Upload
others
View
12
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
R546
7-day Unit of
Chinese Character
Learning Final Project – Curriculum Unit
2011/3/5
R546 Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration, and Motivation Instructor: Dr. C. J. Bonk
1
Table of Content
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 2
Targeted Group .......................................................................................................................... 2
Learning Objectives .......................................................................................................... 2
Content at a Glance.......................................................................................................... 3
Materials ......................................................................................................................... 3
Instructional Strategies .................................................................................................... 5
Lesson 1 .................................................................................................................................. 5
Lesson 2 .................................................................................................................................. 6
Lesson 3 .................................................................................................................................. 7
Lesson 4 .................................................................................................................................. 8
Lesson 5 ................................................................................................................................ 10
Lesson 6 ................................................................................................................................ 11
Lesson 7 ................................................................................................................................ 12
Anticipated Assessment Procedures ............................................................................... 13
References ..................................................................................................................... 13
Appendix ....................................................................................................................... 13
Assessment Form ................................................................................................................. 14
Homework for Pictograms .................................................................................................... 15
Homework for Ideogrammic Compounds ............................................................................ 17
R546 Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration, and Motivation Instructor: Dr. C. J. Bonk
2
Introduction
This 7-day unit of Chinese Character Learning is going to help learners generally understand
the cultural and lingual features of Chinese characters, which include the legendary origin,
historical change of written styles1, types of character formation2, and Chinese character
reading and writing.
This unit is defined as the next step of Chinese Pinyin3 learning unit during the whole
process of a Chinese Language Club.
Targeted Group
This unit is designed for adult learners with a prior knowledge of Chinese Pinyin.
For the convenience of instructional design, the learner group here is specified as composed
of 18 graduate learners from Indiana University.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this unit, learners will be able to:
Achieve basic understanding of the evolution of Chinese characters. For example:
Describe the legendary origin of Chinese characters in their own words;
List the names of six written styles chronologically; and
Identify the written style of characters.
Gain a general knowledge of the formation of Chinese characters. For example:
Name the four formation types of Chinese characters; and
Classify characters into their corresponding formation types.
Develop the skill of recognizing, pronouncing and writing Chinese characters. For
example:
Tell the meaning of each character;
Pronounce each character correctly; and
Write characters in an appropriate way.
1 Written styles: There are numerous styles, or scripts, in which Chinese characters can be written, deriving from
various calligraphic and historical models. Most of these originated in China and are now common, with minor variations, in all countries where Chinese characters are used. The most famous six styles are: Oracle Bone Script, Seal Script, Clerical Script, Cursive Script, Semi-cursive Script and Regular Script, from the oldest to the latest. 2 Formation of characters refers to the methods of forming characters, which can be classified into six categories
– pictograms, ideograms, ideogrammic compounds, phono-semantic compounds, transformed cognates and rebus. The first four categories appear more in all Chinese characters. 3 Pinyin is the official phonetic system to transcribe Chinese characters to teach Mandarin Chinese.
R546 Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration, and Motivation Instructor: Dr. C. J. Bonk
3
Content at a Glance
No. Title Time Description
Lesson 1 Evolution of Chinese
characters
45 min Learners will achieve basic understanding
of the evolution of Chinese characters,
including the legendary origin and
historical change of six written styles.
Lesson 2 Chinese character strokes4 45 min Learners will gain the knowledge of seven
types of strokes and the stroke order.
Lesson 3 Pictograms 45 min Learners will understand the feature of
pictograms and learn to recognize and
write 22 examples of pictograms.
Lesson 4 Ideograms 45 min Learners will understand the feature of
ideograms and learn to recognize and write
19 examples of ideograms.
Lesson 5 Ideogrammic compounds 45 min Learners will understand the feature of
ideogrammic compounds and learn to
recognize and write 17 examples of
ideogrammic compounds.
Lesson 6 Phono-semantic
compounds
45 min Learners will understand the feature of
phono-semantic compounds and learn to
recognize and write 17 examples of
phono-semantic compounds.
