The Students

Students at this level have become quite good beginners. Because our pace has been set right at the first two courses, they shouldn’t feel like they couldn’t quite catch up. The grammar points in this course are interesting and will enable students to talk a bit more. With their foundation, it’s easier to play language games with them, like Shiraz, Bingo etc. The main problem with students of this level is that they worry they couldn’t memorise all the words learnt from the lessons. There are in total over 400 new words introduced, so yes, many students feel like they don’t have 400 words in their heads. Remember to tell them that, these words are the basic words, they will keep coming up again and again, so only by continuous learning, you will be able to memorise them. Do not encourage students to take breaks to consolidate what they have learnt, in fact, revise right after the lesson if possible. Lastly, remember to ask students to use Quizlet flashcards, and our review podcasts after class to revise. And encourage students to submit audio homework each week into their class group! This is very motivating to the class as a group.

We use our own coursebooks for students. Make sure to read and understand all our material thoroughly before each lesson. This process will equip you with the required subject knowledge and confidence.

1) Main textbook: Discover Chinese 3, includes 10 lessons.

2) Hanzi coursebook: Hanzi Level 1 Book A, including 10 lessons.

3) Digital material: Course Kahoot, Pinyin Kahoot, Hanzi Quizlet, Review podcasts.

Please request access to Zoho folder below:

The Materials

Fluency Main Course

Our fluency coursebook has a standard format, which includes 3 main sections – Tutorial, Fluency practice, Immersion. Each lesson has a standard format – tutorial 导入, story 读对话, comprehension 阅读理解, CQ Boost 文化小知识, vocab workshop 解释新词, grammar workshop 语法学习, assessment 测试, fluency practice 口语练习, homework 作业, immersion 课后听看.

At the back of the book, there are all answers to the lesson, especially where grammar points were explained properly. Make sure to read this part beforehand, so you know how to explain to students without confusing yourself or over-explaining certain concepts.

Our sample teaching plan offers an overview of a sample lesson flow, but teachers are encouraged to treat each lesson with their own creativity and with reference to students’ needs.

Many students in this level start to be more comfortable with Pinyin, so they can read a sentence smoothly. There are some situations that you will still need to help with:

• Some particularly weak students will need help, pair them with a better student for pair reading
• You might need to keep correcting students with “z, c, s, j, q, x, r” sounds, remind them of the cheat sheet
• If students only read Pinyin, many words have the same sound, like 在 and 再, 是 and 市, they will get confused. This is the time to encourage them to look at the Hanzi.

Pinyin

Hanzi

• Allocate 10 – 15 minutes each lesson for Hanzi ideally at the end
• Hanzi Level 1 books are designed to guide students to demystify, explore and get a feel of Hanzi. By using visual images, storytelling and history tracing, we aim to showcase that Hanzi are not chaotic, meaningless pictures. Rather, Hanzi was created with much rational thinking behind it. Oftentimes, students find this process fascinating.
• Book C will aim to teach students compound Hanzi 合体字 and their radicals 部首 or sound components 声旁. There are more than 60 Hanzi introduced in the book, but some are examples only.
• Print out each lesson’s character writing square blocks (田字格) and encourage students to write and learn. This can be either done in class or as homework.
• Hanzi Quizlet Live group game can be used as an assessment at the end of a lesson, or as a useful reviewing tool.

Before the first lesson

• Well prepared – material reviewed, teaching plan done, joined all of the digital resources, collected all of the books, tested your computer with screen etc.
• No need to be nervous. Remember you are equal to the students, they will be just as friendly as you can imagine.

During the first lesson 

• If it’s a new class, you don’t see all students joining your what’sapp group, please invite them verbally. You can say this to let them understand the importance of joining the group:

“Please join our class what’sapp group, it’s a study group created for us, I will be sending you learning material lesson by lesson, review podcast after each lesson, and your homework submission would be within the group too. It’s also useful when we have tech issue, or running late etc. “

• If you want to use Quizlet for your first lesson, some of your students might not have it, please instruct them. (See Quizlet section above)

After each lesson 

• Learning team will send students links and instructions to download App and material etc.
• It’s highly recommended to send students homework and the lesson Review Podcasts right after the lesson. Most students wouldn’t necessarily download the podcasts themselves, also it helps students who are absent to make up the lesson. By sending it right after the lesson, it helps the students to create a habit to listen to it. It’s proven to HELP them a lot to retain the words learnt, and listen better.

Homework 

• We encourage students to submit audio homework at beginner stage. 
• Homeworks are prescribed already in our coursebooks, feel free to add more work to them if necessary.
• Give them encouragements when they do. As teachers, you will find yourself super proud of their progress each time you hear their homework.

Before & After Class