The current 7-8th graders have learned about how name their family members (grandparents, parents, and siblings) in Mandarin 2 years ago. As we continue our story about a humorous individual and her friends and families, we had the natural opportunity this week to accumulate more vocabulary on family members.
This time, we talked about cousins and how they are differentiated within different generations. They are also different in Mandarin, depending on which side of the family each cousin is from. This time, the students learned about cousins from mom's side. It is a large group of words comparing to what English uses, but it also gives clear information on where one person belongs on a family tree. As we deepen and broaden our journey in Mandarin language, we will have opportunities to draw more extended family trees.
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The beginning of this semester is built on top of the 5-6th grade's Mandarin classes from the prior semester. We are learning how to make simple purchases with a merchant.
It is not a common practice, but bargaining is a daily occurance in Chinese people's lives. The 5-6th graders are starting to see how it is down through a conversation video, and pair conversation practice. The young Mandarin language learners (1/2 and 3/4) have started to learn a story about using team work to solve a problem that couldn't be done by one person alone. We will work on expressions regarding how to ask for help, and more descriptive vocabulary on people and small animals.
When a story is combined with music, the students show great attention and interest in speaking the language. It will be an important part of our class as well as drawing to show comprehension. The Mandarin learners at SK had a culturally heavy week. We learned common colors used in Spring Festival decorations, and ingredients of different snacks that are popular during celebration.
The 7/8 graders made a pastry with dates. They would try making it again at home with more sugar (白糖) added. The 3/4 and 5/6 graders made 冰糖葫芦, an attractive fruit snack on a bamboo skewer. I will add the syrup reciepe to this blog soon. The 1/2 graders made 汤圆(tāng yuán)and they had fun making it from scratch. 祝大家新年快乐! This week, the 1/2 and 3/4 grade Mandarin classes worked on the final rehearsals and small details before presenting their mini plays based on a classic Chinese children's story this Friday.
Many friends and families came to join us and shared the fun of the presentations with us. The. Students answered questions about details of the play and explained the meaning of some lines. They showed their best work, and had big smiles for the audience at the end of each play. This week, the 1/2 and 3/4 grade Mandarin classes are getting ready for their authentic story based play. We are going to invite their classmates and possibly families to join us during normal class hours next week.
The students discussed on how to perform and what to wear for the mini play. They also made their small costume to distinguish different characters, and rehearsed the play a few times. Many students have a unique part in the play and worked hard. During the entire process of learning the story and making it into a play, the students learned to count, naming common parts of a body/animal (head, eyes, legs, belly, and more), frequently used adjectives, and naming a few water creatures, etc. The year of the monkey is coming on Feburary 8th. For the 5/6 and 7/8 grade Mandarin classes, we reviewed the symbols and characters of for the 12 Chinese zodiac animals, and also learned common greetings that people use during the holidays.
If you happen to visit the school and come to the 7/8 middle school's Mandarin classroom, here are a few displays that the Mandarin learners have put up for the new year. The main colors are red and gold. First week back to school, SK's Mandarin learners reviewed last semester's key words and stories.
It is getting close to Chinese Spring Festival which falls on Feb. 8th in 2016. The 5/6th graders started to familiarize themselves with 12 Chinese zodiac symbols while the 7/8th graders worked on making common cultural decorations for the festival. One more week until the winter break. The 1/2 and 3/4 classes used Mandarin classes to rehearse on the story of the little tadpoles.
Even though it is a simple play, everyone wants to be a special role in a scene. It is very encouraging to see one student to repeat a line/phrase many times to get the pronunciation right; it is great to see when the students reach agreement on who will be playing what special role without teacher involvement. I had a discussion with my classes to see whether they want to cut the story short to simplify the play before the winter break, or to present a more completed story after the winter break. Both classes decided to do a more completed story. So that is what we will do. We play quite a few games in the Mandarin class. The most common ones are circle language games and paper ball tossing games to increase the students' willingness to speak Mandarin.
Based on the language content that we are learning at the time, there are simple games played by kids in China that can be used in the classroom to engage and practice new vocabulary and sentences. Here is one that we played today with 5/6 grade students to practice telling time. It is called "What time is it?" |
AuthorI'm the 1st - 8th Grade Mandarin language and culture teacher at Summers-Knoll School in Ann Arbor, MI. Archives
June 2016
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