Lesson 7 Review 45 min Learners will review all that has been
learned in previous six lessons.
Materials
Paper handouts
Characters to be learned for each lesson
Homework for Pictograms
Homework for Ideogrammic Compounds
PowerPoint slides which contains:
Flash animation about Cangjie5’s invention of Chinese characters
Flash animation of the evolution of Chinese character written styles
Flash animation of Chinese character writing following the stroke order
4 Chinese character strokes are the calligraphic strokes needed to write the Chinese characters which include dot,
horizontal, vertical, rise, press down and throw away, and combining strokes which include break, hook, bend and slant. 5 Cangjie is a very important figure in ancient China (c. 2650 BC), claimed to be an official historian of the Yellow
Emperor and the inventor of Chinese characters. The legend tells that Cangjie was hunting on Mount Yangxu (today Shanxi) when he saw a tortoise whose veins caught his curiosity. Inspired by the possibility of a logical relation of those veins, he studied the animals of the world, the landscape of the earth, and the stars in the sky, and invented a symbolic system called zì—Chinese characters.
R546 Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration, and Motivation Instructor: Dr. C. J. Bonk
4
Materials for games
Character cards
Dices; Strings; A small ball
Xuan paper, brushes, and ink
R546 Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration, and Motivation Instructor: Dr. C. J. Bonk
5
Instructional Strategies
Lesson 1 – Evolution of Chinese characters
1. Social Ice-breaking activities (10 minutes)
Treasure hunt; Coat of arms; “Have you ever”.
2. Visualized Metaphor of Expectation (6 minutes)
1) Have learners take out a blank sheet of paper and draw a picture to illustrate their
expectations for this 7-day unit of learning.
2) Go around and check learners’ work. Pick up some pictures that can be symbolized
into Chinese characters. Write the corresponding characters on the whiteboard.
If there are no pictures meeting the requirement, write “明” (referring to
inspiration), “ 品 ” (referring to tasting), and “ 众 ” (referring to
collaboration/cooperation).
3. Overview of Chinese characters (3 minutes)
Tell learners that Chinese characters belong to an ideographic writing system.
4. Video displaying (5 minutes)
1) Show a clip of video about Cangjie’s invention of Chinese characters.
2) Explain the legendary origin of Chinese characters.
5. Flash animation (6 minutes)
1) Show a clip of flash animation about the evolution of Chinese character written
styles.
2) List the six types of written styles – Oracle Bone Script, Seal Script, Clerical Script,
Cursive Script, Semi-cursive Script and Regular Script, and explain their chronological
sequence (in the PowerPoint).
3) Give more examples for each style (in the PowerPoint).
6. Character Cards Game (One character on each card; three cards for each written style;
altogether 18 cards.) (10 minutes)
1) Have each learner randomly pick a card. Six people with different written styles
form a group. The six people in a group stand in line following the chronological
sequence.
2) The fastest group gets 3 points; the second group gets 2 points; the last group gets
1 point.
3) Allow group members to point out other group’s error (s) and give 1 bonus for each
error.
4) The group with highest score will be awarded with the most valuable gift today. The
other two get less valuable ones. Provide feedback and correct errors if any.
7. Talking String (5 minutes)
Have learners reflect on what they have learned today.
R546 Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration, and Motivation Instructor: Dr. C. J. Bonk
6
Lesson 2 – Chinese character strokes
1. Introduction (Watch the Flash Animation Clip Again) (3 minutes)
Play the clip of flash animation used in Lesson1 again as a review of the evolution of
Chinese characters, as well as an introduction to the new knowledge that learners are
going to learn — how to write Chinese characters. In this flash animation clip, the steps
of writing specific characters are demonstrated.
2. Stroke types (17 minutes)
1) Introduce all types of strokes to learners by writing each of them on the
whiteboard and introducing their names.
