- Communicative Content in a Student-centered Classroom
As a foreign language teacher, I believe that the most important thing that we can give students is an opportunity to actually use authentic, useful, and culturally appropriate language. Instead of lecturing on dry grammar points or vocabulary, I give students an opportunity to discover meaning on their own and serve as a guide and coach while they practice and refine their language use in class. Using both “flipped classroom” strategies for introducing content outside of class and “total physical response” activities to help review vocabulary and check for comprehension, I hope to eliminate some of the more onerous aspects of language learning, and make class an exciting and fun experience for students.
- A 21st Century Classroom
Language teachers teach communication, and technology has profoundly changed the way in which we communicate over the last 50 years. By making use of the tools that our students already use on a daily basis, I strive to not only increase interest in the subject matter but also to teach students how to use Chinese in a digital world to connect with people, places, and culture. Technology has the potential to not only facilitate learning but also to fundamentally change it.
- A Culturally Rich Classroom
In my classroom, I have supplemented the language curriculum with culture-rich activities designed to get students excited about Chinese language and culture. For many years, I have taught a unit on Tang dynasty poetry that gives students a chance to enjoy ancient Chinese verse in the original and craft an artistic project to reflect their understanding of a poem of their choice. I believe that the instruction of a modern language should be framed within a rich cultural and historical context. I have had the opportunity to give mini-units on the rich religious and philosophical traditions of China as well as Chinese history both ancient and modern.
- A Multimodal Classroom
Every student learns differently. In acknowledgment of this diversity of learning styles, I try to bring activities into my classroom that give every student an opportunity to shine. For auditory learners, I have written a series of rhymes that function both as opportunities for language practice as well as mnemonic aids. For kinesthetic learners I have integrated aspects of TPR into my instruction to help students master vocabulary, pronunciation and tones, and correct stroke order. For visual learners, I have created a visually rich instructional approach and based my Chinese character instruction on helping students recognize the main radicals that give meaning to each Chinese symbol.
- A Caring, Safe, and Creative Classroom
Authentic, courageous, and productive language learning can only happen in a safe and creative environment. I try every day to set a tone for class that is not only fun and exciting, but also supportive and caring. Through the use of technology and making time available outside of class, I strive to make every student feel supported, challenged, and engaged in my classroom. I strive to make every student feel like he or she can be successful in the study of language no matter what his or her perceived ability or previous exposure to a language might be.
- A Results Focused Classroom
I am committed to teaching Chinese in a student-centered environment with the goal of helping students gain oral proficiency and communicative competency. To this end, my summative assessments mirror real life encounters by being authentic, open-ended, and task-based. Using rubrics to score these assessments has helped me move past punitively subtracting points to creating information rich feedback about how well students meet communicative goals. Ideally I want to help students learn the skills to work with increasing independence and resourcefulness in language learning. More generally, I want them to gain confidence in their ability to learn a foreign language. I want to instill them with a passion and curiosity for China and the broader world beyond our borders. Finally I want to provide them with a truly joyous, fun, productive, and memorable language learning experience.
