Advanced Conversational Chinese Course Design

I knew I had to shift my teaching strategies entirely. I looked back to the days when I taught littles kids Chinese, through body movements, nursery songs, reading story books, name pictures, and through simply talking to them directly without translation. And it was working very well, because I was making memories with them. I started to form some new principles of language acquisition. First, the language content should be relevant to the students. We keep saying that languages are tools, so how do you learn to use a tool? By using it. And when do you use a tool? When the tool is relevant to your task. We master tools by using tools. We learn tools the fastest when they are relevant. Second, now we understand that Chinese is a great tool, then we need to use the "tool" to communicate from DAY 1. In order to do so, students need to know the very basic way of asking questions in the beginning, not "Lesson 4" or whatever lesson in the textbook. Because language learning can be and should be anywhere and anytime. It doesn't need to follow a curtain sequence. Third, one reason why little kids learn language faster was because they understood me, through my body languages and my facial expressions. As long as they understood me, they were acquiring the language, unconsciously. Fourth, in many ways, speaking a new language is about physiological training. Little kids can learn language naturally and easily because their facial and vocal muscles are so flexible which help them to mimic any sounds they heard. Talking takes muscles, speaking Chinese is not just about the knowledge, it's more about physiological training, because you use different muscles from when speaking English. Fifth, how students feel in a language class matters. My kindergarteners can do so well when they are happy and excited, but not so well when they are sad, angry, worried, upset. It was easy for me to tell if my young students were happy or not, they didn't hide them. However, for high school students, it's not so easy. So, I need to make sure that they are relaxed and comfortable when they are in my class. 

 

After shifting my whole teaching philosophy, and doing more researches, I decided to take these actions in my Advanced Conversational Chinese Course, as well as all the other levels. #1, provide my students a lot of authentic listening materials, to "soak their brain" in Chinese, including audios, videos, TV shows, movies and songs. It's ok that they don't understand everything, they are listening to the rhythms, to the language patterns that repeat, and to the things that stand out. Just like when young kids learning a language, they have tens of thousands of hours of “input” from the parents. #2, ask my students to try to understand the meaning first, before the words. Human communication is body language. From body language you can understand a lot of communication, therefore, you are understanding and you are acquiring through comprehensible input. #3, ask my students to speak like a child. Children are not afraid of not understanding every word, not afraid of asking questions, not afraid of making mistakes, they mix words up to form sentences. Speaking a language is a creative process. So, start mixing, get creative, have fun with it. Use whatever you can to get the conversation going. #4, I now understand that my role is not really a teacher, but a language parent. When children learn languages from parents, there are no textbooks, no grammar lessons, no quizzes or tests. Instead, a child uses simple words, simple combinations, sometimes quite strange pronunciation, other people from outside of the family don’t understand it. But the parents do. As so the kid has a safe environment, gets confidence. The parents talk to the children with body language, and with simple language they know the child understands. So, you have comprehensible input environment that is safe. I shall be the language parent for my students, and I will work hard to understand what they are saying; I will not correct their mistakes; I will confirm understanding by using correct language; I will use words that they know. #5, allow my students to learn at their own pace with their own style. The purpose of my class is to give the students tools to learn, look for help, self-study and self-improve in Chinese. #6, allow students to learn materials that are mostly interested to them. This will keep students’ curious and interested in Chinese culture and furthering their Chinese language learning; and give students the confidence to engage in real native Chinese listening or reading materials and social situations.