May 22, Tuesday 五月二十二日星期二 - A Day

Today we reviewed all the words. After using TPRStorytellin cycling questions, students worked on an article about 井底之蛙. For 3rd period students they worked on the textbook on page 93.

May 21, 2012, Monday 五月二十一日星期一 - B Day

Today we first worked on the textbook 我愛學中文 page 79. The teacher read the story stentence by sentence and the students volunteered to translate it to English. And then we used TPRS cycling questions to practice listening comprehension and speaking ability. Next, students copied down the story in pinyin and asnwer questions to the story on page 79. 40 minutes before the class dismissed, the students watched the video about China's culture as other period students did last Friday.

May 18, Friday 五月十八日星期五 - A Day

Today we watched a video named "你好!中國" which introduced Chinese masters like "孔子" "孫子" and "老子", the legends about nature like "太陽" and "月亮", and the inventions like "農曆" "指南針" and "火藥" "紙", etc.According to the copy right, I am not able to upload the video online but it briefly introduced Chinese culture. The video is published by 高等教育出版社.

May 17, Thursday 五月十七日星期四 - B Day

For 8th period students, we reviewed the words we learned and told a story about Gage who wanted to eat hamburgers from McDonald's but he didn't how to get there. We used whiteboards and TPRS to do cycling questions and PQA. After that, students we did the time-writing vocabulary practice. Students were given 4 minutes to translate 50 words from Chinese to English, and see how many they got. After we explained each word, we did it again, until at least 80% of students get 80% words right.

May 16, Wednesday 五月十六日星期三 - A Day

For 1st, 2nd, and 3rd period students we did the similar activities but different words. We reviewed the words we learned and told a story about frog and make the idom 井底之蛙 more meaningful. We used whiteboards and TPRS to do cycling questions and PQA. After that, students we did the time-writing vocabulary practice. Students were given 4 minutes to translate 50 words from Chinese to English, and see how many they got. After we explained each word, we did it again, until at least 80% of students get 80% words right.

May 15, Tuesday - 五月十五日星期二 - B Day

For 8th period students today, we did the same activities as 3rd period students do but spent longer time on PQA with all the following words. To simplify the words, we didn't learned extra words like what 3rd period students do but just the words required for the story.
麥mài 當dāng 勞láo = McDonald's

漢hàn 堡bǎo 包bāo = hamburger

問wèn = ask

一yī 直zhí 走zǒu = keep walking (straight)

左zuǒ 拐guǎi = left turn, turn left

...的de 旁páng 邊biān = next to不bù知zhī道dào = don't know
We used a sheet of paper instead of whiteboard to practice the words. After the paper writing and practice, students were assigned a word and were separated into two groups to play the clapping game to practice pronounciating these new words.
 

May 14, Monday, 五月十四日星期一 - A Day

Since we are going to learn a story about 井底之蛙, we learned some words about it as the following,

上shàng 課kè 時shí  = when being in class

分fēn 享xiǎng  = share

井jǐng 底dǐ 之zhī 蛙wā  = the frog in the well

以yǐ 為wèi  = thought (opposite to the fact)

因yīn 此cǐ  = therefore, so

自zì 滿mǎn  = self satisfied, complacent

自zì 大dà  = ego, prideful

自zì 私sī   = selfish

自zì 足zú  = self-sufficient

自zì 立lì  = self-reliant, self-sustained

故gù 事shì  = story

(we focused on the first 6 words, they are our target words, other than those are our supplimental ones).

For 3rd period students, we did the same activities but learned different words.
We're going to learn a story about 麥當勞在哪裡? so today we learned the following words --
麥mài 當dāng 勞láo = McDonald's

漢hàn 堡bǎo 包bāo = hamburger

問wèn = ask

一yī 直zhí 走zǒu = keep walking (straight)

左zuǒ 拐guǎi = left turn, turn left

...的de 旁páng 邊biān = next to

右yòu 拐guǎi = right turn, turn right

溫wēnǔ 蒂dì = Wendy's

必bì 勝shèng 客kè = Pizza Hut

漢hàn 堡bǎo 王wáng = Burger King

潛qián 艇tǐng 堡bǎo = Subway

肯kěn 德dé 基jī = KFC

(we focused on the first 6 words, they are our target words, other than those are our supplimental ones).

May 11, Friday, 五月十一日星期五 - B Day

Words Practice Form about Community

For Chinese Leve II & III                                                For Chinese Leve I

You may print out the form and time-test yourself each word's English meaning. First, you may set up 3 minutes and see how many you get right. Find the words you don't know and study them, quiz yourself again in the time frame 3 minutes or shorter 2 minutes.

