Ohio’s K-4 Content-Enriched Mandarin Curriculum Overview Module Funded by the U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language Assistance Program and the Ohio Department of Education

Overview Module The goal of this training is to enable you to understand the research-based assumptions undergirding Ohio’s K-4 Content-Enriched Mandarin Curriculum so that you can adapt it for use in your own setting.

Modules Content-Enriched Instruction Backward Design Developing Oracy and Literacy Skills Using Technology to Enhance Your Program

Some Preliminary Considerations Time Available for a Mandarin Chinese Elementary Program All Children Explicit Grammar Instruction Heritage vs. Non-Heritage Learners

What do you include in a curriculum given 270 hours of available time across a K-4 program? How we arrived at this figure: 5 years x 36 weeks x 90 minutes ÷ 60 minutes = 270 hours total or 54 hours per year. The National and Ohio Standards assume 90 minutes of instruction per week in elementary.

Description of Language and Time Required to Reach ACTFL Performance Guidelines for K-12 Learners PRE-ADVANCED: K-12 Articulated Sequence Can narrate and describe in present, past, and future time/aspect and handle a complicated situation or transaction. INTERMEDIATE: K-8, 7-12, or 9-12 Can create with language, ask and answer simple questions on familiar topics, and handle a simple situation or transaction. NOVICE: K-4, 5-8, 9-10 Language limited to memorized material, formulaic utterances, lists, and enumerations.

Developmentally-Appropriate K-4 Themes My Life –Family, Home, Pets, Favorites My Neighborhood –Friends, School, Places, Transportation My World –Nature, Chinese-Speaking World

All Children All children can be successful learning a second language to the extent that they are successful learning their first language.

What about “Latecomers”? Ohio’s K-4 Content-Enriched Mandarin Curriculum explicitly spirals vocabulary, sentence patterns, and cultural content so that children who take part in the program after it has begun will still feel success and enjoyment.

Explicit Grammar Instruction It is developmentally INAPPROPRIATE to teach grammar explicitly in an elementary language program. As in first language acquisition, children use unanalyzed “chunks” of language to express meaning

Fact/Act “Both the ‘act’ and ‘fact’ approaches to learning have their place in a Basic Chinese curriculum designed for adult learners [emphasis added]. To learn a language through ‘act’ alone may work well for young children.” NFLC Guide for Basic Chinese Language Programs, 2006, p. 9. National East Asian Languages Resource Center, the Ohio State University

Heritage vs. Non-Heritage Learners Ohio’s curriculum is designed for non- heritage learners of Mandarin Chinese Differentiation for Heritage Learners

Resources Ohio’s Academic Content Standards K-12 Foreign Language, 2004 –P. 24 “Foreign Language For All” –Pp “Meeting the Needs of All Learners” Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21 st Century, 1999 – Pp “Diverse Language Learners” – P. 25 “Special Features of Language Study.”

Reflection/Discussion Prompts What will your students be able to do after one year (54 hours) of instruction in Mandarin Chinese? List three outcomes. After five years (270 hours)? List three outcomes Do you believe that ALL children can learn Mandarin Chinese? Why or why not?

Reflection/Discussion Prompts What strategies would you use with heritage speakers of Mandarin who might be in your classes?

Additional Resources ACTFL K-12 Performance Guidelines NFLC Guide for Basic Chinese Language Programs, 2006, National East Asian Languages Resource Center, The Ohio State University Curtain and Dahlberg (2004). Languages and Children: Making the Match, 3 rd ed., Pearson Publishers.

Additional Resources Annenberg Videos Create a username and password to access these videos free of charge. See Video 11 for an example of how a teacher differentiates instruction for heritage learners. (You will be asked to view other videos in relation to other Modules.)

Thank You! This is the end of the “Overview” Module Please continue with Module Two, “Content-Enriched Instruction.”