1. East Meets West – immersive and culturally-relevant learning
IOE Annual Chinese Conference 2018
Elliot Hsiao-Williams
Mandarin Coordinator at The Charter School &
Head of Teaching at Dragons Teaching

2. What interests our students when they learn Mandarin
What interests our students when they learn Mandarin? (Is it really just football, teen idols or Chinese food?)
Do I incorporate trending topics to design a lesson?
How do I motivate my students who are not/ have not been enthused by the Chinese culture?
Do some of my Mandarin students find the lesson activity (routine) getting a bit ‘samey’?
How do we take advantage of our students’ on-trend interests to learn new things?

3. A quoted definition of ‘relevance’ in education…
Personal relevance? Life relevance?
Shall we work out some examples?
“In education, the term relevance typically refers to learning experiences that are either directly applicable to the personal aspirations, interests, or cultural experiences of students (personal relevance) or that are connected in some way to real- world issues, problems, and contexts (life relevance)”
--- GLOSSARY OF EDUCATION REFORM,
Great School Partnership, USA

4. Brainstorm starter: Imagine you are a language learner from another linguistic/cultural background, is the purpose of the activity in front of you useful and relevant to you? Why? (linguistic and cultural backgrounds are underlined)
Look up for and learn new English vocabulary about Easter traditions. (Chinese students in China learning English)
Research and prepare a pair-speaking activity about playing with Chinese shuttlecocks. (English students in England learning Mandarin)
Prepare a researched writing about Dragon Boat Festival. (English students in China learning Mandarin)
Do a reading comprehension activity about Brexit. (Chinese students in France learning French)
Prepare a group speaking activity about a making sushi. (Spanish students in China learning Mandarin)

5. Brainstorm starter: Imagine you are a language learner from another linguistic/cultural background, is the purpose of the activity in front of you useful and relevant to you? Why? (linguistic and cultural backgrounds are underlined)
Independently research and learn about a Chinese poet. (English students in France learning French)
Independently de-code unfamiliar vocabulary from a Chinese advertising poster. (Spanish students in China learning Mandarin)
Prepare a short speaking presentation on the topic of World Cup (English students in England learning Mandarin)

6. We’d like our students to engage in a learning activity via…
a relatable starting point
(‘Ahh, Chinese is not that much different!’)
a practical context to carry the learning outcomes beyond the classroom
(‘Ok, I think I’d like to look up for more stuff to learn about this topic in Chinese!’)
Student reaction
Student reaction

7. Relatable starting point: example ‘What’s happening here and there?’
Easter is around the corner, how would you like your Chinese partner school learn about its traditions?
 Gather bullet points (in English or learner’s familiar language) about Easter!
 How do we say…… in Chinese…(Easter vocabulary look- up!)
 (new knowledge is being learned)

8. Relatable starting point: example  ‘What’s happening here and there?’
Easter is around the corner, how do Chinese people celebrate it?
Quick research!
Turns out Chinese don’t!
 So do they celebrate anything at that time?
 Yes
They have Qīngmíng Festival 清明节
 What is Qīngmíng Festival about?
 (new knowledge is being learned)

9. A ‘relatable starting point’ (as far as learning Chinese is concerned) --
aims to link a learner’s experience between the East and the West!
(and shh…we don’t want to ‘emphasise’ to the students we are learning ‘a foreign language’, but ‘just a language’.)
相提并论 (xiāng tí bìng lùn)
“to be placed at the same level of”
不谋而合 (bù móu ér hé)
“to agree without discussion”

10. Practical context : example  ‘a virtual shopping task’
Recap the essential language for a ‘shopping context’ preferably already taught from previous lesson(s).
Provide a list of shopping items. Students need to apply their research skill to find out the meaning of the shopping items.
Students ‘go and hunt’ for the shopping items in a real market. Students could apply their key language to query with the market vendors, for the meaning of certain items if they have not worked out the meaning by this point.
Once an item is found, take a photo of it as proof of ‘purchase’.
The activity is conducted in small groups, the first group completes the task wins!
GCSE theme(s) involved: ???
Skill(s) involved: ???

11. Practical context : example ‘a holiday weather forecast’
Recap the essential language for the ‘weather’ topic, preferably already taught from previous lesson(s) with basic verbs such as _______ and ________.
Prepare a prospective weather report for the holiday destinations they have been to / will be going to. Use real weather apps for research for example.
The activity can be conducted in pairs or independently.
GCSE theme(s) involved: ???
Skill(s) involved: ???

12. A ‘practical context‘ --
家常便饭 !
(jiā cháng biàn fàn)
“routine”
A ‘practical context‘ --
would occur in both the East and the West, so learners may identify the relevance of a learning activity.

13. Design a ‘linguistically and culturally’ immersive activity.
**In what context is the activity/project going to be?
** Is the activity/project culturally- relatable at the point of being assigned to the students? If so, why?

14. Jargons – what do they mean?
**authentic speaking environment
v.s.
** simulated speaking environment

15. Group A
*language to learn or practise: adjectives to describe everyday shopping items (in China or UK?)
*potential topic: food and drink and/or clothes (‘Identity and Culture’ theme)
*Chinese-speaking environment: authentic or simulated?
--Which skill is the activity going to be on:
Speaking/ Listening /Reading?
-- Feel free to help yourselves with sugar paper, stationery and ‘random resources’ at the front.

16. Group B
*language to learn or practise: various popular occupations (in China or UK?)
*potential topic: jobs/careers (‘Current and Future Study and Work/ Future Aspiration’ theme)
*Chinese-speaking environment: authentic or simulated?
--Which skill is the activity going to be on:
Speaking/ Listening /Reading?
-- Feel free to help yourselves with sugar paper, stationery and ‘random resources’ at the front.

17. Group C *language to learn or practise: colloquial phrases
*potential topic: media (‘Identity and Culture’ theme)
*Chinese-speaking environment: authentic or simulated?
--Which skill is the activity going to be on:
Speaking/ Listening /Reading?
-- Feel free to help yourselves with sugar paper, stationery and ‘random resources’ at the front.

18. Group D
*language to learn or practise: vocabulary related to city vs. countryside or UK vs. ___ / current world event
*potential topic: environment or neighbourhood (‘International and Global Areas of Interest / Global Dimension’ theme)
*Chinese-speaking environment: authentic or simulated?
--Which skill is the activity going to be on:
Speaking/ Listening /Reading?
-- Feel free to help yourselves with sugar paper, stationery and ‘random resources’ at the front.
Globally-relatable!

19. Discussion Points
1) Make the starting point of the learning session culturally and currently relevant to the learner. (maybe some advantage of using ‘authentic materials’?)
2) Bring the learners to the relatable new contents, and potentially increase their learning independence. (MEP project?)
3) Refer to the specification themes and specimen papers when thinking about how cultural immersive-ness fits in to our Scheme of Work and exam preparation agenda.

20. Q & A Elliot Hsiao-Williams elliot@dragonsteaching.com Stay in touch!
Stay in touch!