20 Tips for teaching Reading

The writing of characters over and over again has always perplexed me.I mean that is how I learnt in China, and of course people do learn that way....you are all a product of this system...am I right?

This learning relies on repetition and practice...and yes learning does occur...BUT I was always aware that this type of learning DID NOT fit in with my pedagogy of learning Chinese.I wrote characters while watching TV. I could even hold a phone conversation while writing characters.And that bothered me.

Especially as a teacher...I want my students to be thinking...to be cognitively engaged...And writing characters over and over again...did not seem to be the most effective way for students to learn. Sure the motivated learnt. The bright kids focused on the writing and they learnt.

The traditional way

Brain was disengaged

When I was learning characters, I didnt have to think.

My hand was writing.No cognitive processes needed.

No Learning Autonomy

My students relied completely on me to give them new characters.There was no way a student could discover a character and go Ah-huh...that has the same component and if we put these together....Students relied on me to feed them characters and they dutifully copied them until they were memorized.

No Understanding

After a year of teaching this way. I knew what I had to do.I wanted to pull back the mystery of Chinese characters. I wanted my students to have an understanding of characters.I wanted them to THINK about characters.

CopyWrite over and overDictationTestOften Failure/

Very often, Chinese characters are the barrier to successful Chinese language learning

In Australia, by the final year of senior high school, 94% of those who began to study Mandarin sometime earlier have dropped the subject.94%

It is hard work, as is any learning, but I am going to give your the tools, and the secrets to help you understand Chinese characters.

And they cant think about them, until we show them how.I dont know how many of you have actually thought about characters...what they are made of...what space they take up...how they are the same or different?

speak a lotlisten a lotread a lot

speak a lotlisten a lotunderstand a lot

Give a person a fish and he/she will eat for a day.

Teach a person to fish and he/she will eat for a lifetime. -

Every day in classrooms all over the UK, teachers are giving students character to learn...Might be starting a unit on transport...so students will learn to write those characters.

So this is how characters are taught in the regular classroom...and I have taught this way as well.

But there is a change in how some teachers are looking at the teaching of characters...mainly from Australia.Hey, but if we teach students how to understand characters....they will have the life-time skills to read them.They wont have to rely on being given a fish a day...as it were.

Every student can be a successful learner.

Before any characters are taught............

Visual cuesSpace

Building blocks

Purpose

Activate the brain when writing characters

TIP #1The Square

Let students explore the square that characters are in.

STAGE 1: Parts of the square

So, my high school boys stopped writing characters for two months.You might be thinking...wow...they must have been behind...They were the best 2 months of my teaching...because I knew they would be able to handle a wider range of characters.We want students to think about characters firstly.I broke down the understanding of characters into various stages of learning.I suspended my usual way..of writing everything we speak....most important.I focused for 8 weeks on students becoming familiar with characters and building an understanding of how characters were made up.

topbottom

Think, Share

TIP #2Think about characters

Do we give students a way of thinking about characters?

When I give students a list of vocab. they become detectives and deconstruct characters.

TIP #3The Secret

The SECRET of Chinese characters.

The Building Blocks

About 25 building blocks a week.

Make Students INSIDERS of Chinese characters

Ah hah!

I wanted them to know why they were writing the characters...I wanted to give them a way to attack unknown characters. Deep thinking and understanding of what makes up characters.

From Day 1, students are engaged in exploring characters using radicals.

Radicals are what unlock characters

TIP #4Visual Clues

Radicals provide hooks for memory

Learning Plan - Chinese Characters

Receive and process info.Permanent record of info.Recall info. in response to a cue.CuriosityMotivationFocus

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Train the brain to see patterns and connections.

This is not a token lesson on this looks like fire...this looks like girl..etc.,This is seeing the radicals inside characters and understanding how they are made up.

Connections strengthens memory

Intensity influences memory

Students need to connect characters to visual memory

Encourage imagination and picture seeing

In the first lesson I teach 20 Chinese characters and I insist they draw over the characters.In their brain they need to connect the meaning with the shape of the characters.You can begin with radicals and move out from there.

TIP #5Active Learners

My School - New words

Go Classroom Office Sports field Library Assembly hall Dining hall Toilet Copy the words and remember them.

Passive Learning

My School - New words

: , earth / private : , obedience / : ,, ,, , : ,, ,, : ,, , :,, : , ,, : ,, , , Identify the Building Blocks (Radicals)Active Learning-

This is a major shift from the traditional way. This gives the power to the students and make them active learners.

Allow guessing I can see heart I know is ear.I wonder why is there?

lidmouthborderInitially give English names to the writing strokes

Because decoding from Chinese to English and then recoding that into a symbol

curvestraightdown kickcutdown kickcutbird

Encourage students to verbalize when writing.

