Week+4+-+February+1


 * AP Vertical Teams**


 * __Pages 53 – 67__ This section of the guide, gives several strategies for working with students in each mode of communication. Choose one strategy that is new to you for each mode and give the context in which you might use that strategy.**

__Interpersonal Comm. Spoken__: Information Gap Activity with partners to negotiate comparisons. I think we could do a few examples as a class to get everyone heading in the right direction. __Interpersonal Comm. Written:__ Partner edits. I have not used these in my German 1 class yet but I have in other classes. This could help the students to think in terms of the grammar rules and paragraph/story flow. Does the order make sense? Do the ideas flow well together? And so on. This could help with rewrites and initial writing as a whole. __Interpretive Comm. Media:__ We listen to stories and dialogs all the time. We usually answer questions to check for comprehension and to discuss the content. However I could try adding the Create a Title element as well to generate discussion and ask the students to take information from the story to defend their answers. __Interpretive Comm. Written:__ I have had the students compare and contrast characters from the same book/story but we have not compared characters from different books. We could use this to take a deeper look at the protagonists and antagonists of various stories that we have read over the year and create a short essay on a final exam or a writing assignment out of it. __Presentation Comm. Visual:__ We are discussing weather and the various regions of Germany right now in German 1. The students could create a presentation of a weather forecast as a partner/small group project. __Presentation Comm. Written:__ The students can write climate articles about a location in Germany or anywhere else that they choose. Similar to what we might see in an encyclopedia, online or a travel book.
 * Kristen Weintraut:**


 * Andrew:**

Interpersonal Communication Spoken: Teaching the students several useful, everyday phrases to use in the target language on a daily, in-classroom basis is something that I could see being an effective way to get students confident in speaking the language. I would teach them things like “how do you say __in German?” and “can you repeat that please?” and some basic commands that I would use like “get out your German notebooks.”__ This is something that should be done, but it is really interpretive communication. We'll talk more about the differences. __Interpersonal Communication Written: The online discussion forum would be a good way to get students writing and getting to express their own opinions. I could give them a discussion topic that is an issue that they care about, for example, their thoughts on the school’s dress code, attendance and tardy policy, or other such topics. If they are truly interested in their topic and have a formed opinion about it, I think they will try harder to truly express that meaning in the target language.__ __Interpretive Communication Audio/Visual: I think that radio broadcasts would be a good thing to incorporate into the classroom for interpretive communication means. I have already used music in my classroom, but using radio broadcasts would allow the students to do things like determine if the DJ is reading news, an advertisement, or something else. Also, it is a good way to incorporate authentic native speakers in to the classroom__ Radio is a tricky one for students. Non-native speakers are rarely in a situation where they only listen to a text. __Interpretive Communication Written/Print: Reading interviews with celebrities in the target language would be something new for me. The students could interpret that in a wide range of ways, for example, we discuss how that celebrity might feel about certain hot topics in Germany based on their answers in the interview, or they could try to deduce some other facts about the person based on the answers given.__ __Presentational Communication Spoken: Speeches are something that would be new to both me as a teacher and my students, and I am already planning to incorporate them into a project about the government of Germany where my students will have to run a political campaign. The campaign (which will include posters, advertisements, etc. about current German political issues) will culminate in a debate, where each candidate get to make a speech/opening remarks before the debate commences.__ What level? __Presentational Communication Written: Peer-editing is something that I haven’t done much at all really in my classes. I have had students write rough drafts for editing by me before allowing them to do re-write for the final product, but allowing the students to edit each other’s work gives them both sides of the task. Looking for and correcting someone else’s mistakes can help a student more easily find his/her own mistakes. It's a tricky process in a second language.__ We'll look at some specific strategies later in the semester.

