Developing Chinese Language Teachers

On the character “街”

2011-11-22T10:28:00.001-05:00

Thanks to CLTA-GNY who brought this article to our attention:

On the character | Street

Mandarin most useful business language

2011-09-02T09:34:00.000-04:00

Another good reason to study Chinese: According to Bloomberg Rankings, Mandarin is the most important business language after English.

Adding Pinyin with Tones to Documents

2011-05-03T13:23:00.000-04:00

It's extremely important when giving our students worksheets and texts we have created to use pinyin with tones accurately! The easiest way we've found is to use an online tool which translated characters to pinyin. I use Chinese Tools Pinyin Editor.

Here are the steps:

1) Copy your text (in Chinese characters) into the box on the website.
2) Choose "Separate." This allows you to copy only the pinyin into your document, line by line.
3) Click "pinyin." The text with pinyin will appear below the box.
4) Copy the pinyin OR pinyin with characters into your document, clean it up, and choose your fonts.

Tips for keeping your students' eyes focused on the characters:

Center the pinyin under the characters, NOT on top.
Use a (much) larger font for characters than for pinyin.

In case the above link did not work, here's the web address: http://www.chinese-tools.com/tools/pinyin.html
Please share your recommended techniques for adding pinyin to documents!

NYU Graduates granted tenure!

2011-04-27T14:16:00.003-04:00

Congratulations to Bing Qiu and Jianlan Zhao, graduates of NYU's Teaching Foreign Language (Chinese) program. Both Bing & Jianlan have recently had their tenure applications approved! Bing teaches at Bronx Science High School. Jianlan teaches at NEST + M.

Nanduti Listserv and Staying in the Target Language

2011-04-06T14:29:00.000-04:00

Victoria Gilbert, Chair of Foreign Language Department at Saint David's School in New York City, writes the following about easing a classroom into immersion in the target language (I've added examples in Chinese!):

Make it a class goal to use ONLY Spanish for part of the time. They don't believe it can happen b/c they have never seen it. Tie a class tortilla (or 饺子！） party to reward using 50- 75 -90% only Spanish and then, keep upping the ante on them until it is part of your routine.

Also, reward those who maintain language in Spanish only, but still talk at least three times per class... Give them a way to be able to ask "como se dice "X"?" （X 怎么说？） as a valid option...so they can start with whatever they do know. Ask regular questions at the beginning of the period that everyone can answer such as Que hora es （现在几点钟？） / Cual es la fecha (今天星期几？几月几日？） / que tiempo hace （今天天气怎么样？），or based on whatever they learned with previous teacher. Give them a sheet covered in plastic pocket page with these basic questions and typical answers they can memorize. Give extra credit points if they get answers correct... Require "Puedo ir al baño?" or "puedo ir a coger agua, etc." （我上厕所可以吗？） as a minimum!"

Register for the Nanduti listserv to receive many more great, practical ideas from foreign language teachers.

2011-04-01T12:21:00.000-04:00

The traditional Chinese painting "River of Wisdom" has been carefully animated (and music added) and was on display at the Shanghai Expo for months. The video showing the animations is terrific! So many lesson plans & activities for teaching Chinese could be designed around this video showing daily life in ancient China! Clothing, transportation, places: what would you use it to teach?

In case the video doesn't play, here is the link: River of Wisdom

This website reads aloud in Chinese!

2011-03-16T14:23:00.000-04:00

Just type in or copy and paste whatever you need read aloud, then choose the voice you'd like to have read it aloud．Pronunciation seems fairly accurate according to our in-office trials. We prefer Lisheng's voice and pronunciation. Some speakers pronounce 谁 "shui," others use "shui." Just like in real life!

Read aloud in Chinese.

http://www.oddcast.com/home/demos/tts/tts_example.php?sitepal

Wonderful video about Chinese Immersion

2011-03-15T19:38:00.009-04:00

Here's a wonderful video made by students in Barrington, Illinois, about the new Chinese Immersion Program starting in their school district. A (FLAP) grant will allow the district to establish a new 50/50 Chinese Immersion Program starting in Kindergarten.

Calligraphy: Bridging Chinese Language and Culture

2011-03-09T13:43:00.000-05:00

Professor Zhou Bin, an esteemed calligrapher and widely published scholar of Chinese Calligraphy from East China Normal University gave an interactive lecture on how to incorporate teaching calligraphy into Chinese classrooms at China Institute on March 4, 2011.

In his lecuture, Professor Zhou Bin shared his extensive knowledge of Chinese characters and their cultural meanings, the effects of practicing calligraphy on the healthy psychological development of adolescents, and many pedagogical techniques in teaching calligraphy. At the end of the lecture, he demonstrated his expertise by writing an artful character "龍" (龍, the dragon, is known as an auspicous animal in Chinese culture) as a gift for China Institute.

