In the years of 2011 through 2013, I’ve taught 3 heritage courses (CHIN 212, CHIN 311 and CHIN 312) and 3 non-heritage courses (CHIN 101, 102, 201)

Non-Heritage Classes: Chin 101, 102 and 201

Chinese 101, 102 (Introductory Chinese I and II), and Chinese 201 (Elementary Chinese I) are highly interactive, highly conversational lower-level language courses. Although writing is required, speaking and listening is the focus. My classroom teaching is mainly communicative, task-based and student-centered so students have maximal opportunity to practice and develop their speaking and listening skills. Students’ language skills are enhanced through practice with both the instructor and classmates in simulated situations, such as role plays, games, etc. Students are encouraged to use their own daily situations and life experience to carry out pair conversations, group discussions, storytelling and occasionally debates.

Outside of class, we have projects such as pair skids (Chin 101), group movie projects (Chin 102), photo story and ePortfolio projects (Chin 201) as well as field trips to Chinatown (Chin 101, Chin 102), where students experience the Chinese culture while using Chinese to solve their individual situations or problems.

The courses are student-centered also in the way that the students are given preparation tasks before class so they can gain some pre-knowledge even before they come. Students are prompted to ask questions as new knowledge is introduced and new activities are carried out. This encourages critical thinking and promotes deeper learning.

The communicative teaching method doesn’t necessarily compromise my role as a teacher. It is important to the students that I provide clear explanation of the teaching contents so they can build their communication on an accurate foundation.  I find if I present difficult concepts as clearly as possible, that’s when students feel most comfortable to speak up and rise up to the challenges.

The student evaluations for these courses have shown that most students have had an effective learning experience and have found the courses helpful in achieving their goals in language learning. While it’s a common observation that the course work load has been heavy, most students are able to appreciate the positive results it has brought about.

Many have expressed the difficulty they’ve been through in mastering the writing of Chinese characters at the early stage of their learning, particularly with Chin 101. To help them learn the characters more effectively without feeling overwhelmed, with the added hours, the Chin 101 team has been able to devote some of the class time to analyzing the formation/etymology of the characters. By explaining the building pieces such as the character strokes, the radicals and the commonly-used components, students are able to understand the inner structure and the logic links within the characters and find learning characters more of an art than a pure memorization skill.

 Heritage classes: Chin 212, 311 and 312

Chin 212, 311 and 311 are intermediate-low-to-high level courses for heritage students. While authentic audio and video materials are used to enhance students speaking skills, reading and writing are emphasized. The classroom teaching is a combination of language analysis with the communicative, task/project-based and student-centered methodology.  Students are encouraged to work as pair and group partners throughout the semester to carry out tasks such as movie reviews, writing/reading assignments and interview projects.  They are engaged in class pair/group discussions, debates, narratives and presentations based on the various subject matters introduced in and outside class. In addition to textbook articles, which combine language learning with cultural elements, the class provides authentic reading materials such as news, stories, and historical accounts for students to enlarge their pool of vocabulary in the purpose of enhancing their reading ability. Blogs and other writing assignments are given so students can do researches on various topics and write about them. Students not only write their own pieces, they also read others’ and leave comments so they share ideas and learn from each other. Semester interview, fund-raising, talk show projects allow students to incorporate all of their languages skills.

The students’ evaluations for these courses have shown that the students’ learning has been effective and the courses have helped them achieve their goals of strengthening their Chinese competence and broadening the knowledge of their heritage.

Although the heritage students are tested into their respective classes, their Chinese proficiency may still differ by even several levels due to the difference in family influence and Chinese learning backgrounds. Therefore it’s not uncommon that in one class some students may find the course work overwhelmingly challenging while some other wish to be taught more at a faster pace. To tackle these discrepancies among the students, I’ve added more group projects outside of class such as group reading and teaching activities. By providing them with the opportunity to work on the assigned materials as a group, students of different levels can help each other learn while collaborating on solving problems and completing the tasks.  

Use of Technology

Use of technology is important in both heritage and non-heritage classes to achieve their respective course goals. Pedagogically appropriate technologies to stimulate learning as students’ ways of gaining knowledge vary from one to the other. While some are visual learners, some are audio. Video and audio materials are used in the classroom to make sure students experience the learning in the way they feel most comfortable with.  Students use the Owl-space tools such as blogs, forums, wiki, tests and quizzes for their outside-classroom activities.