**Travis Roberts: ** **Interpersonal Communication Spoken: ** Using the target language more often to say things like “repeat after me”, “how do you spell this”, or page numbers and activity directions would be very beneficial. My mentor teacher naturally does this often in class because Spanish is her native tongue. We will be talking more about interpersonal communication. What you've described is good, but it is interpretive communication. **Interpersonal Communication Written **: One activity that I like to do often is a partner interview activity. I have the kids get in pairs and then come up with 5 questions in the target language to ask their partner. They then have to record the answers in the target language. **Interpretive communication through audio/visual/media **: I already use audio and short clips that accompany the book. The students don’t always respond well them because they are boring. I have to teach them because they cover the standards of the book and they must be taught. I think we need to talk more about why you "have" to teach them.  I think that incorporating exciting media like news stories of radio broadcast could be helpful. I also have considered showing films subtitled in English so that the students can hear native speakers of Spanish. Also it is important that the students see and hear native speakers from all over Latin America and Spain so that they are exposed to different accents and vocabulary.

Yao Huang:

· Interpretive Comm. Written & Audiovisual Media: I will choose videos that are interesting and are current events that appeal to students, for example, videos about JackieChan, videos about the current events happened in Chinese middle and high schools. Before watching the videos, I will give them some related articles to read and ask them to keep questions in mind to watch videos to find out the answers. I may ask them to make connections between the articles they read and the video, to write down the differences and similarities points mentioned between an articles and a video with the same topic.

· Interpersonal comm. Spoken: Chart time. I learned this way from a Chinese teacher. She usually gives her students several pictures with different topics, such as sports, super stars, food and so on in each class and she puts those pictures on different desks. Students have 10 or more minutes to talk with a group about the picture they closed, usually 2 or 3 people in one group, and then rotate to other desks to talk about other pictures. The only concern that I might have is with the amount of time. Do the students stay in Chinese the entire time.

· Presentation Comm. Spoken: Creating a movie. The students can create their own movies based on the topics given by the teacher. Actually, creating a movie is one of the big projects of the class I teach this semester. My mentor has held this project for two years ago. Students are asked to create a movie which contains the knowledge they learned during the whole semester and present it at the end of the semester to their parents, teachers and guests. This is an excellent summative performance event. It would be great if you could share the project details and rubrics with the class.

Brittney McDuffee __Interpersonal Comm. Spoken__: Information gap activities with partners. I could use this activity with the use of new vocabulary words. One partner could have the words while the other would have the definitions and they would work together to pair them. __Interpersonal Comm. Written:__ A letter with an authentic purpose. I could use this activity in my class to have my students write a letter to someone who has had a big impact on their life. This could be incorporated on a holiday such as Día de las Madres (Mother’s day) to write to their mothers or an important woman in their life. To incorporate the language, they would have to write to a speaker of the language to make it an authentic task. __Interpretive Comm. Media:__ Students accessing podcasts or radio broadcasts. I would use this to incorporate technology and culture in the classroom. The podcasts/radio broadcasts could be used to introduce new vocabulary, a new theme, etc. __Interpretive Comm. Written:__ Reading current articles, events, magazines, etc. I would use these to engage students in what they are reading. Since they would already be somewhat familiar with the topics, it would decrease reading comprehension problems and hopefully give them more confidence. __Presentation Comm. Visual:__ Telling a short story based on a series of pictures. I like the idea of giving my students a series of pictures, letting them write their own creative story for them, and presenting their short story to the class. __Presentation Comm. Written:__ Writing a book. I would let my students choose a theme or two as a class and have each students write and illustrate a book that would go with the theme.

Interpersonal Communication (Spoken) : Information Gap Activity. One of the units I will be teaching is “Sports.” I could survey my students first about their favorite sport and put information into two set of cards. One set is written with “Eric likes play…”and the other set is written with the Chinese title of one kind of sport. Students need to go around asking classmates what their favorite sport is and try to match the cards.
 * Hui-Ching(Kayla) Hsu:**