Table 1 Types of strokes
break hook bend slant
dot horizontal vertical rise press
down
throw
away combining strokes
2) Jigsaw groups:
Pick out several characters in the animation for practicing (月 [moon]、火 [fire]、
林 [forest] etc.), and then assign each learner into two groups – the expert group
and the home group. In the expert group, group members focus on one specific
type of stroke and try to find it out from all the characters. Then ask learners to go
back to their family groups to share their findings and learn other strokes from
other team members.
Have learners count out the number of strokes in each character in their home
groups.
Have each home group report previous learning results to the whole class. Provide
timely feedbacks.
3. Stroke Order(15 minutes)
1) Explain general guidelines of stroke order and play a series of corresponding flash
clips as demonstration, in which characters are written stroke by stroke following
those guidelines.
Table 2. Guidelines of stroke order
Guidelines of Stroke Order Example
From up to bottom 三
From left to right 从
Horizontal before vertical 十
Center before outside 水
Bottom enclosures last 过
Dots and minor strokes last 玉
R546 Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration, and Motivation Instructor: Dr. C. J. Bonk
7
2) Jigsaw groups:
Have learners get together in their home groups again and discuss the stroke order
of each character given in the previous steps. Provide timely feedback to the whole
class.
Have learners write these characters and review each other’s writing in pairs within
their home group.
4. Chinese Calligraphy Game: Write “永 [forever]” (10 minutes)
Most Chinese people start practicing Chinese calligraphy with “永”, because this
character includes all the majority types of strokes and has a graceful structure. So, this
game session is designed in order to motivate learners to practice writing Chinese.
1) Send out Chinese calligraphy paper, brushes and ink to each learner.
2) Demonstrate how to write “永”. (REMEMBER: emphasize stroke styles and order in
this character.)
3) Learners practice and put their compositions in the front of the classroom.
4) Vote for the best composition and reward the best “calligraphist”.
5. Homework
1) Assign learners with 10 commonly used Chinese characters and ask them to finish
the following tasks in each character: find out certain types of strokes, count the
number of strokes, and point out a certain stroke (like the fifth stroke).
2) Play online character wring games at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/games/characters.shtml
Lesson 3 – Pictograms6
1. Introduction (State objectives) (3 minutes)
Tell learners that in the following 4 weeks they are going to learn four types of Chinese
characters (pictograms, ideograms, Ideogrammic compounds, and phono-semantic
compounds) without mentioning names of each type.
2. Feature inference ( 5 minutes)
1) Provide learners with eight ancient Chinese hieroglyphics together with their
corresponding modern Chinese characters (Table 1).
2) Use Socratic Questioning Method and lead learners to reach the conclusion that
“characters in this type are derived from pictures, but they have been standardized,
simplified, and stylized to write in an easier way.”
Table 3 Examples of 8 Pictograms
Hieroglyphic
Chinese
Modern
Chinese
水 日 月 山 火 木 雨 田
English Water Sun Moon Mountain Fire Wood Rain Field
6 Pictograms are derived from pictures. They have been standardized, simplified, and stylized to write in an
easier way.
R546 Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration, and Motivation Instructor: Dr. C. J. Bonk
8
3. Characters learning (20 minutes)
Instructors will use different strategies to teach learners about 22 characters.
1) Demographic groupings + Creative role play:
Group learners in a team of 3 based on their birth months.
Each team will work on one of the characters that showed in Table 3.
Ask learners to discuss the stroke order and the meaning of this character.
Let learners play the role of “instructor” to teach other learners about this character.
2) Creative dramatics:
Use body gestures to illustrate all the characters in the parentheses. (人[human
being],女 [female],子 [child], 大 [big])
For example, 女 [female]: Kneel down and sit on the heel.
3) Visualization:
Use PowerPoint to show the comparison of ancient Chinese hieroglyphics and their
corresponding modern Chinese characters.
Teach learners the stroke order.
4. Inference of the type name (2 minutes)
1) Encourage learners to name this type of characters.
2) Provide the correct answer (Pictograms). (If time permits, analyze some learners’
funny examples).
5. Card games (Find you perfect match) (5 minutes)
1) Assign each learner with a card on which there is either a modern Chinese character
or an ancient hieroglyphics.
