Teaching Chinese Through Drama and Song

Robin Harvey

New York UniversityProject for Developing Chinese Language Teachers

October 11, 2009

It is particularly important to use language in meaningful contexts, because language is by it’s nature used to express meaning.

Creative Vocabulary Warm-Up

How to “play”: Divide into small groups Appoint one student “presenter”. This person will test

the receiving students on their knowledge Remaining students will be “receivers”. Groups have 5 minutes to learn the vocabulary words Team with the most correct words and the fastest time,

wins!

Now, do it again, with gestures!

Who Am I?

Presenter gives clues, classmates write down their ideas.– Or

Classmates ask questions, presenter answers.

Dialogue between two (or more) students, classmates must guess!

The Alibi

Game Role play “Ad lib”

现在几点种 ?

Harry PotterSimple languageMeaningfulFunny

Your turn: What simple daily-life scenario could you use in your classroom like this?

长颈鹿的朋友

Keep everyone involved!

Performance:Students who watch must understand

Students can ask questions about the performance

Students can answer questions

Sing a Song!

Listen for particular words Name them Count frequency of words

爱在那里http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuW800mshEk

Chemistry through Dance

Perform songs with gestures Create actions for words / meaningChemistry

students "dance" Chemical Reactions

A failing student astounded everyone with his remarkable dance intelligence. He was able to repeat a complex twelve-count phrase after seeing it only once. "I really put in an effort to understand the chemistry so I could make a good dance," he explained. Some students worked with first graders, teaching them about chemical reactions and then choreographing and performing with them. A young man said, "I felt empowered because the first graders wanted to hear what I had to say about science."

Write your own lyrics!Latin for beginners

Sum es est sumus estis sunteram eras erateramus eratis erantero eris eriterimus eritis erunt

完美的一天

Write your own lyricsIllustrate your own powerpoint

完美的一天

Our Summer Camp Version!

The New Bloom’s Taxonomy

在梅边

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM-hihn4NLU

Mix of cultures, ages,

Assistance for Teachers and Schools

Project DCLT can help answer your questions about:– Certification– Classroom and Curriculum Issues– Assessment– Many other issues

We are here to help!

Project for Developing Chinese Language Teachers (DCLT)

Project DCLT

New York University

Robin Harvey, Coordinator

Robin.harvey@nyu.edu

(212)992-9367