Student-Centered Learning

Again today was the two students taught Chinese 4 class. Today, they focused primarily on the vocabulary of lesson 15. They began as they did on the other day by asking the students if they knew the meaning of any of the words they were to learn that day. The students went through the list, word for word, defining the meaning, often by guessing. After the preview, the students were given handouts which contained three lists: pinyin (without tones), characters, and English. They were to fill in each of the characters and pinyin tone marks as they were written on the board. This was helpful because it allowed the students to not only visually see the word, but they discussed the meanings and wrote them down. After completing the list, the students participated in 10 "quick takes." After completing the worksheet, the students played a game. They sat in a circle, passing around a ticking bomb while translating prompted vocabulary words into English or Chinese. Then, unexpectedly, the bomb would "explode." The person holding the bomb at this time was to make a sentence with the vocabulary word they were given. This was a fun way to review the vocabulary and practice speaking the words. Overall, the students expressed that they have enjoyed the teaching of this group because their technique is easy and fun. I also see that they are excited to teach the students about the Chinese language and eager to utlize fresh, creative taching tools, thus enhancing the students learning and enjoyment of the class. I believe the students who did the teaching have gained the insight of the learning of the materials that they taught.