The Instructor's Monthly Note
We wrapped up our Fall 2023 sessions with stories about winter and snow, when we coincidently just had our first snow this winter. The kids became a lot more confident sharing their snow playing stories and their winter break plans in Chinese. They pointed out that the top of the character “雪” is “雨”, and ¨听¨ and “近” share one same component: “斤”. Furthermore, they also asked some great questions, such as “why does “听” have “口” but we use our ears to hear?” All these told me that they have mastered some key foundations of reading and writing Chinese characters. And because of that, their handwriting is beautiful now: not just correct, but also with good structure and stroke order. We are almost complete with 《小羊上山》 level 2 with several complementary books. I also truly enjoyed hearing them reciting Tang Dynasty poems. In Spring 2024, integrating poems into reading and writing will be continued.
A conclusion of Oct & Nov 2023 sessions
There are two milestones we reached within these two months. First, we integrated both classic and modern Chinese poems into our reading and writing curriculum. Previously we introduced classic poems to experience the beauty of rhythms with a few words they understand. Now the poems we have integrated into the learning are both topic-related and most of the characters have been learned. They probably still have a question: what is a poem? No worries to rush to give a definition. Let them read the poems and encourage them to create their own! Even with very simple characters and words, children’s poems can be very interesting and powerful that reveal a world from their perspective. I enjoyed reading some poems they created and we all should cherish their baby steps in creative writing in Chinese!
Secondly, we have completed 7 stories plus two complementary stories from various resources. One highlight of the stories was reading a very long Chinese story 《小蝌蚪找妈妈》. They mastered several new radicals while they also obtained knowledge of the development of a frog from a tadpole. This story is worth multiple revisits in the future for more details in Spring 2024. Being able to read such a long story with some help was such a significant achievement. I am looking forward to seeing them in Jan 2024 with more games, activities, and authentic reading materials!
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