Oscar 2024

This presentation demonstrates how to teach Chinese with comprehensible input, an instructional technique in which teachers provide input that allows EL students to understand most, but not necessarily all of the language. The presenter teaches super seven verbs (the most frequently used verbs in all languages) in Chinese and make a story using super 7 verbs together with the participants, who learn the super seven verbs in Chinese in a highly contextualized space.

Taking advantage of the best practices in peer review training and guided editing processes in ESL writing courses, a DE instructor and college faculty use the same training materials to help their students to become more effective in their Chinese peer editing. The collaborative process helps students become more effective thinkers and writers. First, we train the students to be specific by identifying the location of strengths/weaknesses as well as the concrete issues using the correction keys provided. Second, we want students to make sure that their feedback is helpful by suggesting concrete ways to improve the composition. Third, we show them how to be polite by using set polite phrases and expressions using the "cheat sheet" created by the two presenters through collaboration.

How can social media platforms like Instagram be used to expand the scope of “classroom” and build a virtual learning community? The presenters introduce a year-long community-building project conducted at an elementary Chinese course in college. We focus on how it successfully fosters a deeper connection among members of the Chinese course (teachers, tutors, students, and beyond), enhances meaningful interaction in their life, and helps learners get immersed in the target language and culture – all in a cohesive community. The participants learn how the project was seamlessly integrated into various parts of the course, and jointly reflect on potential ways to adapt the project into their own instructional contexts especially in the post-pandemic era.

The presentation focuses on approaches to balanced literacy in a Chinese immersion setting to help students achieve high proficiency levels of ACTFL standards and meet the grade-appropriate Common Core Language Arts standards. Presenters use Grade 3-7 classroom examples to demonstrate the setup of the literature circles and the roles and jobs and walk through a narrative writing unit. Students are introduced to different writing strategies and apply them effectively to pick the right “tiny topic”, brainstorm, plan, and draft to help students tell their life stories in Chinese.

Intercultural communicative competence (ICC) plays a critical role in language learners’ growth and success during study abroad. The Chinese Flagship Culture Initiative (CFCI) aims to design cultural materials and embed them in the development of pragmatic and intercultural competences in intermediate and advanced proficiency Chinese learners. The presenters share results from a needs assessment survey identifying areas of weakness in their cultural preparation, podcasts in which students reflect on their study abroad experience, and new cultural materials developed to address current gaps and strengthen students’ ICC. Feedback on the materials from teachers and students as well as effective instructional strategies for using CFCI materials are also discussed.