I have been having quite a few discussions with other teachers of Chinese lately about whether or not pinyin should be taught to students. There seem to be a number of different opinions on the pedagogical appropriateness of introducing students to the romanised form of Chinese as opposed to teaching using characters only. However, with the increasing use of technology in both the classroom and for communication purposes, the need for pinyin in order to use Chinese script to create projects or to email epals is obvious. The most pressing issue for teachers, I think, is not if we should teach it, but when and how.
For young students, just learning to read and write in English, pinyin may prove confusing. It is probably best to concentrate on developing their listening and speaking skills in the early years, perhaps up to year 3. But if you want students to make greater use of technology and incorporate their knowledge of Chinese to produce assignments, year 4 might be a good time to start. The issue then becomes, how? What materials are available for teachers to use now? What is available online or as apps that can be downloaded and used by students in the classroom? I’ve had a look at ‘Pinyin Trainer’ and it seemed okay, although I havent’ downloaded the full version yet. I also have bought a number of books which include a range of different rhymes for children to learn and practise the various initials and finals.
How do you feel about teaching and using pinyin in your classroom? What materials have you found useful? What do you think you might need to make your task easier?
Sometimes you find an application or website that offers new potential for teaching about characters. And it is even better if they are fun for your students as well! I have discovered Jigsaw Planet and have been experimenting with different characters and pictures to see how it could work in a classroom. If you have a class blog or school website with your own section, these would be great as an activity that students could complete on their own.
The website is: http://www.jigsawplanet.com
Here is one that I have created, based on the character 猫. Click on the character to try it yourself.
At the last MLTAV conference in May 2011, I attended a session in which two teachers showed us how to use a voki and place it into a wiki. It was an interesting concept – instead of asking students to put their own picture up, they could use an avatar they had designed and use it as a means of displaying what they can say in the new language they are learning. Especially good for students who may be a little shy to perform in front of the group.
I thought it was a great idea – I had fun creating my avatar and am sure students would enjoy it too. I also added a sound file of a poem that I had recorded and it came up well. My only complaint would be that the installed sound recorder on the voki site was not very good. It only picked up some of what I had said and seemed to miss out whole sections of my recording although there were no breaks. I decided that the best way to overcome that problem was to record on another application and then upload that sound file. It worked much better.
If you want to try it out, go to www.voki.com. It is free to join and easy to use once you get the hang of it.
Having attended two days at the AIM Conference in Melbourne, I have been inspired by the enthusiasm of the presenters but also by the implications for teaching a foreign language, including Chinese, with the aid of gestures. Although some gestures used in the French AIM approach may need to be adapted or changed to suit the Chinese language, there appears to be considerable evidence that using gestures enhances the learning of another language. While the concept has been understood for some time, the application to teaching has been a more recent development.
You could also check out the AIM website. Currently there are teachers who are adapting the AIM (Accelerated Integrated Method) approach to Chinese. Click on the link to go to the Australian website: Hearsay Learning
A video from the Asia Education Foundation features Andrew Scrimgeour speaking about the necessity for changing the way in which Chinese characters are taught to second language learners. It makes for very interesting viewing. The ideas are sound and it is certainly worth viewing. You will need to scroll down the page to find the video and you may also be interested in some of the others on the site too!
With The Chinese Word for Horse series going out of print, it is nice to be able to show a video to young learners about the origins of some Chinese characters.
This one is from youtube. I hope you find it useful.
Have just been working on a subject for teachers of Chinese in the primary sector and came across this on the internet which I thought would be good to share. We all know how important it is to use the technology that is available to us but sometimes we need a helping hand to know where to get started. Hopefully you find this publication worth a look.
I have been doing a fair bit of research on this topic of late. It has become obvious to me that we need to increase the amount of target language our students are exposed to each week if we are going to have any success in our teaching. Given the limited time allocation language classes are given, it is no wonder that student progress is limited. Many teachers, and surprisingly it is often the native speakers of the language, find it very difficult to use the target language in their classes. So what can be done about it? Obviously teachers need to find expressions and phrases that can be used often enough in their classes that students will soon recognise and respond to the language naturally. You need to have persistence and make use of gestures, mime and actions, but the rewards are incredible. CLIL is a way of teaching that gives equal prominence to language and content learning. As such it is a great way of maximizing students’ experience of the language. While the following book is not specifically about teaching Chinese, it goes a long way towards explaining what CLIL is all about and is certainly worth a close read.
Happy New Year everyone! I just found this video on youtube! Could be good to show students what the lions look like close up. It comes from Singapore and the expertise and balance of the lions are fantastic! Enjoy!
Well, another year has passed and I regret to say that I have not had a lot of time to devote to my blog in 2009. However, I have resolved that this year will be different! I know, that is what they all say. But it is time for a new beginning. This year I will be working with Melbourne University, researching the current state of play of Chinese teaching in a range of schools in metropolitan Melbourne and regional areas of Victoria. The aim of the research is to improve teacher pedagogy and expertise with the aim of enhancing students’ attitude towards studying Chinese, principally to work out ways in which the retention rate of students learning Chinese can be improved. This will entail looking at areas where teachers themselves feel they need support and helping with professional development when these have been identified. I am looking forward to the challenge.
