Year. Each year, I teach it a little differently. I always bring in new ideas, new resources to whatever I teach. However, I do have a few favorite activities and some other materials that I draw on and use.This year, I actually wrote a unit plan for Chinese New Year. (Writing a unit plan was an assignment for an Instructional Strategies class I'm currently taking). It was very helpful for me to map out what I was going to teach, how I was going to teach it, and what I was going to need. This year, I've been more intentional about making sure the students learn a "big picture" concept. These concepts are guided by Essential Questions, which are posted on the board for each lesson, and drives the instruction. This method of teaching is a directive at our school, and really does help guide both lesson planning and instruction.
Lesson 1: Phases of the Moon; Preparations leading up to Chinese New Year Chinese New Year's Eve celebration Essential Questions: Why is Chinese New Year celebrated on a different date (by our calendar) each year? Describe and explain the reason for some of the special preparations for Chinese New Year. For my lesson, I use a trusty worksheet from Enchanted Learning.com that shows the phases of the moon, and discusses during which phase of the moon Chinese New Year begins (New Moon), and which phase of the moon ends Chinese New Year -- Full Moon (and what the festival is that ends Chinese New Year--the Lantern Festival). I encourage them to think back to when people didn't have timekeeping devices or even calendars like we do--and help them to realize what other ways people can measure the passage of time (observe the sun, night & day, seasons, days getting longer or shorter, and the changing moon phases). This year, I also found this YouTube video to show to my students--so they can relate what they see in the sky to what they see on the video. To give students an idea of what preparations are done for Chinese New Year, I read some books to them. Favorite ones I have are: My First Chinese New Year by Karen Katz Dragon Dance, a Lift-the-Flap Book by Joan Holub Bringing In The New Year, by Grace Lin and, for older students, Happy New Year by Demi. This Next New Year, by Yangsook Choi -- especially great for showing that you don't have to be Chinese to celebrate Chinese New Year! I also love the message of hope and optimism at the end of the book. Lesson 2: The Story of Nian Essential Questions: What is a myth? Describe some traditions that are based on myths. How are some Chinese New Year traditions similar to holidays or festivals that we celebrate in other countries? How are they different? Activity: Make Firecracker Craft Resources: "The Story of Nian" iPad storytelling Apps: "The Tale of Nian" from Hongen Education (in Chinese; $1.99) "Nian is Coming", one animated story from "6 Chinese New Year Stories" from Lu Feng Technology (in Chinese), also available on iTunes in the App Store for $2.99 Additional Resources: "The Myth of the Man-Eating Monster" on Edhelper.com Lesson 3: The Chinese "Amazing Race" -- Story of the Chinese Zodiac Animals Essential Question: How did Chinese characters originate (where did they come from)? Activity: Make Dragon Puppet Resources: "StoryChimes: "Story of the Chinese Zodiac" FREE iPad app--in English Additional Resources: Chinese Zodiac Story (Reading Comprehension) on Edhelper.com The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac, by Dawn Casey The Dancing Dragon by Marcia Vaughan (stunning artwork in this one--and the pages open up into a big, LONG dragon! It gives a big "wow" factor if you read it to your students)! Lesson 4: Hong Bao Essential Questions: How is Chinese New Year similar to holidays or festivals that we celebrate in other countries? What does it mean to be "lucky"? Activity: Read "Sam and the Lucky Money" by Karen Chinn and make hong bao (red envelopes) with these great patterns I usually have the students make 1 hong bao--with instructions to put something in it to give away to someone else (as inspired by Sam in the book). Then I give the students a hong bao to keep. I usually put some Chinese candy and a toy "gold coin" in it for them. Lesson 5: Lantern Festival (on final day of Chinese New Year) Essential Question: Why do you think that lanterns are used so much in Chinese holidays? Activity: Make lanterns (many websites have similar patterns--this one from Enchanted Learning contains detailed instructions). Resources: Story of the Lantern Festival (Yuan Xiao Jie), iPad app from Lu Feng Technology, in Chinese, download app for $0.99. Moonbeams, Dumplings, & Dragon Boats, by Nina Simonds -- has LOTS of great stories about Chinese Festivals, and has a particularly great one about the Lantern Festival. For my final lesson, I will most like do a "wrap-up" and assessment of my students, with some simple multiple-choice questions about the stories that they heard, when Chinese New Year begins and ends, and some basic traditions. Last year, my students really enjoyed seeing videos of Dragon dances and Lion dances, so I will most like make some time for them to see those as well. (YouTube has some great videos of Dragon Dance and Lion Dance competitions--and the acrobatics and skill level is simply stunning)! There is so much more that can be added and included, but this contains some of my favorite activities and materials that I've compiled thus far. Please feel free to add your favorite materials, websites and resources here as well! 新年快樂! 恭喜發財! (xin nian kuai le! gong xi fa cai!) One thing that I made sure I did when I came back from China was to keep one set of currency to show my students. I only went as high as 100 Yuan, but I had 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 Yuan bills to show the students. I also was able to show them 5 Jiao and 1 Jiao notes (I guess they are like 50 cent and 10 cent bills).
