Chino para principiantes I: Hablemos chino en una semana

This class meets once a week and is an immersion-style class, meaning we will use as much Chinese as possible. We will start with greetings and courtesy expressions in daily life in the first one and half weeks. Then we will move on to topics that allow us to introduce ourselves and people around us such as families and friends in the second and the third week. We will also dive into the next topics that let us share about our hobbies and daily activities from the third week to the fourth week. We will learn the phonetic system known as pinyin so students can learn the vocabulary right away to start expressing themselves. The origin of the Chinese characters, the basic structure of the Chinese characters, and the rule of Chinese character writing will also be introduced in this class. Students will build the confidence to speak and enjoy creating expressions in a new language. 

To join the class, students do not need to have any Chinese language background since this is a class for beginners. In every lesson, the key vocabulary and expressions for the topic will be introduced via Google Slides using pictures, videos, and direct translations when necessary. These materials will be placed in Google Classroom and shared with students enrolled in the class. I will speak Chinese predominantly to present lesson materials and interact with students. Students are encouraged to use Chinese, starting with simple phrases, to participate in the class. Frequently used classroom phrases such as "yes", "I have questions.", "I understand." and so on will be learned in the beginning so students feel comfortable of speaking the language, even when they have questions or need help. Pictures and gestures are frequently used tools in this class to allow an immersive language environment for the beginner language students who have limited vocabulary. I also use these tools to assess students' understanding and model how we can stay the communication in Chinese. Visual, songs, rhymes, vocabulary games, interactive activities such as interviews and role plays, and presentations are used throughout the course to help students acquire, practice, retain vocabulary as well as build new expressions. The variety of activities also makes this language class dynamic and engaging. There will be one-on-one teacher-student interaction between the individual student and me. There will also be small-group interaction among students especially when they work on role-play and other interactive activities together. I will always be there to support individual students as well as the small group. 

In a language learning community, our support to each other is essential so everyone can feel open to speak a new language. We will also develop our appreciation for another culture and discuss how it can help us grow to be a better communicator and a more fluent speaker of the language.