Submitted by Xu Zhang
Objectives:
Content:
Students will:
- Understand the target culture's education/schooling system in comparison to their own
- Understand the importance of National Examinations to students in Beijing and their parents
- Understand that the national tests are a public concern
- Talk and write about ways to minimize test anxiety
Cultural:
Students will:
- Understand the reasons for the excessive attention paid to exams by students in the city
- Understand the relationship between students and parents in Beijing
Language: Content Obligatory
Students will:
- Use the following words and phrases (see Word List Lesson 12, List 1)
- Use the following structures (see Grammar List Lesson 12, List 1)
Language: Content Compatible
Students will:
- Use letter format to address different audiences
Learning Strategies / Social and Skills Development:
Students will:
- Use speed reading skills to find information in a test schedule
Time Frame:
1.5 hours
Materials Needed:
- Tape recording
- Reading materials from the web
Description of Assessment (Performance Project):
Context:
Having attended school for all these years the students already have some awareness of their own educational system, though they may not know it in great detail.Pre-task:
Step 1: Pair work. The students are to discuss and make a list/diagram of their own educational system in their own city/in the U.S. This should be a very quick activity just for warming up and activating their schemata. After discussion, the teacher asks the students to shout out what they have got and puts a good list/diagram on board.Step 2: Speed-reading. The students are to read an article on Beijing's education selected from the web (http://www.bjedu.net.cn/). After reading, they are to find out in pairs:
(1) What are the types of schools that the city have? Make a list/diagram of the schools you have found on a piece of paper. For those who finish earlier, the pairs may join another to compare what they have got. The teacher monitors during the students' discussion. After the students' discussion, the teacher first discusses with the whole class questions number 2 and 3. Then s/he pretends to know nothing about the education system and asks the students to direct her when she lists/draws diagram on the blackboard. All the students should participate and contribute. The teacher may asks those who seldom speak in class to direct the list/diagram at certain point. Each student may also tell why s/her thinks the list/diagram should look like certain way. Then, they reach an agreement and compare the education system in Beijing with that of their own formerly listed on board. At this point the teacher may ask the students to quick-write a brief paragraph on the similarities and differences between school systems in these two different cultures. Then the teacher collects the quick writing for after class evaluation.
(2) When did higher education begin in Beijing?
(3) What are the characteristics of education in Beijing after the founding of "New China"?Task set-up:
Now that the students have had an understanding of Beijing's education/school system, the teacher is going to lead them into a most important part of education in Beijing: the various tests.Step 1: The teacher asks the students to think about how students in Beijing go up the "grade ladder" and move from one level of schooling to the other. The students may shout out whatever answer they think of. Then the teacher lead them to think about tests, such as national tests, city level tests, district/ school level tests, quizzes, etc.
Step 2: The students are to work in groups of four and make a guess on who are all those people and what they are doing in the two pictures found in the following web sites:
http://edu.sina.com.cn/information/2000-07-09/6769.shtml (Answer: they are the parents of the students who are taking the most important national tests, the Entrance Examinations for College. They are waiting outside the testing room anxiously for their children to come out of the rooms and hoping that they answered the test questions satisfactorily) After the discussion, the teacher asks each group to speak out their possible guesses and list them all on the chalkboard. Then the teacher discloses the answer and the students (still in groups of 4) think of why these parents are so anxious and worried and why test results are so important for students in Beijing. The teacher may give them some hints, such as:
http://edu.sina.com.cn/information/2000-07-07/6301.shtml(1) Does this have to do with the ways of student selection? Then each group contributes their ideas while the teacher lists them on the board.
(2) Does it have to do with the city's population density or, with the difficulty levels of the tests? Etc.Step 3: The students listen to an audio clip about a Beijing student's feelings to these formal tests. They are to compare their possible reasons for why tests are very important in these students' lives. While they listen, they need to list all the speaker's reasons on a piece of paper. After listening, the teacher asks the students to compare their list of reasons with the speaker's in pairs by using the words and phrases of comparison they have learned at the beginning of the course. The students may also talk about anything interesting or surprising to them. Then, the teacher asks each pair to compare one reason and write all the reasons on the board. Students are encouraged to tell the whole class what they think are most interesting to them.
