The English Version:


My family and I


My name is Elise. I have four members in my family, my dad, my mum, my elder my brother and me. My mum is a businesswoman. My dad is a cleaner. Both my brother and I are college students. My brother and I live in the dorms. I work in the “Subway” restaurant. I like orange things. My dad is a German. He likes drinking coffee. I love my family.


Day One- Students are asked to tell the reasons for learning Chinese language, an old and “difficult” language. Some give intrinsic reasons: It’s a pleasure to learn. It’s important to learn. Others give extrinsic reasons: I will do business with Chinese. I will get a job in China. I have some Taiwanese friends.
Students learned the first Chinese “ni hao”, which means hello.
Students greet each other by saying “ni hao”.

Day Two- Think Together- Take notes on some simple characters. The Chinese language is written without the use of an alphabet. It is written using characters. (Show examples) Characters were originally little drawings that represented ideas and mono-syllabic. Students form an idea that Chinese characters are pictographs which are composed of strokes.

Day Three –Take notes and practice.
The students will practice the 11 basic strokes for Chinese language writing. Introduction to basic rules about stroke order for students to follow. Students share their insights of writing the strokes, which is very different from the English alphabet.

Day Four –Practice writing simple characters.
Students learn how these strokes are placed within different characters. The strokes and components are not placed at random, there still is some basic rules applied. Students began to practice writing simple characters such as 山(means mountain), 火(means fire), 木(means tree).

Day Five – Learn more new words and practice writing simple sentences.

Warm-up activity- students greet each other by saying “ni hao”, which means hi.
Students learn more new words and begin to learn simple sentences. Students get to know that most Chinese sentences’ structure is “subject+verb+object”. Students practice writing sentences like “I am a American. You are a Chinese.”

Day Six –Memorization and practice.

Students are asked to write the new words on the flashcards. Then students are asked to do visualization for the new words and sentences on the flashcards and blackboard.

Day Seven Pre-Write (in writing section)
Draw at least 3 characters about family members.
Students are given a topic to write “My home and me”.

Day Eight-Think together- based on student need
Students conferring. Read the pre-write to the partner and get suggestions. Think alone: How do I move from my pre-write to my draft?

Day nine- Mini-lesson-Model Editing piece.
What are the steps I take to edit my work?
Think Alone-Students will edit their draft and do the revision. Teacher will conference with each student giving a positive, asking a question, and offering a suggestion. Students will edit and revise their work utilizing a checklist.



The students are all beginning learners of Chinese language. It is true that Chinese is more difficult than English. All Chinese characters build up from basic strokes. The simplest ones have only one stroke while the more complex ones can have more than 20-30 strokes.
First I let students practice writing the simple strokes, such as a dot, a dash and a line. I explained that the strokes are to be written in the right order and in the right way. It is important to follow those rules. Later a few students told me that they had a “feeling” for how to write it. Chinese characters have no association with the pronunciation system, which is very different from English. So I emphasize the main learning strategy again and again: memorization and practice.
Students are not used to the structures of the Chinese characters. Some words consist of the right part and the left part. Sometimes students would forget either the left part or the right part. What’s more, a few students forget to add the last stroke. Considering the students’ weakness, I ask the quick learners to share their insights and experiences, which was very helpful and informative to others. At the beginning of the class, I spend about five minutes help students refresh the new words and phrases. Normally I would write the new words and phrases on the blackboard and ask students to identify them.
The second week when I read the assignments students turned in, I found that the students’ handwriting looked much better than the first week. I know most students are following the rules. Students begin to be aware of the strategies: drills and practice.
What curriculum material will I use to support the strategies and techniques chosen? I would use of motivational material that is at the student’s instructional level (books, magazines), I would discuss the book by previewing and predicting, I would read the book to and with the students and raise some questions, I would organize some activities of sight words, pattern books and flashcards. It is a pity that the language classroom has no access to internet. I can’t show students some PPTs and video clips about the language points and the structure of the words.
As to the possible instructional grouping options that will be used with the students, I think pair work or two large groups will be my choices.
The course is about an introduction to the study of reformed Mandarin Chinese, including the teaching of basic vocabulary, calligraphy, conversation and cultural material. So I gave a brief introduction to Chinese culture as well. The material is based on a survey which was commissioned by the Blue Ocean Network in spring 2009. The title of the news report is Survey reveals Americans know little about China. Before I gave the news report about the survey to students, I had them brainstorm “China” by asking them questions like “How much do you know about China?” Then students were divided into three groups to have a group discussion about six questions I prepared for them. One student from each group gave a report to what answers they found to the questions. After the brief introduction of different aspects of Chinese culture, I think students are better motivated to write and they can have a wider variety of topics to write as well.