2) Have learners find “the other half” of their card to make a “perfect match”.
3) Show each pair of “perfect match” to the whole class.
4) Lead the whole class to recall the stroke order.
6. Creative story writing: (5 minutes)
In the end, learners will write a story with some characters they have learned in this
class. (e.g. One 人 [person] was working in the 田 [field], suddenly it 雨 [rained] and
he saw a 女 [female] riding a 马 [horse]……)
7. Homework
See appendix II.
Lesson 4 – Ideograms7
1. Chinese numbers from 1 to 10(25 minutes)
1) Write down 1, 2 and 3 in Chinese characters (一, 二, 三) on the whiteboard. Ask
learners to predict how to write 4 in Chinese. If they say four horizontal strokes, tell a
story named Silly Boy Learned Characters8.
7 Ideograms are also called simple indicatives or simple ideographs. These characters are either direct iconic
illustrations, or modified from existing pictographs iconically by adding indicative strokes. 8 Silly Boy Learned Characters tells a story of how a silly boy learned Chinese characters. This boy just started
learning Chinese characters from his teacher. After learning how to write one, two and three, he thought he could write all the numbers by merely adding horizontal lines, so he stopped learning. One day when his father asked
him to write a letter to Mr. 万 [ten thousand], he had no idea of how to finish this task. This story implies that we should be persistent when acquiring new knowledge.
R546 Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration, and Motivation Instructor: Dr. C. J. Bonk
9
2) Write down 4 to 10 (四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十). When writing, remind learners to
pay attention to the stroke order.
3) Using these ten characters, introduce the concept of ideograms to learners: what
ideograms are and what features ideograms have.
4) Quick response with feet
Divide learners into groups of three people. Groups take turns to stand in the center
of the classroom to play this Chinese number game.
Show the character board with a Chinese number on it. All members in the “central”
group should read this number aloud and then try to keep the same number of
foot/feet on the ground. Chair, table and other stuffs can be used to help keep
balance.
5) Dice dictation
Throw out two big dices to have learners add up the two numbers and write down
the sum in Chinese. Throw dices ten times.
Have learners check their answers in pairs. The pair with the highest accuracy will
report answers to the whole class. The instructor provides timely feedback.
2. Learn other ideograms (20 minutes)
1) Teach another group of ideograms (上 [up] 下 [down] 本 [root] 刃 [blade] 王
[king] 亦 [also] 甘 [sweet] 中 [middle/center] 天 [sky]), which were all modified
from existing pictographs by adding one to several indicative strokes. For example,
刃 [blade] is obtained by modifying the existing pictogram 刀 [knife] with a stroke
that indicates the blade. Teach these 9 characters one by one, marking those
indicative strokes in red.
2) Take away and put back
Use paperboard to cut out these 9 characters before class, with existing pictographs
in black and indicative strokes in red. Take away indicative strokes from all the
characters and choose some learners to put them back, pronounce the new
characters and explain their meanings. Play this game among the whole class.
3) Fish Bowl +throwing ball
Divide the whole class into 9 pairs and play the Fish Bowl game. The pair who throws
the ball says one character of the nine. The pair who gets the ball writes down this
character on a piece of paper and explains its meaning, and then throws the ball and
says another character……Each pair will get the ball only once. Play this game until
every character has been practiced. The instructor should give timely feedback.
3. Homework
1) Use Chinese number to write the answers.
2+7= 5+9= 23-16= 58-25= 3*8= 6*9= 68/4= 100/5=
2) Practice 上下本刃王亦甘中天 by writing each of them 5 times, and then find a
classmate to help dictate those characters.
R546 Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration, and Motivation Instructor: Dr. C. J. Bonk
10
Lesson 5 – Ideogrammic compounds9
1. Brainstorm to recall (8 minutes)
1) Have learners to brainstorm all the characters they have learned from Lesson 3 & 4.
2) Ask learners to work in pairs to double check whether they have missed any
characters.
3) Let learners recall the meaning of each character.
2. Webbing and Mapping (20 minutes)
1) Write down some Pictograms and Ideograms.
