Grade 9: Communicating

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

• ask for and give simple information and assistance
• exchange information relating to activities, people, and things
• express and give reasons for opinions and preferences
• participate in a variety of situations drawn from real life

To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Communicating in other grades click on an icon below.

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Initiate a discussion about clothing and have students give reasons why they would choose to wear certain articles and not others for particular weather conditions or activities (e.g., sports).
• Set up a restaurant scene in the classroom and invite students to role-play ordering Chinese foods. Ask them to explain why they did or did not order certain items. (e.g., Wvo b� xivang ch�_ kvaoy_a, wvo gu�mvin.)
• Ask students to describe where they live and how to get there by public transportation or on foot, using the school site as a starting point.
• Have students role-play introducing their families to classmates. Ask them to provide details relating to age, occupations, and other interesting things about their family members.
• Organize a pen pal exchange. Suggest that the class write letters (using some Pinyin) or send e-mail to students in another school, describing the school in terms of size, programs offered, teachers, and facilities.
• Ask students to role-play the following scenarios:
  • doctor and patient (patient using appropriate vocabulary to report symptoms to doctor)
  • parent and child on report card day
  • student seeking permission to miss a class for a good reason
• Have students write short notes (using some Pinyin and/or Chinese characters) explaining why they will not be home for dinner and telling the teacher why they were absent last class.
• Show the class a Chinese word processor and challenge students to type letters to friends.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

• As students participate in a variety of classroom oral activities, note the extent to which they:
  • use Chinese to ask and respond to questions
  • extend conversations in Chinese beyond the first question and response
  • include details, reasons, and examples in their presentations or role plays
  • interact with some fluency and spontaneity
  • apply familiar vocabulary and patterns to new situations
  • respond to and support one another when they are speaking Chinese
• When students write simple notes, look for evidence that they:
  • convey understandable messages
  • include details, reasons, and examples to make meaning clear
  • use an increasing range of vocabulary and language patterns
  • include some Chinese characters
  • show increasing precision in forming the Chinese characters
• Encourage students to set personal daily or weekly goals for communicating in Chinese. Daily goals might include:
  • I am going to speak at least ____________ times in class today.
  • I am going to use two new words today: ____________ and ____________ .
  • I am going to ask ____________ a question. My question will be ____________ .
  • I am going to write a message about ____________ to ____________ .
  At the end of each class or week, they should review their goals and check on their progress.

• Chinese Sentence Book
• Chinese Unmasked - Volumes 1 & 2
• Concise English-Chinese/Chinese-English Dictionary (Oxford)
• Let's Play Games In Chinese

• The Dragon's Tongue Series
• Speak Mandarin in Five Hundred Words
• Tadpole and the Whale

• Chinese Mandarin Resource Book - Volumes 1, 2, and 3
• Hanyu (Revised Edition)
• Zhongguotong

• Chinese and Characters
• The Rosetta Stone Language Library - Chinese Mandarin I

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