Status of Students (Characteristics, knowledge level, background, etc.)

ACTFL Standard Descriptions

口语：初级初等
初级初等水平的讲话者不具备真正的使用语言的能力，同时由于发音方面的原因，他们可能根本不能被听懂。如果时间充足，并有熟悉的提示，他们或许能互相问候，介绍自己的身份，并从自己身边环境中指出几个熟悉的物体。他们不能应对中级水平话题或完成相应任务，因此也无法参与真正的对话交流。

NOVICE LOW-SPEAKING

Speakers at the Novice Low sublevel have no real functional ability and, because of their pronunciation, may be unintelligible. Given adequate time and familiar cues, they may be able to exchange greetings, give their identity, and name a number of familiar objects from their immediate environment. They are unable to perform functions or handle topics pertaining to the Intermediate level, and cannot therefore participate in a true conversational exchange.

阅读：初级初等HTTPS://WWW.ACTFL.ORG
初级初等水平的读者能够识别有限的几个字母、符号或字符。他们偶尔能够在有良好语境的支持下识别高频词及/或短语。

NOVICE LOW-READING

At the Novice Low sublevel, readers are able to recognize a limited number of letters, symbols or characters. They are occasionally able to identify high-frequency words and/or phrases when strongly supported by context.

Lesson’s Content Focus/ Objective

Theme or Topic: 《青蛙的生命周期》

Words: 大, 小, 长, 短, 蝌蚪, and 青蛙

Cultural perspectives: Frog is a good symbol in Chinese culture

Performance-based Objectives—As a result of this lesson/unit, students will be able to:

• Recognize the six characters/words: 大, 小, 长, 短, 蝌蚪, and 青蛙
• Name the stages of frog life cycle in Chinese
• Sing and act out the life cycle reading

Materials needed:

Laminated, magnetic vocabulary flash cards:大, 小, 长, 短, 蝌蚪, and 青蛙

• Six magnetic frog life cycle cards
• A big dice with six-side transparent pockets on each side ( please see the attached picture for activity 2)
• A set of pre-cut frog life cycle picture flashcards for each kid(The flash card contents are the same as the six magnetic frog life cycle cards)
• A piece of fabric for what is missing activity
• The frog life cycle reading poster

Procedure: questions the teacher needs to consider for the activity design

• What will prepare students to demonstrate what they can do?
• What will the students need to know (vocabulary, structures, cultural and content knowledge, etc...) in order to accomplish the Lesson Can-do?
• What activities will be used to ensure students to accomplish the lesson can-do?

(5m)

What do you see?

1. Show the students a picture of a frog, and ask questions about frogs to tap the students’ prior knowledge.
2. Ask the students to take turns to describe the physical feature of the frog in the picture. Discuss their findings as a class.
3. The teacher writes what the students say on the board, and repeats what the students say in Chinese, such as big eyes, green skin, four legs, wide mouth…
4. The teacher puts the magnetic character cards大、小、长、短、蝌蚪、青蛙on the board, repeats what the kids say in Chinese and points to these words.

1. Raise hand to talk about what they see in the picture
2. Listen to and try to understand what the teacher says in Chinese

(10m)

Frog life cycle video

1. Play a frog life cycle short video, and then put six magnetic frog life cycle picture flash cards on the board in a random order. The teacher puts the picture flash cards on the board in a random order. The teacher and the students work together to put the flash cards in the correct order. Pictorial method can also be used: the teacher draws the pictures one by one and speaks in Chinese: egg little tadpole with long tail two back legs two front legs froglet with tail frog
2. Mix the order and ask the class to work as a team to figure out the correct order. The teacher keeps repeating in Chinese after the kids , and act out those words(TPR)
3. Give each student a set of pre-cut frog life cycle picture cards and let the kids put the cards in correct order. Check their answers.(After enough practice, the students can say the life cycle in Chinese fluently. This is the video link for one student in the class:
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HveHxW12Q9E

1. The students answer the questions and practice singing the life cycle in Chinese with the teacher with body gestures.
2. The students practice putting the life cycle flash cards in order. And say the life cycle in Chinese.

(10m)

Throw the dice

1. Show the 6 life cycle picture flash cards to the kids and ask the kids to say the flashcards in Chinese after the teacher. Show the students the cards one by one and say these cards in Chinese with gestures. And then insert the pictures in a dice of 6 transparent pockets.
2. Let the kids guess which picture will be on the top before the teacher throws the big dice. Repeat the activities a couple of times.

The students as a group actively guess which card will be on the top in Chinese while acting out.

(10m)

Which character is missing?

1. The students raise their hands and wait for the teacher to call on them to take a guess.
2. Each time before the teacher starts a new turn, the class say the characters the teacher put in the six-side transparent pockets in Chinese.