More pictures and videos of the evenrt will be posted soon!

Finding Your Place: Becoming a Member of the School Community

2011-02-14T15:16:00.003-05:00

We had a wonderful forum on Friday night (February 11) with about 70 teachers in attendance! Dr. TJ Lee of the NYC DOE shared concrete ideas on the challenges new teachers face in her presentation: Finding Your Place. Xueyang (Jessica) Gong spoke about her challenges as a new teacher at the Ross School, as well as projects and activities she is doing with her students.

One of the teachers in attendance asked the perfect question to lead in to the next section of our program. She said that she would like to talk to her colleagues at lunch, but doesn't really know what to talk to them about! Everyone is talking about the snow in New York this winter, so that's one place to start. We also prepared a Jeopardy game on American Pop Culture, a powerpoint which you can download and play at home (in slideshow mode). We haven't included the answers: why not ask your colleagues at work the answers to questions you don't know. That should get a conversation started!

If you saw the Grammy's last night, or even the pictures in the newspaper, there's more to talk about! Who entered the hall in an EGG?

Teacher Workshop: The Emperor's Private Paradise

2011-02-08T13:56:00.012-05:00

On Februray 6, the Metropolitan Museum of Art organized a teacher workshop about integrating the art works from the exhibition "The Emperor's Private Paradise" into real classrooms. Ten Chinese language teachers attended the workshop and contributed innovative ideas to lesson planning. Qiu Bing, Chinese Language Art Teacher from Bronx Science High School proposed the idea of introducing a time travelling modern character into the ancient Qing Dynasty to join Emporer Qianlong on his Southern Inspection Tour.

To learn more about the exhibition, you may go to The Emperor's Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City.

To view the collections of art pieces, you may go to Images from the Exhibition.

Click here to take a close look into the Southern Inspection Scroll.

Lunar New Year Celebration at the Metropolitan Museum

2011-01-24T12:03:00.002-05:00

On February 1, the exhibition "The Emperor's Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City" will open at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Museum will hold a number of events to celebrate the exhibition, including:

Lunar New Year Festival; three days of events (Feb 4-6)celebrating the New Year! On February 5, a full day of activities includes a Lion Dance and fan dances.

Lecture Series (February 6), free with museum admission.

Professional Development for teachers (February 6, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.), wherein curators will survey the collection with teachers and participants work collaboratively to develop ideas for school and Museum-based lessons. ($20 per person, register online)

Classroom Videos

2010-04-19T14:15:00.002-04:00

I've been watching the videos that accompany the textbook "Kuaile Hanyu (快乐汉语)". There are 24 short clips, each 2-3 minutes long, with very simple language, a natural setting, and very rich cultural context. The videos portray the lives of 2 overseas students, young teenagers, and their friends and host families in Beijing.

For example, one video shows Annie, an exchange student, sitting down to breakfast with her hosts Xiaohong and her mother. They have laid out a huge breakfast with many choices. Annie tries the doujiang (豆浆）but doesn't like it. She also doesn't care for the hot milk her host mother brings her, and instead goes to the refrigerator to get cold milk. She eats her western breakfast (milk, bread and eggs) while Xiaohong and her mom have 豆浆 and 油条。

The videos are a great, visual way to show students how families live in China!

Chinese Scope and Sequence, Regents-Like Exams, PD Opportunities, and more!

2010-04-06T10:49:00.002-04:00

See Project DCLT's latest newsletter

Classroom Management

2010-04-01T10:40:00.003-04:00

I observed the class of a first year middle school Chinese teacher about a week ago. The 6th graders were enthusiastic and eager to share their presentations. They were engaged in learning and worked well in groups, but as 6th graders they were sometimes noisy and off-task.

The teacher was very calm and had several different techniques for bringing the students back to order. Her voice carried above the classroom noise but she never showed emotion (anger, dismay, etc.) as she settled the kids back down.

This teacher did so well because:
1- She circulated among the students and knew what each one was working on.

2- She has learned several different techniques that the kids respond to, and she uses these techniques over and over. Some examples:

Off-topic statement by student: "Hold it, you can tell me later."

Transitions were clear and she prepared the students well:
"We have one more minute, one more minute"
"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 三，二，一“

When a dispute arose among students about who said what line, the teacher calmly said "Okay, I will check it" and moved on to the next activity.

3- She uses these techniques professionally and in a matter-of-fact way. She didn't allow the students to upset her or take their disruptions personally.

It was a job well done!

Character Writing Practice

2010-03-09T12:27:00.004-05:00

This week I've signed up for a two-week trial at Skritter.com

Skritter lets you practice writing characters with your mouse. So far it seems like a great program, telling me when my strokes are wrong and providing hints when needed. When you've written the character you are asked to choose the correct tone mark, and then it pronounces the character for you!

So far it seems like a great tool. Try it and let us know what you think and how you use it!

