五月二十一日星期二 May 21, Tuesday - A Day

For Chinese Level I students we learned the following words -
書包shū bāo = backpack (for the purpose of school use/ school study)
買mǎi  = buy
家樂福jiā lè fú  = Carrifoure
找zhǎo  = look for
找不到zhǎo bù dào = can't find

supplementary words...
賣mài = sell
背包bèi bāo =  backpack
找到zhǎo dào = find
如果rú guǒ = if
學校xué xiào  = school
學生xué shēng = student

We only had enough time to learn the words and to act out the story at 1st period; 2nd graders from Lan Laoshi (Mr. Law) brought his students to my class and we played a "henbanz" game which students work as pairs; a student in the pair wears a band with a picture on it without looking what the picture is. S/he has to ask as many questions as s/he can to figure out what the picture is and the other student needs to provide the answers to the questions that his/her partner asks.

For 2nd period students after we introduced the new words; we practiced these words. Instead of using small whiteboards, we practiced on these words on a sheet of paper. We folded the paper into 8 boxes. The teacher said, 找, and students write its pinyin, Chinese characters, and English meaning in a box. We practiced 15 words such as 找zhǎo , 書shū , 找zhǎo書shū, 找zhǎo到dào, 找zhǎo到dào書shū, 找zhǎo不bù 到dào , 找zhǎo不bù到dào書shū ... etc.

Later we acted out the story twice with different students.

Next, the teacher read the sentence word by word in a backward way and students chorally translated into English. And then the teacher said the sentence word by word in a backward way and students chorally translate into Chinese.

For Chinese Level II and III 
We learned the following new words --
孤單gū dān  = alone (with lonely)

寂寞jì mò  = lonely 

羨幕xiàn mù  = (be) jealous
忌妒jì dù  = envy
結婚jié hūn  = get married
離婚lí hūn  = divorce
單身dān shēn  = single

Supplementary words
同居tóng jū = live together
分居fèn jū= live separately
情侶qíng lǚ = a couple (unmarried)
夫妻fū qī = a couple (married)
一旦yī dàn = once
開始kāi shǐ = start, begin
自由zì yóu = freedom/liberty
享受xiǎng shòu= enjoy

We talked about the singles would like to get married while married people would like to have freedom. :)
hěn duō dān shēn de rén xiàn mù jié hūn de rén
很多單身的人羨慕結婚的人 = lots of singles envy the married.  
kě shì yī dàn tā men jié hūn le 
可是一旦他們結婚了 = but once they get married,
tā men kāi shǐ xiàn mù dān shēn de rén 
他們開始羨幕單身的人= they start to envy the singles.
                                  wèi shén me dān shēn de rén xiàn mù jié hūn de rén 
We also talked about 為甚麼單身的人羨慕結婚的人= why do singles envy the married?

Some students said ...
yīn wéi tā men hěn jì mò 
因為他們很寂寞, = because they are lonely,
yīn wéi tā men bù xǐ huān jì mò 
因為他們不喜歡寂寞, = because they don't like loneliness,
yīn wéi tā men bù xǐ huān gū dān 
因為他們不喜歡孤單 = because they don't like to be alone.

We also talked about
wèi shén me   yī dàn tā men jié  hūn le      tā men kāi shǐ xiàn mù dān shēn de rén
為甚麼一旦他們結婚了,他們開始羨幕單身的人?
= why once they get married, they start to envy the singles.

Some students said ...
yīn wéi tā men xiǎng yào zì yóu 
因為他們想要自由 = because they want freedom.
yīn wéi tā men xiǎng yào xiǎng shòu zì yóu
因為他們想要  享受 自由= because they want to enjoy freedom.

After the discussion, we practiced these words. Instead of using small whiteboards, we practiced on these words on a sheet of paper. We folded the paper into 16 boxes. The teacher said, 孤單, and students write its Chinese characters and draw a picture to its meaing on the front, and write its English meaning and pinyin in the back.




(By Briant Johnson, a Chinese Level II student)

Next, after we practices these words we played a game - who is faster. Students work as pairs and only use one sheet of the 16 box flashcard. Have the Chinese characters face up. Students are asked to listen to the teacher and point at the words they hear. The faster one will receive the extra point.