During task:
Step 1: Have a taste of a test schedule <http://jxjw.easthome.net/newpage22.htm>. The students are to scan a test schedule for information. It is up to the teacher to design the scanning questions. An example question could be: "Suppose you are majoring in Chinese and are going to take the test. Find your specialty number in the chart." This activity should take for about five minutes. It is recommended that the teacher print all questions on a piece of paper and leave blanks for the students to answer. The teacher may also time the students while they are doing the activity. After everyone has finished, the teacher may ask the students to do a peer evaluation when s/he discusses the answers with them. The worksheets can also be collected for an after class evaluation.Step 2: The students are divided into three groups of roughly the same number of people. Each group is to read one of the three groups of articles found on the following web sites:
The students are to read their respectively assigned articles individually. The reading should be a speed reading for gist and important details. When the students finished reading, they are to gather into groups of three with each person knowing the content of one of the three articles. They are to tell one another the content of the article they have read. While they are doing this activity, the teacher should go around the groups to see and make sure that every group is on the right track.
- http://edu.sina.com.cn/information/2000-07-09/6776.shtml
- http://edu.sina.com.cn/information/2000-07-09/6770.shtml
http://edu.sina.com.cn/edu/2000-07-08/6629.shtml
http://edu.sina.com.cn/information/2000-07-08/6456.shtml
http://edu.sina.com.cn/information/2000-07-07/6345.shtml
http://edu.sina.com.cn/policy/2000-07-07/6254.shtml
- http://edu.sina.com.cn/information/2000-06-19/4736.shtml
Post-task: In the same groups of three, the students are to write a letter addressing both the parents and the students to make them more comfortable with the national tests by using the information they have from the articles. They need to pay special attention to the letter format and also the differences in tones when addressing different audiences (parents and test-takers). At the end of the letter, they also need to wish the test-takers good luck. If time permits, the teacher may ask the students to read the letters in class to the assumed audiences. If not, the teacher may collect the letters for after class assessment.
Assessment:
The assessment criteria for the letters they write are in the attachment, Assessment Lesson 12.
References and Resources:
http://edu.sina.com.cn/information/2000-07-09/6769.shtml
http://edu.sina.com.cn/information/2000-07-07/6301.shtml
http://edu.sina.com.cn/information/more.html
http://edu.sina.com.cn/information/2000-07-09/6776.shtml
http://edu.sina.com.cn/information/2000-07-09/6770.shtml
http://edu.sina.com.cn/edu/2000-07-08/6629.shtml
http://edu.sina.com.cn/information/2000-07-08/6456.shtml
http://edu.sina.com.cn/information/2000-07-07/6345.shtml
http://edu.sina.com.cn/policy/2000-07-07/6254.shtml
http://edu.sina.com.cn/information/2000-06-19/4736.shtmlAudio Files
Content Summary (3 parts):
This is a conversation between a high-school senior and a college student on the highly competitive National Entrance Examination to College in China. The conversation shows the complexity of the issue of testing through a high-school student's eyes. She talked about her hopes, her understanding of her parents' expectations, her fears and frustrations caused by the stress of the national tests, and her thankfulness to the societal and parental support she received. The conversation conveys a lot of cultural information about the impact of testing on the students and at all levels of society.Please download these MP3 files (right-click, Save Target As... ) and play them from your local machine, rather than our server:
bj_education1.mp3
bj_education2.mp3
bj_education3.mp3
Attachments:
NOTE: some attachments are in PDF form (get Acrobat Reader)Word List Lesson 12.PDF
Grammar List Lesson 12.PDF
Assessment Lesson 12.PDF