Shame to say, but this is the first English book I have ever finished in four days. We were on a beautiful island called Phu Quoc. It was really nice and quiet, almost too quiet for me. I'm not a beach person,I can't really swim. Thankfully I brought this book with me, I spent most of the time reading this book.
It's a story about a girl named Peony who was well educated from a rich family in Hangzhou. The story sets at the beginning of Qing dynasty when girls and women started to get good education, write poems and even publish their work.
Peony loved the opera "The peony pavilion", she dreamed to meet a lover even though she had been betrothed. She met a handsome young poet by accident, they shared the same passion about the opera and fell in love. The love was so strong that she got lovesick, she spent most of her time on commenting the opera and died just before her wedding. She became a lonely ghost, only then she found out that her fiancé was the young poet she was in love with.
Her love wasn't dying with her body, she stayed and watched her husband getting married, she put all her love in the sister wife's body, and continued to finish the comment she was working on.The sister wife died during the child birth.She educated and trained another girl to match her husband.This young girl was brilliant and sensible.She found the comments that both wives have been working on and finally finished it. The book was published under these three wives' names. This was the first comment book ever been published in Chinese history.
It's a true story(except the ghost part). I was really fascinated by the author's writing, it's not just a breath taking love story, the exciting changes happened during that period of history were beautifully wove into the story.
One of my students recommended the book to me after I introduced Hangzhou in the class. This is the best feedback I got. By teaching you learn so much from students.
2010年10月26日星期二
Brain storm- some ideas about teaching writing
I found it's quite hard to teach writing at the early stage. Students don't have a lot of vocabulary, they can't think in Chinese. One of my students wrote a whole story in English and came to ask me the translation in Chinese.
I insist that my students should use the vocabulary they have learned when they write.It forces them to think in Chinese.But for writing, I really don't have good ideas. My colleague asks her students to keep diary everyday, it's a good idea.But at the same time, students don't really write about many topics except for complaining to much homework, being happy or not happy.
So how to make them thinking beyond the boxes? Our drama teacher gave me an idea. He gives students a word, asks them to sit together in groups and write down words which are related to each other.
It reminds me of a picture book I read in Hangzhou, each picture has a connection. For example, the picture of grass is related to man's beard.
I was teaching the lesson about seeing a doctor. I wrote "生病（get sick）" on the white board, and I wrote an example word "妈妈（mom)", I told them when I am sick, I think about my mom, and my mom always take care of me. I ask them to come to the white board and write down a word each. They have to tell me the connections. It's a good exercise for them to review the words and practice speaking as well. Some of the students are very creative, they came up with words like: apple,travel,party,weather,clothes. After that, I asked them to write a short story of being sick. Most of them took the ideas from the words they wrote on the board.
I insist that my students should use the vocabulary they have learned when they write.It forces them to think in Chinese.But for writing, I really don't have good ideas. My colleague asks her students to keep diary everyday, it's a good idea.But at the same time, students don't really write about many topics except for complaining to much homework, being happy or not happy.
So how to make them thinking beyond the boxes? Our drama teacher gave me an idea. He gives students a word, asks them to sit together in groups and write down words which are related to each other.
It reminds me of a picture book I read in Hangzhou, each picture has a connection. For example, the picture of grass is related to man's beard.
I was teaching the lesson about seeing a doctor. I wrote "生病（get sick）" on the white board, and I wrote an example word "妈妈（mom)", I told them when I am sick, I think about my mom, and my mom always take care of me. I ask them to come to the white board and write down a word each. They have to tell me the connections. It's a good exercise for them to review the words and practice speaking as well. Some of the students are very creative, they came up with words like: apple,travel,party,weather,clothes. After that, I asked them to write a short story of being sick. Most of them took the ideas from the words they wrote on the board.
2010年10月15日星期五
I love Hangzhou!!
I really got sick of hearing people saying Hangzhou is the best city when I was at home.But now I got home sick after two months in Ho Chi Minh City!
I miss the beautiful west lake,the food,the tea mountains people hang out during the weekends,even though I hardly went out when I was in Hangzhou,I even miss the KTVs which I used to hate! Everything about Hangzhou seems so lovely right now. I can't wait to go home and show the most beautiful city to my students.
I got some videos and love stories online to show them,one of the stories is called 梁山伯和祝英台，this is like the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet; The other one is the White Snake lady,I'm going to do a reading project on this story with one of my classes. Both of the stories are quite popular in Vietnam.
I have four classes,three of them have a lot more girls than boys,they were fascinated by the stories and scenery;on the other hand,I have one class has 10 boys and 2 girls,they thought it was boring.It's interesting to see the fact,which made me wonder the different strategies or resources I might need to use for differentiation,I will discuss about that later.
Anyway, it felt really good that I could share something real important to me with my students,I asked them to collect videos,photos,songs,stories about Ho chi Minh or Vietnam during the autumn break,so I can share their love with them as well.I would like to know about this city and country more,it's an important chapter in my life too.
I'm really happy with my life now,I start to appreciate where I come from,I start to appreciate a lot more things than I ever did in my life! I feel alive and full of energy!
