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

In this module you will learn… The importance of oracy; Strategies to promote oracy; Strategies to promote literacy; How to decide which characters, simplified or traditional, to teach; and When to introduce phonetic transcription systems, such as Pinyin.

Importance of Oracy “The emphasis on communication, including language learning’s important role in the ‘education of the ear’, underpins children’s capabilities in oracy, which is critical to effective communication as well as a key foundation for literacy.” (Standards Site, UK, accessed June, 2008)

Strategies to Develop Oracy Children spend much of their time speaking, listening, and interacting. Students take part in role-plays, conversations, ask and answer questions, sing songs, recite, perform for an audience, and respond to a wide range of aural stimuli.

Strategies Children hear and use the language repeatedly on a routine basis in classroom interaction. They reinforce their language regularly and frequently by using greetings, numbers, games, stories, pictures and songs. –Listen and respond to simple rhymes, stories, and songs; –Recognize and respond to sound patterns and words; –Listen attentively and understand instructions, everyday classroom language, and praise words.

Literacy "We can reassure classroom teachers that we will not spend our time focusing on reading skills, but instead we will take advantage of the skills students have already acquired in their first language. We use literacy as a tool for interpersonal or interpretive communication in the new language...." (Curtain and Dahlberg, 2004)

Importance of Literacy Recognizing and hand writing characters is an important part of becoming literate in Chinese. It is also an important part of immersion in Chinese culture. –Focus especially on Chinese characters that become radicals (signifiers of meaning).

A Shift in Perspective Introduce the written foreign language beginning in K. In the 1980s, the written language was delayed until 2nd or 3rd grade. We now know that those students who are ready to use this extra cue do so while others who are not ready ignore it. (M. Rosenbusch and M. Met, personal communication, June, 2008)

Strategies to Promote Reading Promote integrated literacy development through language-rich environments with meaningful print displays. Practice recognition skills (sight words) through flashcards and environmental print. Surround students with text in the form of key words, word banks, charts, bulletin boards, signs, class rules, menus, etc. Visuals should be labeled with Chinese characters. Use visual discrimination and directionality experiences with early readers. Model reading and engage learners through Big Books.

Strategies to Promote Writing Writing practice should begin with large-motor activities, such as brush work on large font characters, air tracing, total physical response (TPR) or writing largely in sand. Writing production should proceed from tracing and copying to writing characters. Target high-frequency/commonly used words and radicals, and those characters containing fewer strokes (under six or seven) for writing. It is best to introduce characters in topical groups, such as 头 (head) ，目 (eye) ，口 (mouth) ，舌 (tongue), 耳 (ear). Move to labeling, matching, sorting, and classifying at the word then sentence level.

Simplified or Traditional Characters? Local decision Be consistent Time factor Ultimately, students need to read both simplified and traditional as a doorway to cultural traditions.

Phonetic Transcription Systems When to use Pinyin or another system –Two schools of thought Delay until second grade or beyond Introduce from kindergarten –Ohio’s project recommends using Pinyin as a bridge to literacy from Kindergarten

Rationale “Spoken Chinese is most efficiently begun via a transcription system such as Pinyin.” (p. 4) “The majority of high school and college Chinese programs in the U.S. and the rest of the world use Pinyin for teaching and materials development. … Disadvantages: Pinyin spellings of some sounds at first may seem counterintuitive for native English speakers.” (p. 39) [notice absence of K-5] “Only Chinese characters can be considered the authentic Chinese writing system (p. 4).” Guide for Basic Chinese Language Programs, NEAFLRC, OSU

Resources NFLC Guide for Basic Chinese Language Programs, 2006, National East Asian Languages Resource Center, The Ohio State University –Pps. 3-4

Resources Curtain and Dahlberg (2004). Languages and Children: Making the Match, 3 rd ed., Pearson Publishers. –Chapter 3, pp , “Person-to-Person Communication” (Interpersonal) –Chapter 4, pp , “One-Way Communication” (Interpretive & Presentational) –Chapter 5, pp , “Literacy in the Early Language Classroom.”

Reflection/Discussion Prompts Explain why developing oracy is a critical first step in learning Chinese, or any other language. How does oracy facilitate the development of literacy?

Reflection/Discussion Prompts Make a T chart. On one side, list reasons why we should teach simplified characters. On the other, list reasons why we should teach traditional characters. In your experience with young children, do you think that Pinyin facilitates learning Chinese? Why or why not?

Additional Resources Curtain and Dahlberg (2004). Languages and Children: Making the Match, 3 rd ed., Pearson Publishers. –Chapter 6, pp , “Interpersonal Communication” (Partners and Small Groups)

Thank You! This is the end of the “Oracy and Literacy Development” Module. Please continue with Module Five, “Using Technology to Enhance Your Program.”