** Interpersonal Communication (Written) ****: Writing Email and Letter. In the unit of “shopping”, I could let students write an email to the seller to complain about the merchandises. ** ** Interpretive Communication (Media): ****Public Announcement. Pretty soon I will be teaching “travel” unit, and I think it’s a good idea to find some airport announcements for my students. ** Airport announcements are hard in first language. ** Interpretive Communication (Written): ****Reading Puzzle (P60, example 2). For my Chinese II students who have a better reading ability, I think Reading Puzzle is a fun activity. I would find a simple article with vocabularies they have learned, and then cut the text into several pieces. I might provide a key word for each paragraph on the board. For example, first paragraph is about Lee’s family, second one is about his hobbies, and the third one is about his daily routine. Each student will get a piece of the article. First, they need to identify in which paragraph their piece fits. Second, they need to negotiate with their classmates whose piece falls into the same paragraph about the order of the sentences. **

** Presentational Communication (Spoken): ** Having a Debate. I think it is very challenging to arrange a debate using target language. When I teach the unit “Renting an Apartment,” I might ask my students to have a debate on “Which one is better when you go to college? Living in a dorm or renting an apartment off campus?”

** Presentational Communication (Written): ** Creating a Book. I will follow the 5-step writing process to guide students through the semester. I might tell them we will write a love story using the vocabularies they learn along the way. For example, when I teach the restaurant unit I will ask student to add one scene into the book; it might be the couple go on a date in a restaurant or the guy propose to the girl in a restaurant. The story line will keep changing with each unit, and it will be a pretty nice story book in the end of the semester. It's a good idea. Be sure to outline the entire project with the first episode of the story. Give some thought to how they will present the book. A site like titatok.com allows students to print a book for 2.99.

Pages 77 – 99__ Think of a typical textbook unit or topic. How does it compare to the thematic units described here?

Basically the difference to me is that textbooks or at least the one we use seem to provide the vocabulary and a grammar unit that fits with the topic. Take the topic of travel for example. Students can learn about means of transportation, items people travel with, verbs and the proper grammar to describe traveling. There are exercises for students to write about traveling or make up trips. However there are no opportunities for students to explore how travel has changed over the years. There is no real life activity for the students to go to DB website and "shop" for tickets to travel from point A to point B or to go to a Youth Hostel Website and see what it is like to make reservations and plan a trip. The textbook offers information and activities which merely introduce the students to the topic. There is not any real exploration that is taking place.
 * Kristen Weintraut:**


 * Being Authentic: Assessment Standards-Based Tasks in a Content-Based Curriculum**

If you have time, you may want to explore the website []. It does have unit and lesson suggestions in other languages. As you think about your learning scenario, be sure to consider the principles of content-based instruction: · long-term studies of a single topic that integrate international content; · exploration of vital guiding questions; · standards-based grading and reporting; · fieldwork; and · culmination of learning in a project, product, or performance

**Andrew:** I think the biggest problem with textbook units is that they very rarely provide opportunities for critical thinking. They do focus fairly well on communication, but unfortunately typically only on the interpersonal and interpretive modes rather than the presentational. I agree with Kristen that the textbook units often will organize the grammatical topics and vocabulary around some sort of theme, but it always seems a little bit…hokey. I think the textbook writers choose the grammar and the set of vocabulary that they want to “cover” in that chapter, then they choose a cultural theme of some sort that they then make fit into their specifications. With true thematic teaching, the theme is chosen first, and the grammar, culture, vocabulary, and all other language aspects are taught and learned as a necessary component to actually understanding and analyzing the theme that was chosen. This gives the students a true “need-to-know” for all of the L2 skills, because they are trying to analyze and solve some sort of problem or issue.

Yao Huang: I think the Chinese textbook I use now is a typical textbook topic. The textbook’s units were well organized with specific topics, for example, unit 1-Chiense Festivals, unit 2-Shopping in the Store. I totally agree with Andrew’s point that they do focus fairly well on communication, but rarely provide opportunities for critical thinking. The textbook I use now also choose a set of vocabulary that relates to the unit topic. And for the second and third section, it provides the grammars and cultures fit to the topic. The fourth section is called Challenge. It is an article contains more new words and also goes with the unit topic. I think for this part, it only mainly focuses on interpretive communication skill. In terms of the thematic teaching, as the article, AP Vertical Teams mentioned, themes includes a set of recommended contexts to provide flexibility in resource selection and instructional exploration. It should provide grand opportunities for students to practice critical thinking, three models of communication step by step. For example, it should not just simply teach students to speak, to write, to copy and repeat the dialogues with a unit topic, but choose a theme that can leads students to make easy comparisons, connections at the beginning level and leads students learn the language through the process of finding out problems and figuring out the ways to solve the problems in real life experiences to reach to the advanced level. I t

