Promoting Chinese in Primary Schools

By Mr Hua Yan - Hummersknott School & Language College

Promoting Chinese in primary schools comes at a very opportune moment, as the National Languages Strategy for England urges every pupil in Key Stage 2 to have access to high quality language learning by 2010. Moreover, ‘Catching them young’ is in compliance with the language-acquisition theory, as current research suggests that the best time to study a new language is before the age of 12.

However, teachers must keep Chinese classes light-hearted to maintain children’s interest. We must ensure their first experience of Chinese learning is enjoyable. Otherwise we will lose them in Key Stage
3. Success in Chinese delivery can only be judged by pupils’ enjoyment and enthusiasm for the lesson.

In order to engage all pupils and develop enjoyment of their Chinese learning, we should bear in mind in our daily teaching what primary pupils want to learn and how they want to be taught.

I. What pupils want to learn

As we all know, the most effective way of learning is to learn through our own experiences. Primary children in particular like to learn through the world around them. So when we devise learning materials we must focus on common childhood experiences.

When teaching them what they want to learn, we can hold their attention and motivate them in the classroom. For example, when we teach the topic of ‘House and Family’, we could devise a picture story about playing hide-and-seek at home. Pupils might be able to learn ‘Rooms in the House’ more effectively in this way than simply learning a short text like ‘我家的房子很大，有厨房、卧室、客厅。’. When they learn ‘Clothes’, it might appeal to them better if we relate it to ‘Casual Clothes Day’ with a short text like ‘明天星期五，我不用穿校服上学，我想穿足球衫、牛仔裤和运动鞋。’

The easiest way to ensure what we are teaching appeals to pupils as much as possible is simply to ask them what they want to know within the planned timeframe. This can stimulate their interest dramatically. When teaching ‘Hobby’, we can ask pupils what hobbies they have and teach them the right ‘Hobby’ words that are most related to their personal experience.

When devising learning materials it is advisable to start with words of a high interest level - to choose words with multiple functions and words which are most frequently used in spoken Chinese. We can certainly achieve more with less effort by doing so. After they have learnt 鱼，they can use it when talking about their hobby - 钓鱼; they can use it when talking about their food preferences- 吃鱼; they can use it when talking about pets at home - 养金鱼.

As we are teaching Chinese as a foreign language, we have to modify the format of the language we want to teach – short sharp bursts can hold their attention. Where appropriate, we might use some word repetition in the text to provide opportunities for reading practice and for reinforcement of spoken Chinese patterns.

II. How they want to be taught

As for the most effective teaching method, it is an ongoing process for teachers to try and adapt and find out the most suitable way to teach a specific class and even an individual pupil. Teachers require the professional knowledge and skills to do so.

We can bring enjoyment into the Chinese classroom by teaching Chinese songs as it helps to create a soothing and enjoyable environment for learning. Singing Chinese songs can also enhance the Chinese learning. Fortunately primary pupils are comfortable with singing in class. So many simple Chinese songs are related to various language topics. 《虹彩妹妹》 is good for ‘Describing a friend’. We can sing it again and again, simply changing ‘长得好’ into ‘长得高’、 ‘长得矮’、 ‘长得瘦’. 陕北信天游《三次到你家》can help to learn ‘第一、第二、第三、妈、爸、狗’ . It can be an English song translated into Chinese, e.g. ‘Head, shoulders knees and toes’ for teaching ‘Body parts’. It can also be English melody with Chinese lyrics, like singing ‘123,321, 1234567, 8 9 10, 10 8 9, 你是我的好朋友。’ with the melody of ‘This Old Man’.

PowerPoint is particularly useful in primary Chinese teaching. The software allows us to show coloured text and images with simple animation and sound. Now more and more classrooms and teachers have computers and the equipment to use PowerPoint. PowerPoint has made it possible and very easy to design learning materials in bright colours, which all children love. We can grab pupils’ attention more effectively simply by presenting learning materials in bright colours. We can use PowerPoint to design storytelling and follow-up activities, and other tasks, which will enable young learners to develop their Chinese skills.

We can also use PowerPoint to create games for use in the classroom. The ‘Drag and drop’ game is very useful in reviewing Chinese sentence structures. NJStar combined with PowerPoint can make it more fun and effective to test Chinese characters. A similar but free resource for character writing is www.chinaontv.com/index.php/write_chinese. When used with PowerPoint, this interactive software can strengthen pupils’ ability to memorize characters to the best possible level.

For those who like to learn by doing, we can teach them how to handle chopsticks and how to make jiaozi as a supplement to a ‘Food’-topic class.

The best way to teach children a foreign language is to do it within the context of the culture. To English children, Chinese culture is so different to their own and therefore really fascinating to them. We should take advantage of this. In Chinese classrooms pupils should have the chance to learn about China and Chinese culture as well as the Chinese language. For example, we can talk about Chinese festivals in the Chinese class – let them know Santa Claus doesn’t call in China and Chinese children don’t get anything for Christmas, but they receive ‘red envelopes’ instead, for the Chinese New Year. We can set up school links with China and bring children of different cultural backgrounds together and let them work on some projects of common interest. They can improve their Chinese language skills when they interact with Chinese buddies. They can also have a better understanding of the Chinese way of life.

One more tool for effective teaching is ‘praise’. Teachers from a Mainland China background are inclined to announce pupils’ results in the order of their places in the exam. They like to compare a less successful pupil with others who have been more successful. Evidence has proved that this is unlikely to motivate pupils. It will instead lead to their withdrawing from the learning process when they have been made to feel they are ‘no good’. The fact is that every pupil can improve in comparison with previous achievements. If we bear this in mind we can always find opportunities to praise them. It is important to promote a culture of success in the class. What a teacher can do to contribute to the culture is to inform pupils about the strengths and weaknesses demonstrated in their work and give feedback about what their next steps should be.

III. Conclusion

How do we get primary pupils to communicate in Chinese, a language that is so different from English and other European languages? How can we tap into children's natural ability to acquire the language? We have a long way to go to explore strategies on how to translate key principles from child psychology and language-acquisition theory into practical language-learning activities.

Contributor's Biography
Mr Hua Yan has been a teacher of Mandarin at Hummersknott School & Language College, a state comprehensive school in Darlington in the North East of England, since 2001. He teaches Mandarin to Primary school pupils, secondary school students, sixth formers, Cantonese-speakers from Chinese communities, and local business people. The qualifications his learners are studying for include: OCN Level 1 & 3, GCSE and A-level. He also uses Asset Languages in Key Stage 3 Mandarin teaching.

Source: http://www.xihaha.co.uk/