Modern Languages

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Chinese 3

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Full year
Essential Questions
 
*What are the fundamental characteristics of Chinese culture and language?
*What are the fundamental skills students need to use beginning Chinese accurately and spontaneously?
*What are the most efficient learning and teaching strategies needed to use beginning Chinese accurately and spontaneously?
*How best to integrate and utilize technology in the Chinese language classroom curriculum?
 
Declarative Knowledge: Content 
*800 new Chinese characters and use in a variety of contextualized reading and writing tasks
*Chinese sentence constructionto express opinions, intentions, and desires.
* Study characters and vocabularies to develop more sophisticated reading and writing skills.
* Read short stories and articles in Chinese adapted from authentic materials.
*Current happenings in China
*Study techniques to learn and practice both oral and written language
* Chinese will be the official language of the classroom.
 
 
Procedural Knowledge: Skills & Processes 
*Speaking
- To participate in face-to-face discussion and deliver lecture-style, visually enhanced presentations
*Listening
-Comprehend ideas and details in stories on familiar topics
*Writing
- To produce a formal, reflective essay 400-character with all the grammar patterns learned
 *Reading
-To read a variety of contextualized materials by using Chinese dictionaries
 
Assessment
*Papers, test, skits, interview
*weekly vocabulary and characters quizzes
*Unit tests
*End of term oral proficiency interviews and written tests
 
Multicultural Dimension 
* Increasing cultural awareness of both China and the United States
* Learn about lives of people in China through cultural readings, internet research, and videos
* Accept ambiguity in language by using context clues
* Familiarity with idioms
* Analyze underlying cultural values manifested in fine arts, literature, media and day-to-day life
* Explore social conventions regarding requesting services, paying social visits, eating and drinking, making friends etc. and learn appropriate behaviors
 
 
Resources
*Situational Functional Chinese, Drills & Notes, Language Group
*Handouts (Teacher created materials)
*Daily TV news, drama, movies and online materials
*Textbook: Learn Chinese with Me textbook 3 and workbook 3
 
 
 

Chinese 4

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Full year
Essential Questions
*What are the most efficient learning and teaching strategies needed to use Chinese accurately and spontaneously?
*How best to integrate and utilize technology in the Chinese language classroom curriculum?
*How does the philosophy and themes found in Chinese literature and cinema reflect the values that are most important to the culture?
*How can the vocabulary, expressions learned be manipulated in an original way so that it will show a good understanding and appreciation of the Chinese culture?
 
Declarative Knowledge: Content 
*1500 new Chinese characters and use in a variety of contextualized reading and writing tasks
*Use grammar and conceptsto communicate accurately in various social and cultural contexts
* Study characters and vocabularies to develop more sophisticated reading and writing skills.
* Build translation skills
*Current happenings in China
*Study techniques to learn and practice both oral and written language

 

 
Procedural Knowledge: Skills & Processes 
*Speaking
- To participate in face-to-face discussion and deliver lecture-style, visually enhanced presentations
*Listening
-Comprehend ideas and details in stories and news with a variety of topics
*Writing
- To produce a formal, reflective essay 700-character with all the grammar patterns learned and critical thoughts
 *Reading
-To read a variety of contextualized materials by using Chinese dictionaries
 
Assessment
*Papers, test, skits, interview
*weekly vocabulary and characters quizzes
*Unit tests
*End of term oral proficiency interviews and written tests
 
Multicultural Dimension 
* Analyze underlying cultural values manifested in fine arts, literature, media and day-to-
   day life
* Explore social conventions regarding requesting services, paying social visits, eating   
   and drinking, making friends etc. and learn appropriate behaviors
* Awareness of the Chinese culture through an in depth look into the literature and its philosophy, through movies, articles, current events, and research on historical events of importance

 

 
 
 
Resources
*Situational Functional Chinese, Drills & Notes, Language Group
*Handouts (Teacher created materials)
*Daily TV news, drama, movies and online materials
*Textbook: Learn Chinese with Me textbook 4 and workbook 4
 
 
 

Chinese 2

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Full year
Essential Questions
 
*What is the value in learning a Modern language?
*How do you compare between Chinese cultural values and your own values?
*How will you handle communicating in Chinese at your level of knowledge of the language?
 