TIP #6Look, Cover, Write, Check

Look

Cover

Write

Check

X

Look, Cover, Write, Check

Students need to classify characters Students need to compare characters

Pre-Writing Activities

Popcorn charactersPlaydoh characters

Pretzel characters

Shaving Cream Characters

I have used all these strategies with boys.The reason boys love this.is they are kinesthetic activities.working with materials, making things, constructing

TIP #7Word Walls

Dad: called: apple: brother: brother: now: now: cat:

dog: apple: age: now: because: question: Classroom Word Wall

Teachers need to provide a framework where students can learn new characters and share them with the class.The Word Wall could be organized

Chinese wordsI amlearningPersonal Word Wall

Word Walls are essential in a Chinese language classroom. Students can refer to the wall for new words, and they can keep a personal Word Wall as well.

Learning Map

Give students a learning map.

Disappearing characters

Rainbow Writing

Students use a 4 color pen to learn the stroke order of characters.

TIP #8Stories

Story writing

This is an area that for some reason is very neglected when teaching Chinese.A lot of teachers feel that students need to be directed in learning set characters, and that going outside the prescribed list, is not a good idea.

Im here to tell you that the more freedom we give to our learners, the better writers they will become!Surethere is the problem of quite complicated characters, and grammar, and sentence structures.but whenever I begin teaching a beginner class of Chinese, I always set aside at least one lesson a week to story writing.Why??

Right from the first lesson, I try to get students to use Chinese characters in meaningful ways....to convey meaning.I dont wait until they know every character to make a sentence.I use chinglish - part English and part Chinese. It is really important that characters are taught as a way to communicate....not just practice writing characters in isolation.

TIP #9Book-making

Students write their own books

TIP #10Journal Writing from Day 1

Daily Lesson Reflections

Writing Journals

What are the BIG ideas today? Writing Journals...and look at writing as a process...students try things out...express their ideas...make mistakes...get feedback

Chinese Journals1. Three times a week, you will write an entry inyour . You can use and to start with.

2. The Journal is where you will write your thoughts, opinions, and likes/dislikes about anything. You may also illustrate your journal.

3. Every Friday, I will collect your Journals and give you feedback about your writing.

Every Friday I require my students to write a Journal in Chinese. When they begin it is a combination of characters and English.But I cant emphasize enough...that characters should not be taught in isolation, but be a way to communicate an idea...

Writing is a process, and students are permitted to make mistakes!

I give students a starter worksheet like this.

Theres a Celebrity in my Journal WeekWhat does he look like?What do you like about him?What dont you like about him?What kind of person is he??What does he do best?

.

As the students get better at expressing opinions...I include Journal tasks focusing on something in particular...This is Theres a Celebrity in my Journal activity.

Word Order S.T. P.V.O

I

Monday

at school kicked football

Create authentic reasons for writing!

Letter-writingLabelsNotes and Messages

Email

Journal

TIP #11Chinglish

Chinglish storywriting

Encouraging use of charactersAllows feedback for learning

I discovered this method when a 2nd grade boy came into my class after learning about 30 characters.He had gone home and made a story using Eg and Chinese.I was thrilled and took it to his home room teacher.She was amazed. It seems that he

Adopt an Egg Project

Decorate an eggWrite a description of egg in ChineseIntroduce Adopted egg to classCreate an ID for Adopted EggRecord daily activities of Adopted eggWhat did we learn?Descriptions, parts of body, family, colors, dates, days of the week, numbers, nationalities, likes/dislikes, daily routine, S.T.V.P.OID/

This was one of my most popular projects.

S.T.V.P.OWhat did we learn?Descriptions, parts of body, family, colors, dates, days of the week, numbers, nationalities, likes/dislikes, daily routine, S.T.V.P.O

Adopt an Egg ProjectToday you will receive your egg.

You will take it home and decorate it.

You will care for your egg and write a weekly diary about the adventures of your egg using the S.T.V.O. rule. (?

Adopt an Animal Project for 5 year olds

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During Chinese New Year I usually introduce the animals of the Chinese zodiac, and we have a project called Adopt an Animal.Students adopt an animal each week and write a diary using Chinese characters.

TIP #12The Ice-cream Challenge

TIP #13Daily Writing

EW

EW Time: Everybody Writes

For 5 minutes Everybody Writes

Simple charactersCopy charactersWrite radicalsCopy words around the roomWrite a noteWrite a message to a friendWrite numbersWrite a secret message

What would you like to write about today?Write a storyIllustrate and labelWrite instructionsJournal entryWrite ChinglishWrite Lesson Plan

TIP #14Free-writing

Free-writing

Grid-writing

Classroom Mailbox

TIP #15Character Hunt

Go on a Character Hunt

TIP #16Immerse students in characters

Immerse students in words

TIP #17Mini-books

Allow guessing I can see heart I know is ear.I wonder why is there?