This is a popular show played on West lake every evening,I went to watch it before I left Hangzhou,it was absolutely stunning,the whole stage was built under the water surface,west lake is the natural perfect back ground,someone said it's the story about the white snake lady,someone said it's 梁山伯和祝英台，does it matter?
Below is the translation of the song I found online:
The rain is still falling, filling a lake of mist
Broken bridge, silken umbrella, from black to white,I miss you
Who's on the boat? Writing my past?
A pen of promises, a paper filled with separation.
Rain ~~~ standing by the lake
Rain ~~~ gazing at the northern bank
The rain is still falling, filling a lake of mist
Broken bridge, silken umbrella,from black to white,I miss you
Who's on the boat? Writing my past?
A pen of butterflies, a paper filled with separation.
My farewell, never ending
Upon the West Lake, again and again
White wings, flying over the years
A long sigh, from Heaven to Earth
The rain is still falling, drenching a thousand years
The lake water linked to Heaven, from Black to White our meeting
Who's on the boat? Writing my past?
Let's talk about human，then talk about the country.
I miss the beautiful west lake,the food,the tea mountains people hang out during the weekends,even though I hardly went out when I was in Hangzhou,I even miss the KTVs which I used to hate! Everything about Hangzhou seems so lovely right now. I can't wait to go home and show the most beautiful city to my students.
I got some videos and love stories online to show them,one of the stories is called 梁山伯和祝英台，this is like the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet; The other one is the White Snake lady,I'm going to do a reading project on this story with one of my classes. Both of the stories are quite popular in Vietnam.
I have four classes,three of them have a lot more girls than boys,they were fascinated by the stories and scenery;on the other hand,I have one class has 10 boys and 2 girls,they thought it was boring.It's interesting to see the fact,which made me wonder the different strategies or resources I might need to use for differentiation,I will discuss about that later.
Anyway, it felt really good that I could share something real important to me with my students,I asked them to collect videos,photos,songs,stories about Ho chi Minh or Vietnam during the autumn break,so I can share their love with them as well.I would like to know about this city and country more,it's an important chapter in my life too.
I'm really happy with my life now,I start to appreciate where I come from,I start to appreciate a lot more things than I ever did in my life! I feel alive and full of energy!
This is a popular show played on West lake every evening,I went to watch it before I left Hangzhou,it was absolutely stunning,the whole stage was built under the water surface,west lake is the natural perfect back ground,someone said it's the story about the white snake lady,someone said it's 梁山伯和祝英台，does it matter?
Below is the translation of the song I found online:
The rain is still falling, filling a lake of mist
Broken bridge, silken umbrella, from black to white,I miss you
Who's on the boat? Writing my past?
A pen of promises, a paper filled with separation.
Rain ~~~ standing by the lake
Rain ~~~ gazing at the northern bank
The rain is still falling, filling a lake of mist
Broken bridge, silken umbrella,from black to white,I miss you
Who's on the boat? Writing my past?
A pen of butterflies, a paper filled with separation.
My farewell, never ending
Upon the West Lake, again and again
White wings, flying over the years
A long sigh, from Heaven to Earth
The rain is still falling, drenching a thousand years
The lake water linked to Heaven, from Black to White our meeting
Who's on the boat? Writing my past?
Let's talk about human，then talk about the country.
2010年10月13日星期三
Make students talk
My school is an American international school for Vietnamese kids. Most of our students can speak real good English, because all the subjects are taught in English.
My kids take Mandarin everyday for 50 minutes,there is not much time for each single student to practice in the class when you try to fit teaching, practicing and assessments into one short period.
How to get these kids open their mouth to actually speak and practice Chinese? I gave them assignments of reading the texts at home, I knew they wouldn't do it though. Last month I started to learn about using Voicethread. I used it when I taught comparative sentences, I put 10 slides of contrast pictures, and asked my kids to leave their voice comments for each picture. It's hard to make them to get used to the new tool. But it really forced them to speak and gave me a better insight of what they have learned.
I did another project called "you are the fashion editor" after I taught them vocabulary about clothes. They have to describe and compare what the stars wearing on the pictures. Their work looked pretty impressive. I played it in the class, asked them to do peer study, listen to each others' comments and find out the good parts and parts need to be improved.
I'm not saying I have found the way, but Voice thread is a good tool to let students practice their speaking.
My kids take Mandarin everyday for 50 minutes,there is not much time for each single student to practice in the class when you try to fit teaching, practicing and assessments into one short period.
How to get these kids open their mouth to actually speak and practice Chinese? I gave them assignments of reading the texts at home, I knew they wouldn't do it though. Last month I started to learn about using Voicethread. I used it when I taught comparative sentences, I put 10 slides of contrast pictures, and asked my kids to leave their voice comments for each picture. It's hard to make them to get used to the new tool. But it really forced them to speak and gave me a better insight of what they have learned.
I did another project called "you are the fashion editor" after I taught them vocabulary about clothes. They have to describe and compare what the stars wearing on the pictures. Their work looked pretty impressive. I played it in the class, asked them to do peer study, listen to each others' comments and find out the good parts and parts need to be improved.
