Today we focused on our first vocabulary lesson, which consisted of basic pronouns such as I, me, you, us, etc. The day was rather uneventful, and the next few days will probably be the same as we continue to build our students' vocabulary with worksheets and exercises that hopefully won't feel too monotonous. Our challenge will be to effectively teach vocabulary so that the students know how to recognize and use them, while keeping things fun and interesting.
Over the weekend, Daijah and I went to the Asian Festival downtown and picked up some goodies for the class. We bought candy that can be given as prizes for games and chopsticks. Each student earned a pair of chopsticks today for being able to introduce themselves in Chinese. Chopsticks are not allowed to be brought home because I just know that someone will lose them.
We also learned that when we work through vocabulary exercises, the students need to be silent and work independently. They wasted so much time chatting today that it took forever to get through one activity. So, we will have to use Level 1 voices* (aka silence) while working.
We also introduced another anchor activity - alphabet books. Most letters in the Chinese alphabet make different sounds that the letters in the English alphabet, so each student will make a book that will help him/her remember the sounds of the Chinese alphabet. I whipped up an example before class, where I drew a picture of a sheep to remind myself that the Chinese "i" makes the same sound as "ee" in the word "sheep."
*Chambers teachers use different voice levels to control noise in classrooms.
Level 1 = silence
Level 2 = "purposeful whisper" (the appropriate tone of voice to use during group work)
...and I don't know what level 3 and 4 are because they never use those voice levels.
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