Mandarin (Chinese) Class Updates
你好Nihao! I am Ms. Helena, your child’s Mandarin (Chinese) teacher. Your child callsme “He Laoshi”which means “the teacher with a family name ‘He’” in Mandarin. I am very thankful and glad to help your child explore the world with a new perspective.
I have been commissioned to design and develop the Mandarin curriculum at OLOLsince last fall. This year, I am very excited to implement the design in the classroom as a teacher.
I have extensive experience teaching Mandarin to non-native speakers. I taught Mandarin to international students in China before coming to the United States for graduate school. I hold my Masters in Instructional Leadership focused on Educational Studies. I am a certified bilingual teacher in Illinois and a PhD. student at University of Illinois, Chicago. My PhD. focus is on second/foreign language learning and web-based technologies under the program of Curriculum and Instruction: Literacy, Language, and Culture. Along with my graduate studies, I have been teaching Mandarin for four years to American professionals, as well as elementary, high school and college students. Integrating practical knowledge with everyday implementation of technology, storytelling and literal translation helps make all students utilize Mandarin while having fun.
Last year I had the opportunity to meet many students through projects like Chinese New Year Celebration and speech competition. It is great to see their improvement and enthusiasm for Mandarin and Chinese culture. I am also amazed to see them develop multilingual, multicultural and global competency through their Mandarin learning.
I will continue using the interactive, conversation, culture, technology, and project based Mandarin curriculum for 2017-2018. Your child will learn daily conversations as well as experience culture events. There will be homework such as project worksheets, presentation boards or slides, and Quizlet practices etc. It will be really helpful if you could spend some time (5-10 minutes/day) talk about what your child learned in class and let them show (or even teach) you. I will send out bi-weekly newsletter emails and handouts to keep you updated.
This year, we start the K-2 dual world language program so that they can experience both Mandarin and Spanish. After 3rd Grade, students will choose a world language to study. In Kindergarten, 1st Grade and 2nd Grade, we started with introduction of Mandarin language and Chinese culture. Weare working on introducing names, the listening skills (K), self-introductions (1st), and basic phonics words (2nd). In 3rd, 5th & 8th Grade, we started with reviewing about summer plans through “time travels”, date expressions, and classroom expressions. We studied about how to express future plans and completed actions. They did a great job by applying what they learned to their summer break presentation.
In the end of September and the beginning of October, we will have some cultural events to celebrate a traditional festival in Chinese culture, Moon (Mid-Autumn) Festival. I look forward to seeing your child exploring this new culture. I will keep you updated for these experiences.
See you in the next update!
谢谢！Xiexie! Thanks!
何老师
Ms. Helena He
Mandarin Teacher K-8
Our Lady of Lourdes School -A GRACE Catholic School
(920) 336-3091ext.214