Submitted by Xu Zhang

Objectives:

Content:
Students will:

• Understand the major products, manufacturers and types of industry in Beijing
• Understand the changes in Beijing's industrial types and patterns

Cultural:
Students will:

• Talk about the changes in industry and how this affects people's lives

Language: Content Obligatory
Students will:

• Use the following words and phrases (see attachment, Word List Lesson 11, List 1)
• Use the following structures (see attachment, Grammar List Lesson 11, List 1)

Language: Content Compatible
Students will:

• Use the discourse for subjunctive mood in Chinese
• Use language to agree and disagree politely
• Use language to give their own opinions tentatively

Learning Strategies / Social and Skills Development:
Students will:

• Agree and disagree politely

Time Frame:

1.5 hours

Materials Needed:

• Lists of products, industries and industrial departments
• The price chart of Beijing's wireless telephone
• Tape recording

Description of Assessment (Performance Project):

Context:
Through their geography course the students have already had an understanding of different categories/departments of industry and various industrial products. They have had some knowledge of patterns and types of industry, too.

Pre-task:
Sorting out the categories of Beijing's famous brand-name products, their manufacturers, and matching the products with the manufacturer and then, the particular categories of industry. The teacher gives divides the students into two parts. Students in each part are to work in pairs. Pairs in part I get a list of Beijing's industrial products and those in part II, a list of manufacturers. The pairs are to categorize the products/manufacturers according to their existing knowledge of industry they have learned from other discipline. After the categorization, the teacher asks each pair in part one to join one pair in part two (making groups of four) to match the categories of products with the categories of manufacturers. Note that the students are asked to match just the categories, not specific items.

After they finish, the teacher asks each group to describe to the whole class two categories of products and match them with their respective manufacturers. They should also explain what constitutes of these two categories of manufacturers. The other groups listen and speak out their differences if they have any. Then the teacher lists the categories that the students mentioned on the chalkboard. At this point the teacher gives the students each a piece of reading (a list of Beijing's types of industry) and the students compare the list with the one they have come up with from the products and the manufacturers. They are encouraged to comment on anything they found that is unexpected or interesting. Dictionary use is allowed for this activity. The materials are from:

http://www.biic.gov.cn/index_fzqs.htm
http://www.biic.gov.cn/index_hycx.htm

Task set-up:
Scanning -- find out the brands of wireless communication product and their prices. At this stage the teacher draws the students' attention on some of the new forms of industry in the city, one of them being "wireless communication". Actually Beijing has become one of the cities that own the most mobile phones in the world. Each student is given a chart on the prices of this new way of communication http://www.bj.col.com.cn/phototext/shbst/a01b05c03.htm. The teacher may design the questions and print them on a piece of paper and make the students do this activity as the scanning activities the way lesson 12 does. However, for a change, the teacher may also make it a little competition. The students may shout out the answers as quickly as possible and as soon as they have found it. The first correct answer will be rewarded. If the answer is wrong, the whole class will figure out the answer together.

If the class is a large one, the teacher may find it helpful to have a group competition. The teacher may have the questions printed on 4 pieces of paper and divided the class into 4 groups standing/sitting in 4 lines. The teacher then give the students at one ends the worksheets and make them start one question per person at the same time. When the first one finishes, the second student takes the paper and answer the second scanning question, and so on. The teacher keeps record on the order of finishing the worksheets by different groups. Then the groups switch worksheets to do a peer evaluation while the teacher discusses the answers with them. The fastest team and the best quality team are to get a reward (such as stickers, pencils, extra marks, or encouragement).

During task:
Step 1: After the scanning activity, with the help of the city's industrial map (http://www.chinavista.com/beijing/invest/zonesmap.html), the students are to re-examine their lists and categories of brand-name products and their manufactures and discuss in pairs on the following question:

What characteristics does Beijing's industry have in terms of variety and emphasis?
What patterns do you see in Beijing's industry? The students discuss these questions in pairs. After discussion, the teacher asks the pairs to contribute thoughts and the teacher gives feedback.

Step 2: The students are to listen to a person talk about the changes that are happening around her with regard to the city's industry. The students are to listen to the recordings for three times. The first time listening is for them to get the gist of the short audio clip. The second and third time is for them to get more details. The students are asked to take informal note in whatever way that is clear and convenient for them. After listening, the teacher checks with the students the facts and feelings mentioned in the recording and write the major points on board.

Step 3: What are the merits and drawbacks of these changes? The students talk in pairs about their own opinions on the changes and the present industrial patterns as an outsider. As they discuss, the pairs should note down what they have come up on a piece of paper and keep it. The teacher then asks each pair to contribute briefly their "outsider" viewpoints and write them on the board.

Step 4: The teacher divides the students into groups of four. Each group is assigned a specific occupational role in Beijing. The possible roles are: (1) the government officials of the city; (2) professors in high-tech linked universities; (3) people who are temporarily unemployed; (4) college students; (5) retired/elderly people; (6) home-makers; (7) bus drivers; (8) business persons, etc. The student need to really go into the depth of the occupation roles and think like such persons in Beijing. Group members are to discuss their own feelings of the changes in industrial patterns and its changes in the city and to imagine how this has affected their lives. They are free to write down notes if they need. The teacher monitors and facilitates while the groups are discussing.

Post-task: A friendly role-play debate.
The students are to imagine that they are old high-school classmates in Beijing and today is their alumni gathering day. Now that they have graduated from the school for 10 years and have the above mentioned occupations. They chatted and now the topic becomes how the industrial changes in Beijing have affected their own lives. Soon this conversation has turned into a friendly debate. Different occupation groups have different opinions. Each group has a major speaker and three supporting speakers. The supporting speakers should support their major speaker's opinions by arguing for him/her. All members of each group are to take turns and to speak firmly but politely (remember you are classmate!) just as in real life conversations. All students should speak. They are to talk about their feelings, their judgments on the merits and drawbacks, and if possible how the industry of this city may be improved. The class's study representative may be the mediator. The mediator must be impartial and give all groups equal opportunity to speak. The teacher sits at the back and evaluates with an evaluation sheet.

Assessment:

See evaluation sheet in the attachment: Assessment Lesson 11.

References and Resources:

http://www.biic.gov.cn/company/index_hycx.htm

http://www.biic.gov.cn/product/index_hcphy.asp

http://www.bj.col.com.cn/07.htm

http://www.chinavista.com/beijing/invest/zonesmap.html

Marlene
audio files on industry: in folder "new_bj_industry", including 2 audio files "bi_industry" 1-2 and a word doc "Description Industry"

Attachments:

NOTE: some attachments are in PDF form (get Acrobat Reader)

Word List Lesson 11.PDF
Grammar List Lesson 11.PDF
Assessment Lesson 11.PDF

A Lesson from the CoBaLTT Project
/cobaltt
Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition
University of Minnesota