Course Description
Mandarin 1 is a year-long college preparatory course in which students acquire and use speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills in Mandarin. A strong background in English grammar as well as excellent study habits is recommended for students in this course. Students who do not have a strong background in English may find the task of learning grammar and writing skills in the target language simultaneously to be challenging. This course stresses the interpersonal, interpretive and presentational skills of communication. Students will participate in activities which introduce basic Mandarin vocabulary, grammar, the writing of simplified Chinese characters, simple conversations and survival skills in Mandarin. Students will also become familiar with Chinese culture and customs. This class fulfills the district graduation requirement for foreign language/fine arts.
Course Standards
Students will:
1.0 Demonstrate the ability to read, write, speak and comprehend Mandarin at a Novice Low-Mid (Formulaic Low-Mid: Stage 1 level.
2.0Acquire the skills needed to converse with others in Mandarin about their immediate surroundings/activities such as greetings, self-introduction, family, time and dates, making appointments, hobbies, visiting friends and school life.
3.0Become proficient in the use of Pinyin
4.0Learn how to read / write approximately 250 simplified Chinese characters.
5.0 Develop a sensitivity to Chinese perspectives and attitudes and will become familiar with practical formalities (bowing, shoe removal, etc.).
6.0Interact with authentic materials through the use of such media as internet websites, podcasts, newspaper ads, television commercials, videos, CDs and DVDs, etc.
7.0Begin to acquire an awareness of global, cross-cultural and historical issues related to the target culture.
Textbooks:
Integrated Chinese 1 4th edition (ISBN 9781622911356) by Yuehua Liu and Tao Chung Yao, 2016 Cheng and Tsui
Integrated Chinese 1 Workbook 4th edition (ISBN 9781622911362) by Yuehua Liu and Tao Chung Yao, 2016 Cheng and Tsui
Integrated Chinese 1 Character Workbook 4th edition (ISBN 9781622911370) by Yuehua Liu and Tao Chung Yao, 2016 Cheng and Tsui
Teacher Supplementals:
Integrated Chinese 1 4th edition Teacher;s Resource Bundle (ISBN 9781622911455) by Yuehua Liu and Tao Chung Yao, 2016 Cheng and Tsui
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Key Assignments:
Basics
Students will become aware that the term “Chinese language” includes a variety of dialects. Students will also be introduced to the syllabic structure, writing structure and grammatical features of Chinese. Students will begin the study of pinyin.
Students will be able to pronounce pinyin, identify basic Chinese radicals, speak and write their assigned Chinese names, comprehend essential classroom and essential survival expressions in Mandarin and speak and write numerals in the target language from 1-10. Students will learn these skills through such activities and strategies as Total Physical Response, written production of writing symbols, oral recognition of written radicals and numbers. Students will produce number charts, classroom vocabulary charts, survival vocabulary charts, pinyin charts, and radical chartsto demonstrate their understanding of these vocabulary, reading, writing, and communicative structures. Students will also demonstrate understanding through appropriate physical, oral and written responses to teacher and student provided prompts.
Greetings
Students will build upon their rudimentary knowledge of the target language by acquiring the abilities to exchange basic greetings, provide their full names, ask for someone’s full name, determine someone’s nationality and find out if the person being addressed is a teacher or student. Students will improve upon their abilities to formulate questions. Students will be introduced to the verbsxìng, jiào, and shì as well as the question endings ma and ne and the adverbs for no/not (bù) and too/also (yĕ).
Students will demonstrate their abilities to accomplish these tasks by creating and performing a variety of short skits between teachers and students and between students and students. In these skits students will demonstrate the culturally appropriate deference due teachers (and adults) as well as the appropriate use of the newly introduced material. Written scripts will provide the instructor the opportunity to assess each student’s writing proficiency.
Family
Students will acquire the abilities to use basic kinship terms, describe a family photo and use vocabulary related to professions. As they demonstrate these new abilities, students will also use the particle de, use measuring words (èr,liăng),indicate possession or existence using yŏu, and make use of the adverbdōu (both, all). Students will also compare and contrast the concept of family in China with that of family as perceived in the United States, especially as it relates to what family members commonly live under the same roof.
Using PowerPoint or similar technology, students will create a family tree that spans at least three generations on at least one side of the family. Students will then create a narrative that explains the kinship relationships. This narrative will be inserted into the presentation and used as part of an oral presentation to the class. Alternatively, students may use programs such as Adobe Spark, Explain Everything or Letsrecap.com to record an oral presentation that also uses a family tree as its focus. Using a set of teacher provided questions students will also interview each other about the makeup of their families. Students will then write interview reports based on the interviews and report their findings in the target language in small groups.
