Brain-based Teaching in Chinese

How to teach with brains in mind?There are 7 components of brain-based teaching. Let's see how we can use them in teaching Chinese!

Volition is the process of getting the learner to buy into the learning, willfully and joyfully… So it's important that a teacher should be enthusiastic and build a good relationship with students. Students have preferences formodality, amount and timing of input. Strategies for Input of Chinese:1. Ask students to do the preview.2. Spend more time to review the words and sentences students have learned. Sometimes we may spend half of the time reviewing.3. Don't teach too many words in a day. 5-10 new words a day depending on the age of the students.

VolitionSafety & Buy-inInputType, Quantity, Interval

Volition&Input

Brain-based Teaching in Chinese

Make connection between the information and YOU!If the students like rap, make the words or sentences into a rap! Ask the students to write a melody for the sentences they have learned!Teach the students Chinese that they need to use in their life. If they rarely see something, they will forget the word immediately.By the way, TPR is a good way to teach, especially for kids. Relate the words to an action will help them. Don't make kids sit all the time. They can learn a lot of verbs when dancing and jumping.

We have a brain which isdesigned to rarely get it right the first time. Instead, it makes “rough drafts” of the new learning. These are held until there’s a reason to drop or upgrade and save. To give a reason to upgrade, we have to recall constantly. Review everyday! If the students have learned a song, why don't we sing it everyday in class?

Consolidation--Connect and encode

Accuracy

Coherence & Modulation

1. Give simple and clear instructions. And one instruction a time, especially when using Chinese.2. Give students example when doing the activities.3. Use pictures, gestures and videos; make comparison to somehing that the students know.4. Use variety of games/activities/ videos/ stories that will excite the kids. We can tell a Chinese story or listen to a cute Chinese song before class.5. Connect the Chinese words & sentences to a context/ situation that the students may really meet, so that they are more motivated to learn. I taught my students how to order in Chinese before a field trip to a Chinese restaurant.