FIRST TO BEST AND NEXT PRACTICE IN MANDARIN CHINESE TEACHING AND LEARNING

Jill ShepherdThe Chinese Staffroomhttp://www.thechinesestaffroom.com/jill@bamboolearning.com+ 44 1622 630533

Taking Mandarin Further4th October 2011Brighton College

Structure

PART 1 What is first, next and best practice

PART 2 Taking Mandarin Further

PART 3 What is your next practice?

Q – How has the introduction of Mandarin Chinese into schools changed over the years and why?

PART 1 – What is first, next and best practice?

First practice

It used to be after school clubs

It tends now to be Celebrations through the year

or.. Curriculum teaching

WHY?

Cultural distances matter

Language progress matters

Money matters

Next practice

It used to be curriculum teaching or failure of Chinese programme

It tends now to be Curriculum teaching more

directed and integrated and monitored for achievement

WHY?

Better resources

Learning around what works

Future practice?

To be informed about Mandarin Chinese

To take steps to make it sustainable within the school including testable results and motivational teaching

As a teacher to publicise its success beyond the Chinese community

As a teacher to become Head of MFL

WHY?Needs to become the most popular language

Adult myths about difficult need to be overcome

Change can only be broader if we become part of the broader community

Q – What might this involve and why bother?

PART 2- Taking Mandarin Further

Issues and solutions

Supply of good quality teachers but hold on…

Resources (especially Westernised ones) better and more online with teachers becoming more demanding and selective

More assessment to show linguistic progress

More noise about how much children and young people enjoy the language

What could you do?

How can you inform yourself?

What type of teaching and learning do you want to engage with?

How to access a teacher?

How to monitor success?

Can I improve the resources I use?

Can I make progress more assessable?

Can I integrate with other areas of the curriculum?

How can I build on the motivational quality of learning Chinese?

Can I step out of my everyday role?

How can I network better?

First practice? New to Chinese

Next and Future?

Q – Deciding what actions you can take when and why?

PART 3 – Group work