I'm not saying I have found the way, but Voice thread is a good tool to let students practice their speaking.
2010年10月12日星期二
More or less
This is the last week of first quarter, I gave all my students a test to summarize what they have learned in the first two months.
We learned three important grammar:
1，Complement of state —— known as "得" sentence, ex: 她吃得很多。
2，“把” sentence, ex: 我把他的蛋糕吃了。
3, Comparative sentence —— known as "比" sentence, ex: 我比他吃得多。
In the test I ask them to write a short essay about "my friend", they have to apply these grammar in their work. A is one of my top students, he always challenges himself by making complicated and interesting sentences. B is one of the students I worried about. He seems lazy, and always give these simple example sentences as his homework. But in this writing task, B's work was simple, interesting, fluent without any grammar mistake. A's work is still interesting, but his sentences were too complicated to understand,unable to understand in the other word.
Who would you like to chat with in real life? Probably B. Language is a tool to communicate after all. I was really surprised. It makes me wonder, did I do something wrong as well?
In my early years of teaching, I found language is like math, very logical and strict. For example, every "把" sentence is structured like:
Subject+ 把 + Object + Verb+ Other elements
And the negative form and Y/N question form will be:
Subject+ (不要/没有) 把 + Object + Verb+ Other elements
Subject+ (要不要/有没有)把 + Object + Verb+ Other elements (or you put 了吗 in the end)
It worked with adults. But not so much with my high school students. I try to recall how I was in high school, I hated boring English grammar just like this. If I just asked my students to practice the simplest way to use the grammar like B did with his homework, using all the extra time to teach them interesting words or talk about more interesting topic, would that be more effective?
Me colleague Mei is using the "Chinese made easy" for her IB students. She was saying there are much more vocabulary and much less grammar in that book. I haven't used that book yet, but it will be interesting to compare which way will benefits students more.
Here is one example how I taught comparative sentence with verb in a more and less way.
I listed below structure in the first class:
A+（Object+Verb+得）+比+B+（Object+ Verb+得）+Adjective+ Other Elements
I didn't understand why my students kept making wrong sentences even when I displayed the structure in front of them. Now I realize how confused they were.
The second class I asked them how to say "I eat fast." Because they have learned "得" sentence, and they are good at it.
I got the answer "我吃得很快" and I wrote it on the white board.
Then I told them how to say "I ate faster than him", simply combine "我比他" （I compare to him）with "吃得快" （“得” sentence without “很”）“我比他吃得快”, they also notice clearly that they can not say “很” in a comparative sentence.
I gave more examples like that in the class, they started to understand the structure instead of memorizing the grammar words.
We learned three important grammar:
1，Complement of state —— known as "得" sentence, ex: 她吃得很多。
2，“把” sentence, ex: 我把他的蛋糕吃了。
3, Comparative sentence —— known as "比" sentence, ex: 我比他吃得多。
In the test I ask them to write a short essay about "my friend", they have to apply these grammar in their work. A is one of my top students, he always challenges himself by making complicated and interesting sentences. B is one of the students I worried about. He seems lazy, and always give these simple example sentences as his homework. But in this writing task, B's work was simple, interesting, fluent without any grammar mistake. A's work is still interesting, but his sentences were too complicated to understand,unable to understand in the other word.
Who would you like to chat with in real life? Probably B. Language is a tool to communicate after all. I was really surprised. It makes me wonder, did I do something wrong as well?
In my early years of teaching, I found language is like math, very logical and strict. For example, every "把" sentence is structured like:
Subject+ 把 + Object + Verb+ Other elements
And the negative form and Y/N question form will be:
Subject+ (不要/没有) 把 + Object + Verb+ Other elements
Subject+ (要不要/有没有)把 + Object + Verb+ Other elements (or you put 了吗 in the end)
It worked with adults. But not so much with my high school students. I try to recall how I was in high school, I hated boring English grammar just like this. If I just asked my students to practice the simplest way to use the grammar like B did with his homework, using all the extra time to teach them interesting words or talk about more interesting topic, would that be more effective?
Me colleague Mei is using the "Chinese made easy" for her IB students. She was saying there are much more vocabulary and much less grammar in that book. I haven't used that book yet, but it will be interesting to compare which way will benefits students more.
Here is one example how I taught comparative sentence with verb in a more and less way.
I listed below structure in the first class:
A+（Object+Verb+得）+比+B+（Object+ Verb+得）+Adjective+ Other Elements
I didn't understand why my students kept making wrong sentences even when I displayed the structure in front of them. Now I realize how confused they were.
The second class I asked them how to say "I eat fast." Because they have learned "得" sentence, and they are good at it.
I got the answer "我吃得很快" and I wrote it on the white board.
Then I told them how to say "I ate faster than him", simply combine "我比他" （I compare to him）with "吃得快" （“得” sentence without “很”）“我比他吃得快”, they also notice clearly that they can not say “很” in a comparative sentence.
I gave more examples like that in the class, they started to understand the structure instead of memorizing the grammar words.
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