Declarative Knowledge: Content 
*500 new Chinese characters and use in a variety of contextualized reading and writing tasks
*Communication strategies with a limited range of vocabulary and grammatical structures
*Chinese sentence construction
*Vocabulary laused in simple interactions communicating about recent events
*Geography of China and major Chinese cities
*Customs and cultural norms
*Current happenings in China
*Study techniques to learn and practice both oral and written language

 

 
Procedural Knowledge: Skills & Processes 
*Speaking
-Use simple memorized phrases, sentences and questions on a limited range of topics. Students continue to work on developing accurate pronunciation to build fluency.
*Listening
-Comprehend familiar ideas and details in short conversation and simple questions on limited range of topics
*Writing
-Write/compose simple stories written in the "spoken style," and write a short letter or story with all the grammar and vocabulary learned.
 *Reading
-Comprehend simple text using contextual cues
 
Assessment
*Papers, test, skits, interview
*Weekly vocabulary and characters quizzes
*Unit tests
*End of term oral proficiency interviews and written tests
 
Multicultural Dimension 
*Increasing cultural awareness of both China and the United States
*Learn about lives of people in China through short cultural readings, internet research, and videos
 
Resources
*Situational Functional Chinese, Drills & Notes, Language Group
*Handouts (Teacher created materials)
*Daily TV news, drama, and movies
*Textbook: Learn Chinese with Me textbook 2 and workbook 2

 

Chinese 1

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Essential Questions

  • Why study another language?
  • How does one study and learn another language?
  • What are the building blocks of the Chinese language?
  • What is the relationship between language and culture?
  • How is language used to communicate about one’s life and learn about others?
  • How can technology be used to find out about another culture and language?

  

Semester I

Declarative Knowledge: Content 

  • Introduction of the Mandarin phonetic system “pinyin” and tones
  • Vocabulary and language used in greetings, introductions and in simple interactions communicating about oneself, time, daily life, family, school, and in communicating about recent events
  • Communication strategies with a limited range of vocabulary and grammatical structures
  • Basic Chinese sentence construction: verb, adjective and noun predicate sentences
  • The rules of writing Chinese characters including the strokes, the sequence of the strokes, the radicals. To learn about 100 characters
  • Current happenings in China
  • Fall & Winter holidays
  • Study techniques to learn and practice both oral and written language
     
Declarative Knowledge: Content Procedural Knowledge: Skills & Processes 
  • Greet others using language appropriate to the situation and participants involved
  • Communicate orally about basic events in one's life using short sentences and contextual cues
  • Recognize and write basic Chinese characters
  •  Describe current events in China (English)
  • Identify and describe main Fall and Winter holidays and related customs (English)
  • Describe Chinese geography. Sketch a freehand map of China and label major province, cities, bodies of water and surrounding countries
 
 Assessment
  • Daily use of oral language in class
  • Quizzes and tests which include writing, listening and recognition tasks
  • Oral tests: oral tasks, interviews and skits
  • Writing tests: short dialogs and stories
  • Participation in current event discussions (English)
  • Short written answers to questions about Chinese customs and holidays
    (English)
 
Multicultural Dimension 
·        Basic cultural differences in interactions
·        Students use the internet to access information from a variety of sources and perspectives
·        Awareness of the relationship between language and culture begins to develop
·        Knowledge and understanding of traditional ideas and perspectives of Chinese culture
 
Resources
  • Text: Learn Chinese With Me Textbook and Workbook 1
  • Teacher created materials

 

Semester 2

  
Declarative Knowledge: Content 
·        Communication strategies with a limited range of vocabulary and grammatical structures
·        Basic Chinese sentence construction: verb, adjective and noun predicate sentences
·        Vocabulary and language used in simple interactions when shopping, traveling, seeing a doctor, extending and responding to invitations, and requesting assistance
·        To learn about 200 Chinese characters
·        Current happenings in China
·        Spring and summer holidays
·        One aspect of Chinese culture or society(each student chooses one topic of personal interest)
·        Study techniques to learn and practice both oral and written language

 

 
Procedural Knowledge: Skills & Processes 
·        Communicate orally in shopping situations, to extend invitations, and to request assistance
·        Read short descriptive paragraph and extrapolate key information
·        Write a diary about one's weekend  or one day at school and use as many as Chinese characters that have been learned
·        Describe current events and trends in China (English)
·        Identify and describe main spring holidays and related customs (English)
·        Describe one aspect of Chinese culture or society in detail (English)
Assessment
·        Daily use of oral language in class
·        Quizzes and tests which include writing, listening and recognition tasks
·        Oral tests: oral tasks, interviews and skits
·        Writing tests: short stories and essays
·        Participation in current event discussions (English)
·        Short written answers to questions about Chinese customs and holidays
(English)
·        Written report and oral presentation of Chinese cultural topic (English)
 
Multicultural Dimension 
·        Basic cultural differences in interactions
·        Students use the internet to access information from a variety of sources and perspectives
·        Awareness of the relationship between language and culture begins to develop
·        Knowledge and understanding of traditional ideas and perspectives of Chinese culture
·        Students begin to develop an awareness of sociolinguistics and adjusting language use depending on the situation and participants
 
 
Resources
  • Text: Learn Chinese With Me Textbook and Workbook 1
  • Teacher created materials