Brittney McDuffee The main difference between the units provided in the article and the units found in typical textbooks is the complexity of the topics. Both units in the article and units in typical textbooks provide topics that the students can relate to such as families, technology, etc., but the units mentioned in the article go into much more depth than topics in a typical textbook. “Contemporary life” incorporates much more current culture and direct connections to the target language than “travel” would in an ordinary textbook. Topics such as “personal and public identities” can challenge students to think more critically than topics such as “likes/dislikes.”


 * Hui-Ching(Kayla) Hsu:**

**Differences between typical textbook unit and thematic unit described in AP Vertical Team Article--** || Each unit usually comes with a fixed set of vocabulary list and dialogue. || Each of the themes includes a set of recommended contexts to provide flexibility in resources selection and instructional exploration. ||
 * Comparison ||  Textbook Unit  ||  Thematic Units  ||
 * Connection Between Units || Each unit in a textbook is usually not directly related to each other. For example, this lesson is about weather and next lesson is about sports. || Each unit covered in the same theme related to each other. “Activities built around the theme should build upon a foundation that scaffolds new information, taps into prior knowledge and allow students to move from one level to the next with relative ease.” (P78) ||
 * Context || Narrowed || More meaningful and broader. It can be linked to other subjects such as science or global challenges. ||
 * Flexibility


 * What topic/theme are you considering? **
 * Kristen:** I am thinking a possible idea for my German 1 class in the near future could be food/restaurants. It is the next chapter of our textbook so that could get us started and I could plan a project around the topic. By itself, food can be a narrow topic. You might want to expand the topic a bit - Food and Hunger, Food and Celebrations, Food and Health or a catchy title like "We are What We Eat". The expansion might cause you to combine the concepts from 2 chapters into one unit or might allow you to recycle previously learned material.


 * Andrew:**

The topic that I will be doing is going to be the German government, specifically how it functions and how the political parties operate, and how campaigns are run. My project ideas at this point are to have the students run an issue-based campaign, which will include posters, advertisements, speeches and debate. What level of German will this unit be for? The unit project has to one that is appropriate for the novice level, generally a level 1 or level 2 class. It's so much easier to do thematic project-based units at upper levels. The challenge is to be able to do it for students who do not have much German to use.

Yao Huang: The theme I'm considering is about Chinese Festivals. It is the new unit I am going to teach. This is a good topic for me to practice the thematic approaching. I will teach students basic and simple vocabularies related to festivals. And then, ask students to describe the festivals in their own words, compare and make connections between Chinese Festivals and their own festivals. In order to move to the advanced step, students can make some researches, such as which festivals celebrated by Chinese today are not originated from China, why Chinese celebrate those festivals nowadays.

Brittney: I am thinking about doing a unit on Spanish traditions (e.g. bull fighting, the flamenco, Spanish art, la Tomatina). The students could each pick a topic that is appealing to them to do a project on it. We'll have to talk more. Your unit will be a more traditional unit in terms of your teaching. It might lead to a summative presentation. I'll just need to hear more about what comes first.


 * Hui-Ching (Kayla) Hsu:**

For my PBL unit, I am going to ask my Chinese II students to interview native Chinese speaker on Ball State campus. The driving question is “How does it feel like for a Chinese-speaking student to study at BSU?” After the interview, they need to give some suggestions to BSU International Student Office on how BSU can provide an easier transition for Chinese students. If I have enough time (probably not), I really like to try Travis’s idea on having students to promote a travel attraction. This can certainly be an interpersonal task for the unit.