Submitted by Xu Zhang
Objectives:
Content:
Students will:
- Examine the facts concerning the city's population
- Talk about the reasons for the high population density
- Talk about the patterns and trends of the city's population patterns by examining visual data
Cultural:
Students will:
- Understand why the birth control policy is successful in Beijing
- Understand the attitudes of young couples and their older counterparts in Beijing towards having children
Language: Content Obligatory
Students will:
- Use the following words and phrases (see attachment, Word List Lesson 5, List 1)
- Use the pattern of the Chinese number system (which is divided every fourth digit as opposed to the English 3-digit division) (see attachment, Grammar List Lesson 5, List 1)
Language: Content Compatible
Students will:
- Use the friendly letter register of the language to write a letter to answer a question posed by a Chinese student
- Use the presentational mode of the language to present their analysis of statistical figures in visual data
Learning Strategies / Social and Skills Development:
Time Frame:
1.5 hours
Materials Needed:
- Transparencies
- charts
- copies of passages
all available or illustrated in the Attachments.
Description of Assessment (Performance Project):
Context:
The students, through their mathematics course, have obtained a basic simple statistical knowledge.Pre-task:
Step 1: Students listen to a resident of Beijing talk about the population of the city and answer the following questions:(1) What are the problems of the city? Students listen and answer these questions informally on a piece of paper.
(2) Is Beijing very crowded? How did the speaker describe it?
(3) How well is Beijing's birth control policy carried out?
(4) Are there conceptual changes among people towards having a lot of children? Do young people want to have children?
(5) Has the birth control policy reduced the city's population density?
(6) There's something the speaker does not understand. What is it?Step 2: Pair work. Each pair compares their answers and mark/discuss any differences they have. Then they are to predict on the following question: what do you think are the reasons for Beijing's high population density despite the success of the birth control policy and the change in people's opinions? After they have finished their pair discussion, the students are asked to join another pair to compare answers and to discuss more. Then the teacher draws the attention of the whole class to discuss these questions together. Pairs are encouraged to volunteer to contribute their reasons and predictions. Teacher will note what they said on transparency, and will call on those who does not speak to contribute.
Task set-up:
Step 1: Students read a passage (see references and resources) on the patterns of Beijing's population and reason out why the city's population density keeps high. First, they are to do individual work after reading and list out the population patterns of Beijing. Second, the students are to do pair work and discuss the reasons for this high population density. They need to list all the reasons they can think of. Thirdly, the students are to compare what they listed after reading the passage to the previous list done by the whole class to self-evaluate on how similar/different they are.Step 2: Quick writing (individual work). The students are to quick-write a friendly letter to the speaker in the first activity who posed they question by making use of their discussion results. The students can either answer the question in a very general way or pick up a point that they feel strongly about and explain deeper. This task should be finished in 10 minutes. The students are to pay attention to their language register and letter format. Because it is a quick writing, they are not judged by the accuracy of their grammar as long as their meaning is clear. After writing, the teacher collects the letters for after class evaluation.
During task: Pair-group jigsaw presentation.
Step 1: The students are divided into pairs. Each pair is given part of a chart (and a roll of clear tape for later use). The pairs are to compare each cell in the part of the chart and describe very succinctly to the whole class the highest and lowest points and the trend of the statistics. The pairs are also welcome to transform the chart into other visual forms when they present. [The chart can be found in Sit (1995) p179, table 7.1. The teacher may give some groups one row/rows of the table and give other groups one column/columns of it, with the categories above/at the left side of the numbers].Step 2: The pairs then jigsaw the charts together in a logical order and join another pair to form groups of four. They are to find out other patterns in the statistic and present to the others. The languages should be in the presentational register. The students are encouraged to make cross category/cell/column/row comparisons.
In both activities, the teacher may do one column/row for the students as an example. It is highly recommended that the teacher take a moment to explain the Chinese numbering system. Which has significant similarities and differences to its American counterpart (remember the concept of "4"? This is also where the digits are divided): see attachment, Grammar List Lesson 5, List 1.
As the students present, the teacher facilitates by providing some immediate feedback wherever appropriate. S/he also evaluates by using a performance chart shown in the attachment: Assessment Lesson 5, List 1.
Post-task: As homework, the students reflect on what they have learned in class about the population patterns of Beijing and write down their suggestions to control its population as if writing a letter to the mayor of the city.
Assessment:
Embedded in the tasks
References and Resources:
http://www.bjpopss.gov.cn/bjpopss/xsdt/xsdt5.htm
Sit, V. (1995). Beijing. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.: Chichester, NY, Brisbane, Toronto, Singapore. (p179, table 7.1; pp174-177 for a description population patterns; pp184-189 for Migration and reasons behind it. The students could read these in English. Teachers could find a native speaker to translate them for more advanced readers to read.)
Marlene, I don't know what happened when Chen had the CDs burnt -- the audio files for "population" has not been there and I just discovered this a moment ago... It seems that the only way for me to do it is to re-record this part after the finals, if they have deleted our folder in the Folwell lab... I'm so shocked to discover this and am sorry about this.
I have new_bj_population 1 and 2 mj
Attachments:
NOTE: some attachments are in PDF form (get Acrobat Reader)Word List Lesson 5.PDF (List 1)
Grammar List Lesson 5.PDF (List 1)
Assessment Lesson 5.PDF (List 1)