2) Use different kinds of mapping and webbing methods (e.g. Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.)
to show learners that the combination of learned words can compose new words.
Figure 1. Character mapping example 1 – matching
Figure 2. Character mapping example 2 – central webbing
3) Use some pictures to teach learners the meaning of the 17 new words.
4) Tell learners that this type of character is called “Ideogrammic compounds.”
3. Finding friends with cards (7 minutes)
1) Assign each learner with a card on which there is a Pictogram or an Ideogram.
2) Have learners find “the other half” of their card to make a “perfect match”.
3) Let learners explain to each other the meaning of this character.
4) Have learners practice the pronunciation of their characters.
4. Sharing your “love story” to others (10 minutes)
1) Ask each “perfect match” to write their character on the whiteboard.
2) Have each team take turns to explain their “love story” (meaning/pronunciation) to
the whole class.
3) When each team finished their “love story”, lead the whole class to practice the
9 Ideogrammic compounds are those characters symbolically combined by pictograms or ideograms.
R546 Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration, and Motivation Instructor: Dr. C. J. Bonk
11
stroke order of each character.
Lesson 6 – Phono-semantic compounds10
1. Features of phono-semantic compounds (15 minutes)
1) List a group of phono-semantic compounds on the whiteboard:妈 [mother], 吗
[interrogative],蚂 [ant], 玛 [agate], 骂 [scold].
2) Teach learners how to pronounce each character in this group. Ask learners what
phenomenon they have found----they all have same or similar pronunciation with
马 [horse]. So 马 is a phonetic indicator in these characters.
3) Tell learners the meaning of each character in this group. Ask learners what
principles they have found – they all contain a part which is an existing character
suggesting the overall meaning of the whole character. For example,女 [woman]
suggests the meaning of 妈 [mother]. So 女 [female], 口 [mouth], 虫 [insect],
王 [king] are the semantic indicators in this group of characters.
4) Based on this group of characters, generate the concept or features of
phono-semantic compounds: a phono-semantic compound is a character which has
one part indicating pronunciation, while another suggests the meaning.
5) Teach other phono-semantic compounds(虾 [shrimp], 吓 [scare], 闷 [stuffy], 们
[suffix of plural form], 问 [ask], 忍 [endure], 恋 [love], 伙 [companion], 忠
[loyalty], 旺 [flourishing]) by pointing out the phonetic indicator and the semantic
indicator within each of them.
2. Check Board (10 minutes )
Write down all the phonetic parts of these examples in the first column of the table, and
the semantic parts in the first line. Learners play this game in a group of three. If they
can compose a character that has been taught in this class, write it down in the crossing
square; if they cannot, put a cross sign there. The group that get the most correct
characters will be awarded.
3. Teacher-learner Cooperation (10minutes)
Prepare character cards before class. Each card has a single phonetic indicator or a
semantic indicator on it. Give each learner two cards and keep 10 cards. There can be
some identical cards. Show a card to the whole class. When the learner finds his/her
indicator can form a phono-semantic compound with the teacher’s, he/she stands up,
pronounces the new character and tells its meaning to the whole class. Other learners
write this character on a piece of paper.
4. PMI (10 minutes)
Have learners do PMI analysis for today’s lesson. This is a kind of review, as well as a
method of indicating what learners still want to know about phono-semantic
compounds. Based on learners’ answers, have a small discussion about anything related
to this category of characters.
10
Phono-semantic compounds are also called semantic-phonetic compounds or pictophonetic compounds. These characters are composed of two parts: one of a limited set of pictographs, often graphically simplified, which suggests the general meaning of the character, and an existing character pronounced approximately as the new target word. By far phono-semantic compounds are the most numerous category of Chinese character.
R546 Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration, and Motivation Instructor: Dr. C. J. Bonk
12
5. Homework:
1) Practice all example characters in this lesson 5 times for each, and then find a
classmate to help dictate those characters.
2) Look through a Chinese dictionary to get five or more phono-semantic compounds.
