Incorporating Small Course Projects into Chinese Classes

Jing Zhang, Emory University

Many institutions have fixed curriculum for their Chinese courses, which have impeded creative Chinese teachers to add more exciting content to their classes. This presentation aims to provide insights to teachers who are interested in bringing more varieties to their classes and incorporating updated materials and new technology into their fixed curriculum. Small course projects have been a wonderful aid in the presenter’s classes. A course project that is well-designed, suitable to students’ proficiency level and anchored closely in existed teaching materials not only brings more varieties to the class but also motivates students to learn Chinese more creatively and effectively. In the meantime, it is more fun. The presenter will first use a small course project “Chinese People and Energy Conservation” as an example to illustrate ways to raise students’ cultural awareness in beginner’s classes. The presenter will also use “Serving Chinese Tea in Chinatown” and “Podcasting for Oral Exams” as examples to address issues regarding the integration of community service, online materials with classroom teaching in Intermediate Chinese classes. Activity products such as posters, photos and students’ online recordings will be shared along the presentation. After that, the presenter will address how small course projects could be used to improve advanced Chinese students’ writing and speaking skills. The presenter will share her experiences conducing two small course projects “Chinese Newspaper Design” and “Chinese Film-making” in her advanced Chinese classes. She will show the audience sample hand-written Chinese newspapers and part of a sample video “Protecting the Environment”, both made by her students. Following that, the presenter will examine advantages and outcomes of incorporating small course projects into classes at different proficiency levels and provide possible solutions to potential problems and challenges. The presentation will end with an open forum of audience members sharing their experiences of how they have incorporating small course project into their regular classroom teaching.