2009年7月2日,我带着儿子Edward来到Jean Vanier Catholic School的暑期中文班报到.我以前的专业是教育专业,教室对我有一种无穷的吸引力,我喜欢那种与人互动,帮助别人的感觉。在得到Linda和孙老师的同意后,我和Alex一起开始了中文班的自愿者工作,和孩子们渡过了愉快而有意义的三个星期的中文学习生活。
由于Edward的爸爸是加拿大人,我们日常交际都用英文,我也试着用中文和儿子交谈,可是效果不尽如人意,Edward中文的话题大多都是他感兴趣的各种车的名称和一些简单的数字。我想如果要激发一个四岁孩子学习中文的兴趣,一个可以和其他同龄孩子沟通的语言环境中会对他有所帮助。
持续三周的课程,孩子们投身于中华文化和语言文字的学习中。孙老师教学的过程由浅入深,学生们从第一天简单用中文介绍自己开始学起,然后逐渐学习了数数,家庭成员称呼,生肖等方面的内容 。周末的时候学生还了解到中国的传统节日如元宵节,中秋节,春节等。教学的内容也丰富多彩,学生们除了自己动手写毛笔字,创作了各自的水墨画外,他们还接触了中国工夫,练习打太极拳。灵活的教学方式吸引了孩子们学习的兴趣。学生们首先在活泼欢快的音乐声中开始了课前的准备—大家一起动动手,动动脚边唱边跳来赶走早晨的睡意。上课当中老师运用了趣味性的游戏,竞赛等一系列活动来吸引学生的学习的兴趣,例如练习拿筷子,猜谜语等。
经过短短的三周学习,Edward认识和结交了许多新的朋友,也渐渐地体会了学中文的乐趣。现在他学习中文的热情也比以前提高了不少,他开始学写中文,喜欢唱课堂上学的歌曲,还经常向我们展示他的太极拳和中国功夫。
建议:由于暑期班的学生年龄参差不齐,学生们中文语言能力水平也各不相同。希望教师所采用的教学活动更接近学生的实际水平,相应增加一些日常交际方面的内容。对于4-5岁刚开始学中文的孩子,写中文对他们是一项新的挑战,教师可以在这方面多做些指导。
最后衷心感谢Linda,孙老师,Alex和中文学校给孩子们提供了如此珍贵的学习中文的机会,让他们渡过有意义而充实的暑假。
July 2,2009 Edward and I Signed up for Chinese Summer Class at Jean Vanier Catholic. My English teaching background and my willingness in helping and interacting with students led to work as an volunteer in the classroom 。Given approval from Linda and Mrs Sun , I started my job as a volunteer for the class and spent the 3 exciting and meaningful weeks in Chinese learning。
Edward’s father is Canadian,We use English most of the time。Even though I tried to speak Chinese with him whatever I can,he still seemed to show not much interest in it。I thought an environment that he can communicate with his peers might help to solve the problem, which is why we signed Edward up for Chinese summer school。
Students spent 3 fun and productive weeks in leaning Chinese Culture and Language。The teaching process ranged from beginner to more difficult concepts。Students started from simply introduce themselves in Chinese to counting number,naming family members,and learning about the Chinese Zodiac。Students learned about traditional Chinese holidays like Spring Festival,Lantern Festival and Moon festival every Friday as well。Classes also covered other topics from Chinese Caligraphy,painting, Kungfu and Tai Chi。Ms Sun flexibly used different teaching method like songs,games and individual,pair, and group work to attract students’ attention。For example, students started the class in a health song dance to get rid of morning sleepiness and they were divided into groups during the class to guess the riddle for the lantern festival。Students had lots of fun in leaning Chinese while making friends with each others。
Edward surely shared many fun experiences。He is now more interested in learning Chinese,and more importantly,he change his attitude towards using Chinese。He can now write his own name in Chinese and enjoy singing his Chinese songs and showing off his kungfu and Tai Chi to us 。
I would like to mention that because of the different ages and language levels among students ,separate classes might better take into consideration different objectives and can be more suited the students needs。Writing is also new for a students ages 4 or 5 who have just started Chinese learning。 It would be helpful if the teacher could spend more time working on basic writing skills,as well as teach them some daily conversation skill as well。
I really appreciate how the London Chinese School provided such an amazing opportunity for my child to learn Chinese during the summer 。I also like to thank Linda and Mrs Sun and Alex for their effort putting toward the Chinese class. We are looking forward to next summer class!
Author: Yepiao Deng 邓叶飘