Ning Zhang's Teaching Garden: Chinese Pen Pal

Chinese Pen Pal

Exemplar: Write a letter to Chinese pen pal in Mandarin.

Objective:

2^nd to 3^rd grade---I can write a letter to my Chinese friend in Mandarin properly.

4^th to 5^th grade---I can write a letter to my Chinese friend in both Mandarin and English.

6^th grade---I can write a letter to my Chinese friend in both Mandarin and English properly.

Task:

2^nd to 3^rd graders need to write a letter to their Chinese pen pal by using completed Chinese sentences, writing characters in corrected stroke order, and following Chinese letter manners. The content of this letter need to include greeting, self-introduction, and family.

4^th to 5^th graders need to write a letter to their Chinese pen pal by using completed Chinese sentences, writing characters in corrected stroke order, and following Chinese letter manners. The content of this letter need to include greeting, self-introduction, and family. Scholars are also encouraged to write one Yes/No question and one “Wh- “question in audio-lingual method.

6^th graders need to write a letter to their Chinese pen pal by using completed Chinese sentences, writing characters in corrected stroke order, and following Chinese letter manners. The content of this letter need to include greeting, self-introduction, and family. Moreover, scholars are also required to write one Yes/No question and one “Wh- “question in audio-lingual method.

Sentence Patterns:

2nd to 3rd grade:

你好（ni hao）	Hello
我叫_____。（wo jiao ______.）	I am called____________.( My name is _____.)
我_____岁。（wo ______sui.）	I’m ____years old.
我爱_______.（wo ai______.）	I love_______.

4^th to 5^th grade:

你好（ni hao）	Hello
我叫_____。（wo jiao ______.）	I am called____________.( My name is _____.)
我_____岁。（wo ______sui.）	I’m ____years old.
你叫什么？( ni jiao shen me?)	You are called what? (What’s your name?)
你几岁？( ni ji sui ?)	You how many years old? (How old are you?)
我爱_______.（wo ai______.）	I love_______.

6^th grade:

你好（ni hao）	Hello
我叫_____。（wo jiao ______.）	I am called____________.( My name is _____.)
我_____岁。（wo ______sui.）	I’m ____years old.
你叫什么？( ni jiao shen me?)	You are called what? (What’s your name?)
你几岁？( ni ji sui ?)	You how many years old? (How old are you?)
我爱_______.（wo ai______.）	I love_______.
你爱____吗？（ni ai _____ma?）	You love________? (Do you love_____?)
我有________。(ni you______________.)	I have__________?
你有______吗？(Do you have__________?)	You have__________? (Do you have___?)

Assessment:

Score 4.0: The scholar demonstrates the advanced beginning level performance.

Score 3.5: The scholar demonstrates some advanced beginning level performance.

Score 3.0: The scholar has mastered the beginning level performance. This obvious when:

Scholars can write characters correctly. (2^nd to 3^rd grade)

Scholars can write characters correctly and can write the sentence completely. (4^th to 5^th grade)

Scholars can write characters correctly, can write the sentence completely, and use sentence pattern correctly. (6^th grade)

Score 2.5: The scholar has a basic understanding and its progressing towards mastery.

Score 2.0: The scholar has achieved basic understanding.

Score 1.5: The scholar has demonstrated basic understanding with some assistance.

Score 1.0: The scholar has demonstrated basic understanding only with assistance.

Score 0.5: The scholar has demonstrated some basic understanding only with assistance.

Task Description:

Our scholars have been extended the opportunity to join a Chinese & American Pen Pal Program with Xian Street Elementary School（县街小学） and their 4th grade scholars. This program is going to be a fantastic opportunity to extend and apply our scholars’ learning around Chinese characters, Chinese sentences, and Chinese culture. Each scholar will have a Chinese friend from our sister school in China and they will exchange latter to each other on a monthly basis.

Scholars need to write a letter to their Chinese pen pal by using completed Chinese sentences, writing characters in corrected stroke order, and following Chinese letter manners. This letter is in dual language so that scholars write the first half letter in Mandarin and the other half in English. Nevertheless, the content of the two paragraphs are must be different so that scholars can practice to translate between two languages. The content of this letter need to include greeting, self-introduction, and family. Moreover, scholars are also required to write one Yes/No question and one “Wh- “question in audio-lingual method.