Write and introduce them to several classmates before next class.
Lesson 7 – Unit review
1. Bingo game board (10 minutes)
1) Prepare 35 questions (e.g. how to write a specific Chinese character; tell the
meaning of a given Chinese character, etc.)
2) Send out bingo cards (with only 29 blanks) to each learner; ask them to fill in each
cell with numbers of 1 – 35.
3) Use a lottery system to choose numbers of questions to answer (if the number is
not listed in learners’ bingo board, they don’t need to write the answer).
4) If anyone gets all the numbers in a horizontal or vertical line answered, he/she has
a chance to tell other learners their answers. If all the answers are correct, the
learner is a winner.
5) The first 5 winners get a prize. (e.g. Chinese calligraphy, Chinese knot, etc.)
2. TicTac Toe (15 minutes)
1) Prepare another 27 questions varying from evolution of Chinese characters,
Chinese character strokes to the four types of Chinese characters.
2) Divide the whole class into 2 groups, X and O, who take turns to mark the cells in a
3×3 grid.
3) The X group goes first. The first group that succeeds in placing three marks in a
horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line wins this round.
4) Play this game 3 times. The team who wins more than two rounds will be the final
winner. All the members of the winner team will get a prize (e.g. Chinese paper
cutting).
3. Phillips 66 methods (Buzz Groups) (15 minutes)
1) Ask learners to recall what they have learned in this 7-day class. Have them write
down their thoughts.
2) Have learners work in groups of six to exchange ideas and make conclusion of what
they have learned. After 6 minutes, stop discussion. Groups share thoughts with
the class.
3) Have learners go back to their seats to write a new “class review” with their
desk-mates. The instructor picks out the best two pairs and let them show their
work to the whole class.
4. The end(5 minutes)
1) Give a summary of this 7-day class.
2) Ask learners to finish the assessment form (see appendix I).
R546 Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration, and Motivation Instructor: Dr. C. J. Bonk
13
Anticipated Assessment Procedures
The instruction of this unit is going to be evaluated in two methods:
1. Learners’ performance in their homework
2. Assessment Form (see appendix I)
References
Chinese Character. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved March 4, 2011, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character
Appendices
Appendix I – Assessment Form (see next page)
R546 Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration, and Motivation Instructor: Dr. C. J. Bonk
14
Assessment form
Please complete this form to let us know your reaction to our program. Your
response will help us to evaluate our efforts, and your comment and suggestion will
help us to plan future programs that meet your needs and interests.
Instruction: Please circle the appropriate response after each statement
Statements Strongly Strongly
Disagree Agree Agree
1. The instructor was well-prepared. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
2. The instructor was an effective communicator. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
3. The learning activities were engaging. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4. The schedule was suitable. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
5. The course structure was appropriate. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6. The learning material was helpful. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
7. Do you think this course help you to achieve your learning objectives?
If yes, please tell us what help you the most to achieve your objectives?
If no, what would we do to improve the course?
R546 Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration, and Motivation Instructor: Dr. C. J. Bonk
15
Appendix II – Homework for Pictograms
Hieroglyphic
Chinese
Pin Yin
(Pronunciation)
Modern
Chinese
Practice
R546 Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration, and Motivation Instructor: Dr. C. J. Bonk
16
R546 Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration, and Motivation Instructor: Dr. C. J. Bonk
17
Appendix III – Homework for Ideogrammic Compounds
好,休,明,鸣,囚,仔,奋,雷,坐,品,从,炎,晶,众,林,森,焚
The words listed above are all Ideogrammic compounds. Fill in these three tables with
appropriate characters.
Table 1
Structure Left and Right
Chinese
Character
Pin Yin
(Pronunciation)
Meaning
Practice
Table 2
Structure Up and Down
Chinese
Character
Pin Yin
(Pronunciation)
Meaning
Practice
R546 Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration, and Motivation Instructor: Dr. C. J. Bonk
18
Table 3
Structure Inside and Outside
Chinese
Character
Pin Yin
(Pronunciation)
Meaning
Practice