This week in Mandarin class is a week for more reviews. "More reviews?" Some students said. But we went into building a different language skill from the prior week for the 5-8th graders this time.
It is a skill that requires patience and attention to details: writing characters. It is often considered the most difficult part of Mandarin language. When I was learning characters, every student spent a lot of time each day writing one character multiple times (sometimes a whole page for one character), until the fingers were tired and eyes were crossing. It is an example of "熟能生巧" (skills come from repeated practice). This week is also my last week having classes with the 5-8th graders. Because next week the students will go on a long trip and the last week of this year we have a sub teacher. So one of my students wrote this on the white board, I am totally moved by this.
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As the 1-4 grade Mandarin classes wrapped up their mini plays, we have entered the last few weeks of the semester. It means review and reflection. It also means summarizing our past learnings in a more structured manner.
While we were reviewing parts of our body and the concepts of "left" and "right", we did a game on reaction to commands to check for understanding. Then an idea just came to the class that we could use those commands to create fun dances with melodies that the students choose or create. It generated lots of enthusiasm which is a precious thing to preserve in the process of learning. Review can be boring, when it is from word to word and then translation. But reviews can be fun, when a little competition is introduced: the class gets loud and excited over a character. I hear "Yay!" when a person gets something right. The sense of accomplishing something is truly valuable. Then there is another way of review and reflecting: present what we have learned in a little play. "How did I say my line?" "How well did my whole group perform?" "My role is ____ and it means _____." The students took it upon themselves to do a better job each time we practice.
"How can we do better next time?" Would be what I want to ask myself and the learners in our classrooms. |
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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