An older lady had two pots
one was happy one was not
but the lady did not mind
and explained the things alright
this put both pots in good mood
from then onwards and for good
(by Ania Lian) :-)
SING IT to the tune of twinkle twinkle little star
Nihao High - includes resources for teaching Chinese, as well as examples of websites and ICT tutorials. Chinese Culture Dictionary is here. https://sites.google.com/site/nihaohigh/home
In our last August class, we discussed the use of Google Sites as an application for involving students in creating their class and personal websites as a framework for engaging students in-decision making regarding their own learning, exchanging information with others schools and for displaying projects for others to see. Below is a video describing how easy it is to work with Google sites. For more ICT tutorials, please visit our Nihao High website https://sites.google.com/site/nihaohigh/home/ or go directly to the Google Sites Tutorials link on that site https://sites.google.com/site/nihaohigh/home/technical-support
On 12th August, Ania offered a conceptual background for creating lessons in intercultural learning. Please, keep collecting and sending online resources which can serve as a basis for such lessons. We will use them in the next meeting.
Next time, when your students ask you "Why study Chinese?", consider showing them videos we have compiled for you (CLICK HERE) The videos show how it feels to see people who don't know simple answers to very simple questions. The video examples show Americans, old and young, knowing nothing about Australia and the world, giving answers that are plain silly.
Today we had our introductory meeting and it was great to meet Everyone. It is amazing how much we covered within the 2 hours.
1. First Carolyn introduced everyone to everyone. The introductions revealed the group as rich in experience, not only in teaching, but also in other areas of academic, community and business life. Teachers also expressed interest in learning about language-learning games, some formal aspects of meaning (Anna Wierzbicka was mentioned here), pronunciation and current state of language teaching methods. Carolyn introduced everyone to the structure of the program and shared her expectation that the exact steps of the Program will be negotiated between teachers' needs and the expertise that the program will bring together.
2. Next, Ania demonstrated examples by which the group could consolidate its community and collaboration spirit. She introduced two websites, which would help to store information relevant to the program. The websites are:
http://sites.google.com/site/nihaohigh/home AND
http://sites.google.com/site/nihaohigh/home
The sites will help teachers:
·Share information about themselves and about the program
·Offer links to teachers’ individual e-Portfolios
·Store links to important cultural and language resources
·Store links to examples of lessons in intercultural learning
·And anything else that may emerge in the course of the program.
3. We watched examples of cultural behavior and discussed our beliefs about the behaviours that were displayed. On one occasion, we concluded that the reports were over-stereotyping Chinese culture which is undergoing change. Behaviours, possibly Ok in small and closed villages of the past, give way to behaviours typical of big cities and large communities.
Homework for Ania - On the basis of the videos we saw today, I expect to create examples of the following lessons in intercultural learning:
·Comparing business-like types of behaviours (or faces) in Australia and China
·Examples of Dos and Donts in Chinese culture.
·Using matching characters games to learn writing.
If you have any ideas, make suggestions in your comments on this blog. All will be read and taken into consideration.
The PowerPoint that we started discussing in class will be followed in the weeks to come. You can watch it on our LOTE website or using special link