Last week, when teaching my 1st grade class, I passed around the bills so they could see them. They thought it was fascinating that the bills were different colors AND different sizes, and they all had the same person on the front (Mao Ze Dong). We reviewed numbers and talked about a little about what the Chinese money was equal to in American money. I loved that the 1st grade teacher spoke up and explained to the students what it was like in the words they had already used in their class about how much money was worth (ex: 4 quarters = 10 dimes = 100 pennies = 20 nickels = $1) Today, I was teaching the 3rd graders, and started out giving them a fill-in-the-blank numbers worksheet. It was good review of the numbers for them. It came from one of my favorite teaching resources, "Chinese Treasure Chest" Anyhow, while they were working on the numbers, I started to show them the money and had them think about how the bills were similar and different from what we use. They noticed the colors right away, but took some more hints before they realized the bills were all different sizes. By the way, at the shopping market in Beijing--金五星百貨店, one of the stalls had these HUGE red envelopes. Much larger than what I'm used to seeing, maybe about 5" x 8" -- and I remarked about how big they were--and they told me it was for the larger denomination bills! (I never saw any bills larger than 100 Yuan while I was there, but apparently they exist)! As we went through the value of each bill (saying the numbers in Chinese), I got the idea to put up bills in different combinations so that they would have to add the amounts and *then* say the amounts in Chinese. This was a fun exercise that incorporated not only language but math. Somehow I didn't think to do it before...but you bet I'll be incorporating that into any lessons involving money from now on! (It may not be all that earth-shattering, but I was still pretty pleased to have figured it out *during* class rather than afterward! ;-) I have to ask you, other teachers, for help and advice. After all, I'm still kind of new to this. I'm having a big challenge with my classes. I am especially frustrated because I feel as if they're not learning anything because I always feel rushed and never feel as if I have enough time for a complete lesson. I only have this group of students for one semester, so I really will only have them for 2 more weeks...and maybe 3 more lessons...and I just have this feeling as if some of my students haven' t learned anything all semester. I teach most of my classes for 25 minutes at a time, and have them twice a week. I haven't been consistent with assigning homework, and even though I recommended the Better Chinese subscription to my students, I'm not sure how many actually went ahead and subscribed and worked on the material.
I like to supplement the Better Chinese material with cultural stuff too...and last year we spent several lessons making Chinese New Year crafts--a dancing dragon, a string of Firecrackers (not real ones, of course), a lantern, and the 4th and 5th graders made a scroll with good luck sayings on them. I just don't think there's enough time to do any of these things this year, which really bums me out. In total, I will have less than 18 hours total teaching time with each student in my class. I just got a notice for a free workshop that is teaching Chinese painting, papercuts, and scroll making. These are all awesome things to do, but if I take just one class period to do a cool cultural craft project, it takes away from teaching language and communication. That's 1/36th of my overall time with my students. So...I've talked to other Mandarin Chinese teachers that also have very limited class times with their students. How do you do it? How do you succeed in having your students learn? What kind of goals or objectives do you set for what they need to learn in class? I just feel as if I've been spinning my wheels and not teaching enough (and the student aren't learning enough) of what I think they should...even in the short time frame. Any advice? Comments? Suggestions? All are welcome! So...what do you teachers do that have short classes? How do you teach and reinforce what they've learned so that they actually learn something in class? _ In my short visit to China, I observed Beijing to be a city of contrasts. Modern high-rise buildings sit right next to ancient buildings. There are many attempts at free enterprise, even in the line to view the father of Chinese Communism. Vendors sell religious themed souvenirs (quite a few of the vendors sold souvenirs like crosses and images of Jesus) in a country that does not advocate religion of any kind, including Christianity. A dumpling shop sits right across the street from a KFC. There are lines of three-wheeled bicycles heavily laden with goods ride on the road alongside new cars. I went to Beijing thinking that it’s a capital city of a superpower country…so I guess I expected to see most of the modern conveniences that I’m accustomed to. In many ways, this is true. However, in many ways, even my friends from China tell me that in many parts of China—it still is a third-world-country. Beijing is a large city with a growing population in a changing country that’s part of a changing world. And Beijing is full of contrasts, but the contrasts are what make Beijing such an interesting place to be, especially viewing this through the lens of an outsider.