Time and Date
Students will expand their abilities to use numbers by learning to use numbers up to 100. This knowledge will allow them to discuss birthdays and ages as well as use calendars, discuss their plansand set appointments such as social engagements. In the process of acquiring these skills, students will learn to use pronouns as modifiers and the particle de, the sentence structure wŏ qĭng nĭ chī fàn, affirmative + negative interrogative structures, and the adverb hāi (also, too, as well).
Students will complete group projects that involve planning age-appropriate birthday celebrations. At a minimum, students will plan celebrations for a one year old child and a person aged sixty. All planning will be conducted in the target language. Students will select an appropriate venue, book the venue if need be, plan appropriate decorations, menus and activities and send out culturally appropriate invitations. If possible, students, in consultation with the teacher,will choose one of party projects to bring to fruition.
Hobbies
In this unit, students will use the context of hobbies and recreational activities in Chinese culture to strengthen their understanding of word order as used in Mandarin, deepen their comprehension of the use of affirmative + negative questions, and be introduced to the verb qù (to go + action) the modal verb xiăng (want to, would like to), question formation using hăo ma (OK?), the conjunction nà /me/ (OK?) and the verb + object as a detachable compound construction.Students will learn to ask about weekend activities and invite friends to participate in recreational activities such as attending a movie or meeting for dinner. Students will also learn about the social obligations inherent in making and / or accepting such an invitation.
Working in small groups, students will write and present target language skits with the objective of coming to consensus regarding what recreational activities the group should be engaged in on an upcoming weekend. Groups of students may be assigned geographic areas of residence and a set of boundaries within which they must find their recreational activity or practice their hobby. Students may use the internet to explore unique recreational opportunities available in their particular area. Alternatively, students may plan to attend sporting events, tournaments, or conventions related to an agreed upon hobby. All skits should include provision for the eating of an evening meal at an agreed upon location.
Visiting Friends
In this unit students will learn the etiquette and the associated grammatical structures and vocabulary to be both a gracious host and a polite guest. In pursuit of this goal, students will learn to make introductions, welcome guests, make polite requests and respond to them appropriately, and offer beverages to guests. The acquisition of these abilities involves learning to moderate tone of voice (yì, xià, /yì/ diănr)), the use of adjectives as predicates using hĕn, the use of the preposition zài (at, in, on), and the particles ba and le and the adverb cài(not until). Additionally, students will acquire the ability to describe the experience of visiting someone’s home.
Using resources such as teacher-provided information, internet research, interviews with those familiar with Chinese dining customs and the textbook, students will research Chinese dining etiquette. The results of this research will be reflected in the in-home dining experience skits that students write and perform. The target language skits will include appropriate guest and interactions, small talk and the dining experience itself. Student will adopt the role of foreign exchange student in China. Additionally, students will journal in Mandarin about the dining experience as if it actually occurred.. The entry might include whom one met, what the other guests did, what one thought of the guests, what the house was like, what gifts were brought, what foods were served and what time one returned home. If feasible, students will demonstrate appropriate dining etiquette using real Chinese cuisine and traditional tableware.
Making Appointments
In this unit students will acquire basic phone etiquette in the target language, learn how to set up an appointment over the phone, request a return call and ask for a favor. As students acquire these skills, they will be introduced to the preposition gĕi (to, for), the modal verbs yào (will, be going to)and dĕ (must, have to) and the adverb bié (don’t). Students will also be introduced to directional complements.
Using resources such as teacher-provided information, internet research, textbooks, and manuals meant to help tourists and the business community acclimate to life in China, students will become familiar with basic phone etiquette for a variety of situations. The results of this research will be reflected in the telephone skits that students write and perform. In these target language skits, students will demonstrate their abilities to initiate and end phone conversations appropriately, make appointments and plans, negotiate dates and times, request return calls, and ask / persuade others to participate in a proposed activity. Diversity in the types of situations dealt with in the skits may be increased by having the skit groups pick a prompt from a list of prompt situations provided by the teacher.
School Life
As students learn to describe and discuss the facets of their academic lives, they will strengthen their abilities to employ descriptive complements, the particlesleand de, the adverbs tài (too), hĕn, (very) and jiù (concept of early, etc.), yŏu/yì/diănr (somewhat, rather, a little bit), the structure de, the question pronoun zĕnme (how, how come),and the conjunctions yàoshi (if) and yīnwèi (because).
