Class Review 3/27

Welcome back from spring break! We spent the first ten minutes of class outside because all the classrooms were locked. During that time, we learned five new characters: 鱼,它,山,羊,和. Students were presented a challenge: they were asked to match the ancient forms of these characters with the modern forms. Together, students correctly identified all five characters and we discussed the evolution of those characters.

Once we moved inside, we played a game called "Thief and Detective", In the game, a "thief" stole one of the five characters and the "detective" identified which character was missing, Next, students practiced forming the pinyin of these characters using pinyin flashcards. Finally, we practiced reading the newly learned words in context by reading lesson 20 from the textbook. Students completed a worksheet that required them to fill in the missing words from the textbook reading.

Since it happened to be Easter, we played a game that involved hunting for Easter eggs! Students were given several paper eggs and they wrote down one Chinese character on each egg. Students even had a chance to decorate the eggs! Parents then went outside to hide the eggs. When all eggs were hidden, students went outside to collect as many eggs as they could!

To conclude the game and lesson, students were asked to form words using the characters they collected. Students collaborated and traded with one another in order to acquire the characters they needed. Good work everyone!

Class Review 3/13

At the beginning of today's class, in order to motive the students speaking, or actually thinking, in Chinese during our Chinese class time, the teacher started a new game. The rule was that, for whoever spoke a whole sentence in English (single English words were okay), including the teacher, he or she will get a (minus) point! The game seemed really working to minimize the students' speaking in English during these two hours of "Chinese time" in a fun way! Except two students, those who spoke less English sentences than the teacher (who spoke twice in English in full sentence), did earn a sticker at the end of today's class!

As for the lesson goes, we started with characters review. The students were shown the recently taught Chinese characters flash cards before the dictation. Then ten random characters from this reviewed pile were dictated. Two students were able to write ten characters all correctly. All students were able to correct themselves and made sure they knew how to write these ten characters afterwards.



Our lesson 19 in our textbook had five new characters. Instead of our usual way of learning each character, we learned them in a more playful way at the first class today. The students played the "Little Detective" game and took turns to find out which character was missing from the display on the ground. Very soon, all students were able to read all these five characters, as well as how to spell their pinyin. However, we didn't have enough time to go through all their writing stroke orders. Instead, we dedicated some time to learn about how those characters were changed over time, from their antient forms. The students were really interested in learing this history, as it gaves them an idea of the original form, as well as the meaning of each character.


Towards the end of today's class, we read the lesson 19 text in the book, only once (given the limited time). We also learned a new children's song about Fruits, and shared our favorite fruits, among small groups and within the whole class.

Class Review 2/28

After reviewing flashcards, students were asked to write ten characters. We're seeing a lot of improvement; in fact, two students got all ten characters correct and several others were very close!

We went on to learn five new characters: 吃, 牛, 水, 包, 米. Students came up with many great words! 

We reviewed the names of common foods that students may eat. Students went around the circle and picked out their favorite foods among those shown on the flashcards. Next, students were given blank cards and were asked to write down (in Chinese) their favorite food. Some even illustrated a picture to accompany the characters. At the end of class, students shared what they wrote down on their cards.

Unfortunately, we ran out of time and could not read the lesson from the textbook. Parents, please make sure your student reads lesson 17 several times as part of this week's homework. Thank you!