Advice for teachers -
Chinese First Language

Unit 1

Unit 1 Area of Study 1: Interpersonal communication

Outcome 1

Establish and maintain a spoken or written exchange related to an issue of interest or a concern.

Examples of learning activities

These learning activities are based on:
Self and others: Contributing to the community: Voluntary work

• Research the topic of volunteering (using an online search) to discover material in a variety of forms (written, spoken or viewed).
• Discuss and develop lists of vocabulary and expressions that could be used for the topic of volunteering.
• Watch a film or video clip of a volunteer doing community work. Discuss and note the vocabulary used and the nuance of interaction between individuals.
• Discuss the personal qualities in relation to the volunteer activities shown in the film or video clip.
• Note any differences in the way the language is used between spoken and written exchanges. Analyse these differences.
• Discuss possible interests and/or concerns that people might have when they are involved in volunteering.
• Discuss the benefits of volunteering to the individual and society.
• Create a PowerPoint presentation on voluntary work in Victoria or a country or region where Chinese is spoken.
• Conduct a survey of students in the class about their thoughts and ideas on voluntary work.
• 
  Participate in a spoken or written exchange about volunteer work.
  

Detailed example

Exchange about volunteer work (spoken or written)

• Conduct a survey of students in your class about their thoughts and ideas on volunteering.
• Investigate a range of industries / organisations in your local area or in China where volunteering takes place and select one.
• Develop lists of vocabulary and expressions relevant to the selected type of volunteering.
• Identify the task to be performed – spoken or written – and tailor your lists of vocabulary and expressions to the relevant exchange.
• List positive aspects associated with volunteering in the chosen industry / organisation.
• Note significant details about a volunteer group that is active in the chosen industry/area.
• Develop ideas that run counter to your list of positive aspects so that you can anticipate your interlocutor’s arguments and ideas.
• Pair up with another student and discuss the work so far, providing feedback to them and noting their feedback to you.
• Listen to an interview between people talking about volunteering in their town and note their points of view.
• Compare the type of volunteering that interests you with other types of volunteering in a country or region where Chinese is spoken and write down the similarities and differences.
• Whether you are planning a spoken or written exchange, prepare for it with a written draft and share this with a friend to receive feedback.

Unit 1 Area of Study 2: Interpretive communication

Outcome 2

Interpret and reorganise information and ideas from two texts on the same subtopic selected from a combination of spoken, viewed or written texts.

Examples of learning activities

These learning activities are based on:
Self and others: Personal world: Personal values and beliefs

• Define ‘values’ and ‘beliefs’ as outlined in dictionaries.
• Brainstorm ideas to create a mind map of a range of personal values and beliefs.
• Research online for articles or blogs that outline or discuss the personal values and beliefs of the authors of two texts.
• Create a specialised vocabulary list of pertinent words from those investigations.
• Discuss with a classmate which aspects of those articles and blogs are most relevant to you personally.
• Write a short article entitled ‘My important values and beliefs’ and share this with the class. Explain why you have these values and what they mean for you. Discuss or make notes about the variety of values and beliefs presented by others in the class.
• Define the nature of texts – spoken, viewed or written – and discuss ways of approaching each type of text in order to extract and reorganise its content.
• Practise answering questions from each type of text to decide how to best take notes from spoken texts; how to look at/understand/interpret viewed texts; and how to annotate written texts.
• Select a range of texts from the internet (written, spoken or viewed) and develop a series of questions that could be asked about them (e.g. about their values and beliefs). Exchange these ideas with others and create a class data bank of texts and questions.
• 
  Complete a response to texts about personal values and beliefs.
  

Detailed example

A response to texts about personal values and beliefs

• Create a new section in your notebook titled ‘Personal values and beliefs’.
• List some values and beliefs that are important to you.
• Write a paragraph about how some or all of these values / beliefs manifest in your life. Display it on the classroom wall or share it in an online learning space.
• Find images that exemplify certain values and qualities and note how they are portrayed in drawings or photos. Copy some and display them on the classroom wall. Each student chooses at least one image and writes a description of the value/quality portrayed and a sentence about it –that can be pinned on the wall.
• Using textbooks, audio files and/or online forums, read about or listen to people discussing their values. Interpret the discussion and write a summary.
• Discuss your summary with classmates before refining and rewriting it.
• Incorporate work on text types into the activity above. First, discuss: What is a text type? How are text types defined? What is typical in particular text types? Second, using the texts about values and qualities already covered in this unit, find ways of reorganising material into different forms. This could be reading an article and looking at a cartoon on the same topic, then discussing the information contained in these stimulus materials before formulating a response that combines and reorganises the content.

Unit 1 Area of Study 3: Presentational communication

Outcome 3

Produce an imaginative piece in spoken or written form.

Examples of learning activities

These learning activities are based on:
Tradition and change in Chinese-speaking communities: Stories from the past: Legends and myths

• Read a myth or legend from China.
• Discuss devices used in the text to excite the reader’s imagination and begin creating a database (in Chinese) of ways in which these devices convey an imaginative world.
• Research and discuss the nature of ‘imaginative’ writing. Investigate this from both a Chinese and English language perspective to highlight the different cultural elements that may be present. Consider any differences / similarities between imaginative writing and imaginative storytelling in Chinese-speaking communities.
• Look at a video game or watch a film that is set in the past or that uses an imaginative world as its base.
• Identify language that is particularly suited to imaginative writing and imagery.
• Discuss text types most suited to imaginative writing: story, script or journal entry. Construct a matrix to display their components and characteristics.
• Discuss text types most suited to an imaginative piece in a spoken form: role-play, spoken personal account or conversation. Construct a matrix to display their components and characteristics.
• Brainstorm in small groups or as a class to identify topics for imaginative writing or speaking.
• Develop an individual mind map to put the piece together on a chosen topic; present this to the class pointing out the various imaginative elements that will be used.
• 
  Prepare an introductory scene for a written story that uses as many grammatical and linguistic elements as possible.
  

Detailed example

Creating and telling an imaginative story

• As a class, read a myth or legend in Chinese.
• Watch a film or play a game based on a myth or legend. Respond to questions about the film or game.
• Develop a matrix of grammatical elements or stylistic techniques that can be used to create an imaginative atmosphere (based on what has been read or viewed).
• Deconstruct the written or viewed story to show its developmental aspects: introduction, characters, atmosphere, narrative, conclusion.
• Comment on the above through a written or spoken reflection.
• As a class, read or listen to all the students’ reflections. Teacher elicits comments from students on what they read or heard in terms of use of imagery or story development or other elements.
• In pairs, brainstorm ideas for a story based on what students read or watched. For example: What happens next in the story? How could one of the characters be developed into a new story? What could happen in a prequel to what they have seen or read?
• Display these ideas on a classroom poster or PowerPoint display so that the class has access to them all.
• Each student prepares part of a spoken presentation or a piece of writing, using an appropriate text-type. These are then combined into a whole-class story.
• This whole-class story is read aloud before students write or script their own individual story.
• Students’ stories are displayed on the classroom wall or shared in an online learning space.