Immersion Teaching Takes Energy

2010-03-08T10:08:00.006-05:00

At our two most recent Friday Night Forums, master teachers Victoria Gilbert and Chris Livaccari both taught us introductory language "immersion-style".

They used so much energy and were so dynamic! Both used:

*Lots of visuals (pictures, powerpoints)
*Lots of gestures
*Lots of positive feedback IN the target language (high-fives, smiles)

They were lively, active and engaging, and we students couldn't help but be involved and engaged.

Video of Chris Livaccari's presentation is playing here:

Chris Livaccari's Creative Teaching

2010-02-02T12:19:00.004-05:00

Chris Livaccari, the Associate Director of China Initiatives at Asia Society, offers some great ideas for using humor, improvisation (not just memorization) and inquiry to allow "full realization" of students' language skills in the classroom.

One of my favorites:

"For my first-year Japanese students, one of my favorite activities was the teaching of command forms, which I introduced through a video I made with my wife – with whom I studied Japanese in Tokyo – in which she follows me around the house in an overbearing way, telling me not to “drink sake” but to “drink milk” instead; not to “read comic books” but to “read textbooks” instead; not to “listen to rock music” but to “listen to classical music” instead; not to “play” but to “clean.”

Chris will be making a presentation at our March 5 forum. Don't miss it!

See the full article here.

NY Times article on teaching Chinese

2010-01-25T12:26:00.002-05:00

The New York Times reports on a sad trend -- the teaching of foreign languages is disappearing from American schools due to funding problems.

The silver lining to this cloud: The teaching of Chinese is growing.

Foreign Languages Fade in Class — Except Chinese

Project DCLT Friday Night Forums Schedule and Registration

2010-01-13T10:12:00.001-05:00

Registration is now open for DCLT's Spring 2010 Friday Night Forums Professional Development series, held Friday nights from 4:30 - 7:30 p.m. in NYU's Pless Hall Lounge (82 Washington Square East).

February 5 Language Immersion (at China Institute)
March 5 Teaching and Learning through Improvisation, Comedy, and Drama, Chris Livaccari, Asia Society
April 9 Scope & Sequence for the Chinese Curriculum
May 21 Let's Get Practical: How To's for the Classroom/Classroom English

Please email us at dclt.nyu@gmail.com if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing you! Register here.

Happy Holidays!

2010-01-11T09:53:00.002-05:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Planning for Learning

2009-10-06T09:43:00.003-04:00

Very practical advice for teachers of Chinese (video):

Additional videos are available here.

Presented by the Chinese Language Curriculum Studies Association (CLCSA) at the Confucius Institute at the University of Adelaide in Australia.

Charades: 马，妈，骂！

2009-09-29T10:15:00.002-04:00

Last week I observed a new teacher create a wonderful activity on the spur of the moment. Her students, all 8-10 years old and in their first days of learning Chinese, were discussing tones, pinyin and characters. They were beginning with the sound "ma" (马，妈，骂)

This could have been a very dull discussion. But with great inspiration the teacher had the students act out sentences using just these three words: 马骂妈, or 妈骂马 (some students added in 猫 as well). The other students had to guess what the presenter was saying.

The procedure:
1) Students write their sentence down in pinyin with tone marks, or characters and hand the paper to the teacher. so she knows what they have written.
2) Students act out their sentence
3) Remaining students guess the sentence.

This was great tones practice and offered students a real understanding of pinyin and characters as well. Great job, Julia!

Friday Night Forums begin October 16!

2009-09-25T10:10:00.002-04:00

Project DCLT's Friday Night Professional Development Series for Chinese Teachers begins Friday, October 16 from 4:30 - 7:30 p.m.

We are very lucky to have Dr. Rocco Tomazic, Superintendent of Linden Schools in New Jersey, join us to share his knowledge of "American Classroom Management" with us. Dr. Tomazic will discuss the current culture of American schools, addressing methods of teaching, models of interacting with fellow teachers, management of student behavior and other issues. We will leave time for questions!

Upcoming forums:
November 20: What We Can Learn from the IB Classroom
December 18: Real Projects from Real Classrooms and Holiday Party

Register here.

Flashcard Program

2009-09-16T11:30:00.003-04:00

Back to school! This looks like great software to practice characters and pinyin:

Dear Laoshi Men,
My name is Yongan Wu and currently I am teaching Chinese at University of North Florida. In the last two years I developed a Flashcard program called “Vocabchinese” to help my students learn Chinese and have received many positive feedbacks. Now I’d like to share this program with you for free. It is compatible on both PC and Mac and no installation is needed. Here is the link: (please watch the demos before downloading)

http://sites.google.com/site/vocabchinese/Home

The developers offer to customize the program to your vocabulary list. And, it's free! Ifyou try it, please let us know what you think.