Integrating Culture into Language Instruction 2008 STARTALK at Bryant University October 17, 2008

2008 STARTALK at Bryant University  Both Teacher training (3 weeks) and student learning (2 weeks)  24 teachers were divided into Language Track and Culture Track  67 middle school and high school students were divided into 8 small classes  Beijing Olympic theme and optional trip to China (funded by another grant)

TEACHER PROGRAM Language Track First week: intensive training on pedagogy Second and third weeks  Morning: Practice classes with students with the Olympic theme  Afternoon: Cultural workshops and activities with students and cultural track teachers

TEACHER PROGRAM Culture Track Beginner Level Chinese Class: 30 hours Lectures and seminars on culture and history with top scholars in New England Workshops by experienced teachers to share and develop curriculum Cultural workshops and activities with students and language track teachers Practice classes with students on culture and geography

STUDENT PROGRAM Language Learning  Utilizing the comprehensive Chinese language knowledge and rich culture elements embedded in the Beijing Olympic Games as well as the Confucianism  Activities Learn Beijing Olympic Song: “Beijing Welcomes You” Design a Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony Presentation on Olympic Mascots, logo, sports, and countries Presentation on Confucius and Confucius ideas

STUDENT PROGRAM Culture Learning Diverse culture activities in different areas :  Sports: martial arts, Tai Chi, table tennis, Chinese chess, Majiang, yoyo and Shuttle rocket  Arts: folk dance, folk music instrument; calligraphy; Chinese fork art (paper cutting); Chinese ethnic group fashion show  Social Studies: Chinese traditional holidays (dumpling making), Greeting card making  Others: Chinese lunch, field trip to a Asian grocery market and Museum seeing China-related exhibition

Benefits  Motivate students to learn the vocabularies and phrases relating to the cultural activities  Generate curiosity and interest of participants to explore the country by themselves.  Create topics for further discussion and forge friendship to make the Program a life-changing experience  Understand Chinese and China with a rich historical and cultural content  Cultivate long-term interest in learning the language

Thank You!