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Service Project Presentation The Confucius Institution of ASU Yi Wang CRE 101 (12326)

Service Project Presentation The Confucius Institution of ASU Yi Wang CRE 101 (12326). Introduction.

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Service Project Presentation The Confucius Institution of ASU Yi Wang CRE 101 (12326)

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  1. Service Project PresentationThe Confucius Institution of ASUYi WangCRE 101 (12326)

  2. Introduction I am interested in American students learning a foreign language. As my first language is Chinese, I choose to serve in the Confucius Institution of ASU. I believe that to know more about the learning difficulties, a language classroom is the best place to go because various learning difficulties are reflected on the teaching and learning process. I hope I can give helps in some Chinese summer camps or classes, while at the same time, collect first hand data about what the difficulties that American students face when they are learning Chinese.

  3. First Visit • On July 11, I met the director of Confucius Institution, Dr. Spring, at her ASU office. I expressed my will to be a volunteer at her institution and why I am interested in teaching Chinese as a second language in the US. She kindly introduced some basic information about the institution. Because I don't have any formal experiences of helping people learn Chinese, she suggested me to observe the class first, and then find out what I can do.  

  4. Observation #1 (July 13)------CHI102 (4:20 pm-7:10 pm) • On July 13, I carried  out my first observation (about 3 hours). A few things stood out for me. First, I was surprised that students learning traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese at the same time (there are two writing systems for Chinese). As a native speaker, I never learn these two writings at the same time. I felt it was really confusing. (It might need me to explore more about the difference between first language and second/foreign language learning.) Second, because the words that students have learned are limited, the teacher try to use simple words and speak loudly and slowly as possible as she can. It is a good teaching strategy, but  it made the taught Chinese weird. That is the universal problem of language class: there is always a gap between textbook language and real life language use. (It proves that foreign language classes in China and the US have some same problems.) Third, I found out that when students were assigned into groups to do some practices, they didn't make good use of the time. Sometimes, they just chatted with each other in English. There are many explanations for this: lack of assistant to help them, so they didn't know whether they were doing it right or wrong; the exercises were too simple; or they didn't have strong motivation to learn Chinese. Passing the course was enough for them. (Exploring these possibilities will help me find out the challenges for American Chinese learners.)

  5. Observation #2 (July 15)------CHI102 (4:20 pm-7:10 pm) On July 15, I started to be more involved in the class, rather than purely observation. When students were assigned into groups, I moved to their tables and tried to help them. It was embarrassing to know that speaking one language doesn't mean you know the language very well. Unexpectedly, I made a mistake when I tried to help one student, because I didn't notice the specific grammar that students were practicing. And when I tried to explain a Chinese grammar by comparing it to English grammars, those students had no idea what I was talking about. That was one of the most amazing findings: Native speakers usually are not aware of the grammar of their first language. However, when people learn a second language, they always begin with and concentrate on grammars. I will explore more about the differences between first language and second language learning, since they are crucial to solve the problems of learning a foreign language.  

  6. Observation #3 (July 20)------CHI102 (4:20 pm-7:10 pm) I kept doing observation and tried my best to be involved into the class. And I also made good use of break time to talk with the teacher. Ask her permission to carry out a survey for her students and spread out my questionnaire sheet to those students. When I was talking with the instructor, I thought maybe I can design another survey for teachers: get opinions from teachers' perspectives about what the difficulties of teaching a foreign language in the US. Comparing the differences between foreign language teachers and English teachers in the US might help me figure out the puzzle of how to improve foreign language classes. One of the predominant aspects is that most Chinese teachers are fluent in English, while very few English teachers can speak the first languages of English learners. Is it a good thing or bad thing for foreign language teaching?

  7. Observation #4 (July 22)------CHI102 (4:20 pm-7:10 pm) • I helped students to do one to one practice and I noticed how I change my Chinese speaking: slower, clearer and using the words the students just learned. Although it is unnatural, the students' understanding should be my priority. And the class is not out of life as I thought. The teacher let students to watch a very famous Chinese dating show and ask them to answer questions. Even though they can't understand every single word, they can catch the key points by visual assistance. (The people in the show speak very naturally and fast.) I also collected the survey I spread out last time. The biggest challenge for me right now is that the number of student is too small. I have to ask the teacher to help me spread my survey.  

  8. Observation #5 (July 25)------CHI102 (4:20 pm-7:10 pm) • I felt I got more involved in the class. When students were doing exercises or activities, they are willing to ask me quick questions. May be I gave them less pressures than the instructor. I continuously witness that students were struggling in the two Chinese writings. Sometimes, they even combined them together: in one sentence, some character written in traditional, while others written in simplified. Surprisingly, the teacher didn't hurry to correct them but praise them how well they complete the task. The teacher told me sometimes to encourage students to speak or write more, we can't correct every mistake they made, which will makes them feel frustrated. It reminds that for teaching a language, we can't focus on the correctness only, but let students enjoy it and have fun.

  9. Conclusion Doing observations in a real language classroom is very important to my research, since it both strengthens and correct some my hypotheses. The most important thing is that unless you have the direct interactions with some Chinese learners, you will never know what they need and what difficulties they have. This service project gave me such opportunity and I learned a lot from it , which is detailedly written in my final issue presentation.

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