(10m)

The frog life cycle reading

1. Sing and act out the frog life cycle reading. Melody used: 《幼儿园里来了新朋友》
2. After the kids sing, the teacher guides them to help them achieve the correct tones. The teacher will also help the students learn how to follow the words of song in a book while the song is being sung.
3. The teacher acts out the whole reading and the students say it in Chinese:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-dq8cljN00)
   池塘里游来了一只大青蛙， 生下一群青蛙蛋变成小蝌蚪： 小蝌蚪脑袋大、尾巴长， 先长出后腿再长前腿， 尾巴变短了，尾巴不见了， 黑色变绿色。 小蝌蚪变呀变，变成小青蛙！

1. The students sing along with the teacher and actively act out the frog life cycle.
2. Boys and girls have a singing competition.
3. Read with the teacher.

(5m):

Closing activity

Ask kids questions about what is learned.

The teacher asks questions about what is learned.
a) Say the life cycle of the frog.
b) What does the tadpole’s head look like?
c) Which two legs grow first? Front legs or back legs?
d) When does the tail disappear?
e)Recognize the high frequency words as a group: 大, 小, 长, 短, 蝌蚪 and 青蛙

The students take turns to answer these questions.

Homework

Family assignments:

• Are all frogs green?
• Do research on different types of frogs in your region
• What are the other kinds of amphibians in addition to frogs?

Notes

The teaching and learning is a five-day process that heavily involves the shared reading method. “The Life Cycle of the Frog” is the second day lesson plan. The five-day units involve a group of correlated activities that are designed around the topic. We use “the Little Swallow” melody for teaching the whole reading. The kids sing along the whole story .The following is the simplified story version link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bkQyAUWP1LyWJFcuN7X-kbwEgMRoa4sDW95yKka5L7Q/edit?usp=sharing)

Lesson Plan Analysis

Teaching philosophy

Shared reading method provides an environment that fosters and encourages active involvement from all students. The teacher will prepare a large picture book that tells a story. The pictures are to be large enough so that the whole class can see it. The pictures need to be in a story format order (beginning to end). Through shared reading children experience and enjoy the whole story.

The activities of the lesson plan build on students' interests. It is best to focus on topics that are relevant to their lives. Students will be able to connect the topics to real-life experiences.

Shared reading is also a great opportunity for students to practice speaking and listening. Pictures can help the children get a better understanding of what is happening in the story and the meaning of the words being read. Shared reading helps to foster the speed in which the students learn. (The following is a video link of a kindergarten students following this method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VllCxyL0MI0)

Teaching Methods and Strategies

Use of music and gestures for young students is very helpful. It paints a picture and provides reminders of the lesson study. Constant change of activities helps address the students’ short attention span.

Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences theory is very helpful for designing lesson plans and activities because it targets different learning styles. A variety of learning methods are used in this lesson plan according to this theory: video, audio, music and TPR, including American sign language. The kids learn the lesson study through contextualization with comprehensible input. Through ample input, the kids easily accomplish language fluency.

Special focus and features of the plan

Reading another language can start as early as kindergarten. Shared reading is a good way for young kids. But age-appropriate, content-appropriate and language proficiency level factors should be taken into consideration when reading materials are chosen. This is especially important for second language learners. The do-statement goals for this lesson plan is reached by the higher level of accomplishment by the students.

Suggestions for users

The book, “Little Tadpoles Looking for Their Mom,” is a five day lesson plan. The ‘life cycle’ of the frog’s life is one of the five days of this lesson plan. It is also an age appropriate topic.

Author Bio

English:

Qiuping Yuan obtained her Master Degree of Arts in China and Master Degree of Arts at Michigan State University. She also received her teaching certificate in Michigan. She is currently a Mandarin teacher for the Lakeshore Public School District in Michigan.

She was awarded “Teacher of the Year” by Chinese Language Association of Michigan in 2015. She won two awards by the Chinese Language Teachers Association, USA, in 2015 and 2016. She has published a couple of papers in the U.S.

Chinese:

袁秋萍，英美文学、教育学双硕士。在密西根州立大学教育系修完教师证项目和硕士学位，通过密西根州教师证考试。现任美国公立学校初中、高中部中文教师。曾经担任过美国公立学校小学、高中特殊教育班、高中12年级senior leadership 以及AP中文的任课老师。

2015年被Chinese Language Association of Michigan评为teacher of the year。2015年和2016年分别获得过全美中文教师协会的奖（the Chinese Language Teachers Association, USA）。多次在全美和密西根州做过教学讲座，在美国教学期刊发表过数篇教学文章。