Coming home, I found some of the little things that I didn’t think make such a difference—really ended up having an effect on me. Being able to sit out in the sun…and breathe in fresh air. Actually being able to SEE the sun – the smog/haze in Beijing was such that while we were there, I couldn’t see the sun the way we do here at home. I kind of saw a vague bright spot in the sky—round and brighter than the rest of the sky, but without the clear definition that we might see on a clear sunny day. Because Christmas is a religious holiday, it is not celebrated or recognized in China. In the USA it’s become so secularized that you will see Christmas themed things everywhere. Not so in China. Our hotel did make a concession for Christmas—there were a few small decorations in the lobby, including a small tree and a couple other figures—maybe a toy solider and a reindeer (I can’t remember). They were rather small and nondescript. And definitely no ubiquitous playing of Christmas carols! I know how people here in the US get tired of hearing them because they are played so much (and it does get a bit much to hear Christmas songs the day after Halloween). However, I joyfully listened to the Christmas songs playing at the neighborhood cafe this morning—it was another welcome reminder that I was home. I can't wait until I get home and I'm able to upload my photos of my trip. I've taken lots of pictures of food. One of the things we've done here is to try to experience what the locals eat. That means not eating in the hotel restaurant (except for the breakfast which is included in our package) or places geared for tourists. There’s been some pretty great meals.
We've eaten at a couple places near our hotel that are small storefronts that are...utilitarian at best. Each one we've gone to has been successively smaller. They seem well populated by the local folks, and the food has been delicious and quite inexpensive (my favorite being the big plate of dumplings -- over 20 small dumplings, for 10 or 12 yuan (less than $2 for the whole plate). Other people who ate with us were also quite happy with their meals. Tonight, for dinner, we ate at the scariest place yet. It was down a street that was a little darker, but I have to admit, the thing that drew us to the place was its name-- 牛肉拉麵 niu2 rou4 la1 mian4 (beef pulled noodles). I've wanted to try pulled noodles since I've only ever watched the noodles being made on videos. Also, beef noodle soup is one of my favorite foods ever. Well, this place we went to really qualifies as a hole in the wall. In fact, some holes in the wall would be insulted at being compared to this place, I think. (When I post the photos, you can decide for yourself whether you would have walked in that place). But, we’ve heard so many stories of how scary hole-in-the-wall places end up being the best. So….the four of us decided to try it. I have to admit that the cleanliness in the place was suspect...but I figured the steaming hot soup would be hot enough to sterilize or at least sanitize the tips of our chopsticks if we put the chopsticks in right away. Anyway, the food came, and it looked fine enough. We took photos, and began eating. One of our party started tasting her noodle soup, and then stopped shortly thereafter, saying that the flavor was way too strong for her. I tasted mine, and it tasted all right, so I began eating it. However, shortly thereafter, I felt a tingling on my tongue and my lips. As I continued to eat, the tingling got stronger. It began to worry me, so I stopped. I only ate a few mouthfuls of noodles, and a few bits of vegetables. After stopping, the tingling went away. I have no idea what was in the food, but it was truly scary. And in this case, we all agreed that a hole-in-the-wall is sometimes just a hole-n-the-wall…and one should just walk on by. |
About MeChristina has been a Chinese language teacher for the last 5 years and now teaches "Think Tank," a Critical Thinking class to elementary students. She is also mom to two amazing girls, wife to a wonderful husband, violinist, and Christian (not necessarily in that order). Archives
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