Prepare Cultural Materials for AP Chinese Class

Always inspired by the wisdom in Chinese culture, I thought textbook publishers must have created sufficient materials to introduce Chinese culture to heritage and non-heritage mandarin learners, and teachers must be very innovative in adapting cultural materials into their classrooms. However, last summer at a conference in Orange County, CA, I was told by a middle-school Chinese teacher that she couldn’t find good cultural materials for her son to prepare for his AP Chinese Language and Culture test. I felt that actions are urged to integrate cultural components into Chinese curriculum.

One month ago I had a discussion with the main ...

Login to view more...

• (0) Comments
• Permalink
• Email to a friend

Multimedia products in K-12 Chinese classroom

I teach Chinese in an afterschool class in a public elementary school and my kids are from non-heritage families.  In the beginning, it was hard for me to get their attention to focus on this Chinese class;  they often get distracted easily.  Every time if someone walked by the classroom or if they heard voices, they would get distracted and impatient.  They would raise their hands not because they have questions about what I was teaching but because they want to eat or want to go to the restroom.

I found that the best solution to help my students focus in ...

Login to view more...

• (0) Comments
• Permalink
• Email to a friend

Obama’s Inauguration Speech Gave Us Hope on Mandarin Programs in the US

What an exciting and moving day it was?!  We set up a projector in the office streaming from Comcast via Slingbox.  Technologies these days! Yes.

He delivered a cautious but hopeful message, which is exactly what the US needs.  In my previous post, I talked about noticing schools not implementing Chinese/Mandarin programs due to funding.  But, President Obama’s speech gave us hope.  In his speech, he stated some challenges that we face … “our schools fail too many.”

The new $120 billion allocated for education programs, as outlined in an economic-stimulus package released on Jan 15th, 2009, will help not only ...

Login to view more...

• (0) Comments
• Permalink
• Email to a friend

Difficulties with learning Chinese pinyin and Chinese tones

As a New Year’s resolution, I have decided to give learning Mandarin Chinese another try. My first brush with learning it was my senior year in high school- that was actually the first year my school (Belmont High School- near Boston) offered it. Unfortunately, I didn’t make the most of that opportunity because senioritis hit me pretty hard, especially during the latter half of the school year.  My second attempt was last year when I upped and moved to Shanghai.  I didn’t prepare for that trip very well though in terms of learning the language.  I figured that total cultural ...

Login to view more...

• (0) Comments
• Permalink
• Email to a friend

Distance Learning for K-12 Chinese Curriculum in the U.S.

These past few days, I’ve seen quite a few commercials for distance learning in the U.S. through Kaplan University. In this digital age, it seems as if distance education is quickly growing in popularity around the globe. Although I still personally believe there will always be value in learning in the classroom, I understand why people will reach out to alternatives such as distance education. Maybe it is limited time and money or other constraints, whatever the reasons may be, one should not be hindered from education when there is a will to learn.

I got to thinking about distance learning ...

Login to view more...

• (0) Comments
• Permalink
• Email to a friend

Chinese schools of yesteryear versus Chinese schools of today

As a Chinese-American born and raised here, I endured some pretty sufferable Saturday mornings.  Instead of watching good ol’ Saturday morning cartoons like my friends did, I- along with my brother and cousins- went to Chinese school. Did anyone here do the same? If so, I’d be interested in hearing about your experiences. It could be fun to trade stories and reminisce together.

I don’t know about you but for us, every class had the same routine.  We first turned in our homework, pages of columns of ...

Login to view more...

• (0) Comments
• Permalink
• Email to a friend

Implementing National Standards in Mandarin Classrooms

Hi laoshi men! Today I audited a mandarin class for non-heritage, early-elementary school kids in California. It reminds me of my work with ACTFL standards for foreign languages, a.k.a the 5Cs. When I worked with standards and correlated multiple series of materials with them, I didn’t realize how actually they can be implemented into our mandarin classrooms. Today I finally had the chance to experience this great implementation. Since the initial goal of learning a language is to communication, which is the first C of the national standards, I’ll start from how students gain communication skills in class.

Students learn interpersonal ...

Login to view more...

• (0) Comments
• Permalink
• Email to a friend

Chinese New Year Story Time in Bay Area (Menlo Park, CA)

Chinese New Year is fast approaching! What kinds of activities are you having in your local community? Perhaps the schools are having Spring Festival celebratory events or local Chinatowns will be hosting New Year parades.

I was at my local library the other day (Menlo Park Public Library), and saw that they are hosting a special Family Story Time to celebrate the “Xing Nian.” Link to this event here: http://www.menloparklibrary.org/.  It looks like the storyteller will be telling Chinese legends behind the Spring Festival and the Kitchen God in English, and share with the audience the importance of family in ...

Login to view more...

• (1) Comments
• Permalink
• Email to a friend

Challenges in Implementing New Mandarin Programs in 2009

OK.  We are mid-way into January.  President Elect Obama will be inaugurated next Tuesday.  Lots of excitements, but on the way to work today, I heard some grim news on NPR.  California is facing budget crisis and is finding ways to cut spending and generate new revenues for the coming year.  Of course, this has been on the gorvenor’s agenda for the past year, but hearing about the new proposals of cutting bus routes and so on for students is disconcerning.

I heard from a Chicago Public Schools’ magnet program that their budget are affected this year.  There is another article ...

Login to view more...

• (1) Comments
• Permalink
• Email to a friend

Implication for Chinese/Mandarin Programs with Broadband Classrooms

Writing more than usual today.  Read an article on Education Week.

Obama Links Ed Tech to Economic Growth

http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2008/12/23/03obamareaction_web.h02.html

What does it mean for you when your classrooms or your students will all have broadband access.  We have seen some schools using SmartBoard teaching Chinese programs (Bullis Charter School, CA; International School of the Penninsula, CA; Taipei European School, Taiwan).  Want to get a poll going to see what people do in their Chinese classrooms.

Excited about the possibility that students can experience more interactivity via this new online/broadband curriculum delivery mechanism.

States like Kansas and Arkansas have long been employing various technology delivery ...

Login to view more...

• (0) Comments
• Permalink
• Email to a friend