Submitted by Xu Zhang
Objectives:
Content:
Students will:
- Synthesize all knowledge they learned in the previous lessons
- Make comparisons internationally on different aspects related to the cities
- Describe their personal feelings
- Make judgments in an unbiased way
Cultural:
Students will:
- Raise their awareness of multiple aspects between the target culture and their home culture
Language: Content Obligatory
Students will:
- Use the following words and phrases (see Word List Lesson 14)
- Use the comparative and superlative patterns in Chinese
Language: Content Compatible
The students will:
- Use the format of telephone making to present their perceived differences between cities
- Use the friendly letter format and register to summarize what they have learned and their reflections upon it
Learning Strategies / Social and Skills Development:
Time Frame:
1.5 hours
Materials Needed:
- Photos of Beijing (can be found in attachments of previous lessons) and Chicago
- Tape recording
- Role cards
Description of Assessment (Performance Project):
Context:
The students are to practice their note-taking skills in this lesson.Pre-task: The students are given some pictures of Beijing and Chicago to compare the landscape of the two cities. This activity is to be done in pairs. The pairs should list the results of their discussion informally and briefly on a piece of paper. When they are finished, the teacher is to ask each pair to contribute a point to the whole class and lists the students' points on board for later reference.
Task set-up:
Step 1: In groups of 4, the students are to compare Beijing to their own city on any of the aspects suggested in the purpose section of this lesson plan and list their findings. Then the teacher asks the group to choose a leader to report to the class. Other members of the group may add more if they have. The teacher is also to list what the students have come up on board.Step 2: To find out more about the differences between Beijing and U.S. cities, the students will listen to two friends (Chinese international students) talk about their perceived differences on the phone. The students are to listen to the recording for three times and take notes while they listen. After the first time, they should take down the gist and the main frame of the conversation. After the second and third time, they should add more details to their notes. Then, the teacher ask the students to compare their note in pairs and find out the similarities and differences between their own city comparison and the two friends' on the recording. The teacher should check with the students the main points and important details of their conversation and make the pairs share their findings with the whole class. Teacher should make sure to cover all the pairs when calling them to share. The teacher should also draw the students' attention to the differences in making phone calls in the Chinese language and the English language.
During task: Role-play.
Role-playing in pairs, the students are given the following role cards:
Card 1: You are an American student studying in Beijing. Call your mom/dad and chat with her/him. Tell him/her about the city of Beijing and discuss with him/her the similarities and differences of life and study in Beijing as opposed to those in the U.S./your city. Answer all the questions your mom/dad asks you as in real situations when a child calls his/her mom/dad. Card 2: You are a mom/dad those child is now studying in Beijing. Him/her called you and are telling you the similarities and differences of life and study between Beijing and your home city/country. You are very interested to hear more since you've never been to Beijing. Ask any questions on any aspects of the city that you are interested in knowing. You should also show concern about your child when s/he talks about the city's problems. The students are to act the scene out in pairs in appropriate language. After their "rehearsal" the teacher asks the students to volunteer to act the scene out in front of the whole class. Those who would not volunteer will be chosen to do a new scene "calling our parents". One group of the students will be parents and the other group will be the children studying in Beijing, they are to make a television phone call to their parents. The content is the same but each one of them must tell one thing (either difference or similarity) to the parent and each parent must ask at least a question. As the students are doing the activity, the teacher will fill out an evaluation sheet for all of them. The sheet is shown as in the attachment, Assessment Lesson 14.
Post-task:
The students are to write to their best friend about what they have learned in this course studying Chinese through discussing the city of Beijing, how they think about the course, how much they feel they have learned, what is missing or what they wish they have learned. They should also make comparisons among cities. The friendly letter is a form to hang the students' reflections on. This letter should also be part of their portfolios.
Assessment:
Embedded in the tasks
References and Resources:
http://www.chinareal.com/news/news_zhongcheng_0286.asp
Marlene
audio files on comparison II: in folder "new_bj_comp_MN", including 6 aidio files "bj_comp_MN" 1-6 and a word doc "Description Beijing comp MN"