Students will also learn how to use connecting sentences in continuous discourse, how to employ double object pronouns, how to properly position time and when expressions, how to indicate inclusiveness using using chúle, yĭwái, hái/yĕ (in addition to, also), how to utilize verbs in a series as well as in phrases,how to describe inclusivity using ….yibiān … yibiān, and how to utilize the structure zhèngzai (be doing) properly. Additionally, students will explore the differences between néng and huì when expressing the concept of ca.capability.
As students learn how to discuss their academic lives, they will also acquire the abilities to communicate about their daily routines in writing (brief letters, formal emails, blog entries, etc.) and conversationally. Students will learn to employ proper writing conventions based on the type of communication and whether simplified or traditional characters are being utilized.
Using a service such as the teacher.net pen pal subscription service ( students will acquire Mandarin speaking high school pen pals in a classroom pen pal exchange program. (Alternatively, students may engage in exchanges with other students in the United States who are also taking Mandarin.) Participation in this program will allow students to strengthen their writing skills in authentic contexts, learn about teenage, family and academic life from those who those who live it daily, and gather the research needed to write and perform skits that illustrate the differences in the lives of teenagers in the United States and China. Additionally, students may write and publish for the classroom or school a bilingual booklet that delineates the similarities and differences between students’ lives in China and those in the United States.
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Students will complete reading comprehension activities found in the textbook and accompanying workbooks.
Students will read authentic materials such as newspapers and magazines and the advertisements found in them. Students will focus on acquiring main ideas and/or specific information (such as prices, menu items, locations, etc. frequently found in ads.
Students will participate in role plays in pairs and small groups. Role plays will involve such skills as introducing oneself and others, describing oneself and others, discussing classes and schedules, and likes and dislikes.
Students will create, label, write an explanatory composition about their family trees. They will present this information to the class in the form of an oral presentation in the target language
Students will integrate information from the cultural note sections of the textbook into their student-created role plays presented to the class.
Students will engage in the listening activities that accompany the textbook series.
Create, use, andmemorize hiragana, katakana and kanji flashcards.
Participate in partner interviews on given topics. Students will first create the questions, check the grammatical and written accuracy of the questions. Next, they will ask and answer the questions in the target language with several partners. They will then write reports based on the information they obtained in the interviews. Writing will be framed and follow models provided by the instructor. Students will then read their reports aloud in small groups. Peer editing will take place in these small groups. Written reports will be submitted to the instructor. The instructor will monitor and correct pronunciation and clear up problems as he/she walks around the room.
Students will complete reading comprehension activities found in the textbook and accompanying workbooks.
Students will read authentic materials such as newspapers and magazines and the advertisements found in them. Students will focus on acquiring main ideas and/or specic information (such as prices, menu items, locations, etc. frequently found in ads.
Students will participate in role plays in pairs and small groups. Role plays will involve such skills as introducing oneself and others, describing oneself and others, discussing classes and schedules, and likes and dislikes.
Students will create, label, write an explanatory composition about their family trees. They will present this information to the class in the form of an oral presentation in the target language
Students will integrate information from the cultural note sections of the textbook into their student-created role plays presented to the class.
Students will engage in the listening activities that accompany the textbook series.
Methodologies and Instructional Strategies
Communicative-based activities will support the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar via the target language. Vocabulary-laden and context-embedded storytelling will aid in the introduction of new topics such as family, school schedules, school environment,describing oneself, others and one's daily activities and hobbies. Such stories will also demonstrate how to introduce oneself and others, find out how people are feeling, engage in other ice-breaker converation starters such as commenting on the weather and engage in survival activities such asgoing shopping.Paired interviews between students will allow the students to practice their newly acquired knowledge and skills.
AVID strategies, especially the use of the Cornell note-taking system will be implemented in the classroom.
Pronunciation activities based on textbook listening activities and pronunciation drills as well as on teacher-modelled examples will help students acquire and improve their pronunciation skills such that they are understood by sympathetic listeners in the target language.
Hiragana, katakana, and kanji flashcards will help students learn the new writing systems needed to learn to read and write Japanese. Romanji will be used as a bridge to these skills. The completion of stroke order worksheets will help studentslearn to write correctlyin the target language.
Listening activities from the approved textbook and instruction given in the target language will help students acquire and improve their listening skills in the target language.