May 10, Thursday 五月十日星期四 - A Day

For 1st period, we practiced three sentence patterns 1) 雖然....,但是......, 2) 比起..(A).., .(B)...比較 .(adj).., .3) ...(A) ..比起. (B)... ....(adj)..多了.

First I gave examples, and then students created their sentences with these words. The volunteers came up to the board to write their sentences down. Later students were asked to introduce their community in at least 200 words ( in pinyin) within 20 minutes. Those who were done their writing first, they came to get an article, and read and answered the questions.

Too bad that we didn't have enough time to do time reading for the 1st period. Well, let me mention one more. It take at least 1.5 hours to create an article like with verticle Chinese and horizontal English. I did the pronunication horizontal one by one. Yup, it takes effort but it's great to hear students saying it's easier and clearer, and it helps them recognize Chinese easier. 2nd period did the same as 1st period. For 3rd period students, after students copied down the reviewing words on the board, I specifically write 我 找 買 賣 人 大 太 天 and asked the similiarities and differences. Students were asked to write 13 sentences with different words taught in class and came up to the board to share their sentences. Later we used TPRStorytelling cycling questions. I read and the volunteer students translated (orally) sentence by sentence. Students may choose to do the time-writing or time-reading activity. They chose to do time-reading, and we did well.

May 9, Thursday 五月九日星期四 - B Day

First we read an article about 澳大利亞人 and used TPRStorytelling cycling questions to practice and exam the comprehen. Later, most of students typed the story and a couple of them chose to copy the story. After they were done their typing, they needed to make sure each character is correct. Later we played a little bit game.

its good to see that at least 80% of students understood this sotry.

Students answers to the questions

Aubrey W. 和 Kellie Taylor
Tucker B. 和 Conrad A.
Tyler F. 和Becca B.
James S. 和Ashley R.
Corbin B. 和 Jarem S.
Alex C. 和Maddie D
Simran S. 和 Trace H.
Camille S. 和 Jaden G.
Alex I. 和Ammon R.
Kaydon L. 和 Jefferson R.

* the words that got blocked out by red mean to be omitted.
* the words in red mean mistyped.

May 8, Tuesday -五月八日星期二 - A Day

This morning for 1st and 2nd periods we reviewed all the words we learned and a story about Odgen市區and Layton社區. We played games to review the words first and then students had few minutes to read the article first and write down the pronunciation by the characters/words they know. When the time was up, I read the story sentence by sentence and used TPRStorytelling cycling questions to help students understand the story. 25-40 minutes before the class dismissed, students used laptops as pairs to type in the answers to the questions at the end of the story.
For 3rd period students, we reviewed all the words we learned with games and added a few words - 找, 找到,找不到,找來找去,不知道,...中文怎麼說. After that we use TPRStorytelling cycling questions to help students with their listening cmprehension. With 25 minutes left, we played Bingo games.

找zhǎo = look for

找zhǎo 到dào = found

找zhǎo 不bú 到dào = cannot find

找zhǎo 來lái 找zhǎo 去qù = look for everywhere

買mǎi = buy

賣mài = sell

不bù 知zhī 道dào = don't know

有yǒu 一yī 個gè 女nǚ 孩hái

她tā 的de 名míng 字zì 叫jiào Jill　

Jill是shì 澳ào 大dà 利lì 亞yà 人rén

現xiàn 在zài 她tā 住zhù 在zài 中zhōng 國guó

Jill沒méi 有yǒu 帽mào 子zǐ

她tā 去qù 商shāng 店diàn 買mǎi 帽mào 子zǐ

可kě 是shì 她tā 不bù 知zhī 道dào 帽mào 子zǐ 中zhōng 文wén 怎zěn 麼me 說shuō

Jill找zhǎo 帽mào 子zǐ

她tā 找zhǎo 來lái 找zhǎo 去qù

可kě 是shì 她tā 找zhǎo 不bú 到dào 帽mào 子zǐ

捷(jié) 運(yùn) = rapid transportation
雖(suī) 然(rán) = although
但(dàn) 是(shì) = but
可(kě) 是(shì)  = but
而(ér) 且(qiě) = and, plus, moreover, besides
左(zuǒ) 右(yòu) = about, around
(This article is in verticle direction. In other words, you need to read it from the top to the bottom- verticle direction and from right to left. )
This is my first time to use a story in verticle direction. Before I distributed the article, I explained to students that ancient Chinese used verticle direction when reading and writing and I felt like reading in verticle direction made me feel I'm reading real Chinese. To my surprise, almost all the students love reading the article in verticle; they felt it is much easier and clearer to read Chinese in verticle. They were happy and excited with it. Therefore, from now on, our story will be in verticle.