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|  | As part of an overseas experience for Chinese teachers sponsored by Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program, members of the CLASS (Chinese Language Association for Secondary-Elementary Schools) project development team decided that it would be a worthwhile idea to require teachers to write thematic units to enhance their teaching practices. The summer program was geared toward providing teachers with knowledge about the national Standards for Foreign Language Teaching (the Five C's—Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities) and how they fit into both the teaching of Chinese and good teaching practices in general as well as providing teachers with information on the new, emerging country of China.
Months before teachers met in China to being the program, they were assigned articles to read. In the first year of the program (2002), teachers were sent emails with sites to visit that discussed the national Foreign Language Standards and good teaching practices. Teachers were instructed to read the material and answer specific questions about the material and how it applied to their teaching. While on site at the Beijing Language and Cultural University, teachers were assigned chapters from the textbook by Curtain and Pesola, Languages and Children: Making the Match (1994). In the second summer program, teachers were sent copies of the text Teacher's handbook: Contextualized language Instruction (2nd edition), by Shrum and Glisan, ahead of time and assigned chapter to read and comment, also in an on-line format. The on-line forum presented an opportunity for teachers who are often isolated in a school to converse with other teachers on important topics. Chinese teachers often had other foreign language colleagues in their school, but rarely another Chinese teacher colleague; therefore, when they wanted to discuss an important point about Chinese structures, they had no one to turn to. This forum opened the door to new partners for communication.
Beforehand, teachers were provided with and agreed to guidelines for discussing material on the Internet. Here are the guidelines presented to all teachers:
Online Discussion Guidelines for Chinese Fulbright Overseas Experience
- In principle, a reading assignment will reach you on Friday for the next eight weeks. This will give you time to read the materials during the weekends. You will receive an assignment on April 9th, April 23rd, May 7th, and May 21st.
- All participants must respond to all questions within 10 days of the posting of the assignments that is by the Monday of the following week.
- Key questions will be posted along with the reading materials. They should help you focus on reading, reflecting, and connecting to your own experiences.
- Everyone must respond to these questions with at least a paragraph or two expressing your thoughts in English. When Chinese characters are used, please provide the Pinyin or Romanized form for teachers whose computers can't read Chinese characters.
- Please only use the group e-mail at classfulbrightgroup@yahoogroups.com to communicate your thoughts and get into the online discussion. Our online group is not to be used as a chat room or for instant messages; it to be used for regular emailing of items pertaining to our study.
- Reactions to others' assignments should be polite but critical. Do not simply say, "I agree with so-and-so," unless you have further insights to add. Disagreeing with someone's ideas (including the researchers') is welcomed but must be supported by evidence and additional data. We welcome the questioning of theory; such questioning is good and should lead to healthy discussion.
Also, before teachers arrived in China, they were asked to commit to an idea for developing a thematic unit. Information on writing thematic units was found in both textbooks and was provided to teachers during their four-week overseas experience. In Curtain & Pesola's book, the information is found on pages 199–214. In Shrum and Glisan's book, teachers were directed to Chapter 2. In addition to providing templates (see Appendix A) and models for teachers to follow, the project director created a time table with opportunities for all teachers to meet with curriculum specialists to discuss their ideas and brainstorm methods for bringing their desired outcomes into practice.
Curtain and Pesola (1994) describe thematic teaching as a framework that "provides context for concepts and activities through their relationship to a thematic center" (p. 199). The thematic center was developed through use of a web (p. 202–203). Teachers were given models of webs that they could use so that they understood that the goal was to build toward the center. Sometimes the center was a piece of authentic literature, such as a short story, poem, or book, and sometimes it was an authentic piece of culture, such as a song/opera, garden style, or an actual experience.
By using webs, teachers saw the inter-relationship of teaching grammar/structures with meaningful content. In order to get students to be able to process the authentic material that was at the center of the unit, teachers needed to instruct students in the linguistic information that would culminate in their being able to interpret the authentic material. Thus, lessons were looked at as moving students toward a goal of being able to process more profound linguistic material rather than as isolated components.
There were times during the four weeks that teachers realized that their center needed to be moved. Sometimes the "topic" that they had come up with was either too narrow or too broad to serve as a center. During the whole overseas experience, teachers were very fortunate to be able to develop thematic units with others. Groups were formed in which participants shared their thoughts and learned from others. When explaining the webs, often other teachers would point out related material; the whole experience grew richer because colleagues were able to share with and help other colleagues.
Teachers were also given a copy of Curtain and Pesola's (1994) Thematic Unit Inventory (p. 204, Appendix A). The Inventory required teachers to determine the following areas that would form the major parts of the unit: language function, subject content, culture, structures and grammar, vocabulary, materials, and lesson topics/activities/performances. The standards, outcomes, and assessment were also placed into the Thematic Unit Inventory so that teachers would conceptualize the unit from beginning (standards) to the end (outcomes and assessments).
Teachers in the program were asked to produce a unit cover page that included the following four items: title of the unit, author's full name (i.e., the teacher's name), level (either elementary grade level or class level of Chinese I, II, III, or IV) and proficiency level from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).
Once the overall framework of the unit was developed to the satisfaction of the teachers and the curriculum specialists ("coaches") who accompanied the group, teachers worked to flesh out the units by creating daily lesson plans. Once again, teachers were given a model for lesson plans. In the lesson plans, teachers were instructed to include the following:
Format for the Lesson Plan
- Situating the Lesson: This will include background information, where the lesson fits in the unit, and what the lesson is about.
- Standards: Please use the national standards. Write out the numbers and the full sentence of the standard.
- Objectives: There are two kinds of objectives
- Language Objectives: Discuss the vocabulary and structures that students will learn to use.
- Culture Objectives: Discuss what cultural aspects of Chinese life are included in the lesson.
- Materials Needed
- Procedures and Activities: This includes the steps for planning and implementing the lesson. Please be as detailed as possible and be sure to include the sheets necessary to complete the lesson.
- Assessment and Evaluation: Make sure to create a performance-based assessment. Not every lesson will have a formal assessment; sometimes the closure to the lesson consists of asking students to reflect on what they have learned. That also is a form of assessment.
- Resources: Any additional learning/teaching materials or supplies. Also include the activity sheets.
- Extension Activity: If you can think of a way to extend your lesson, please include it in this section.
In addition, the lesson cover page needed to include the following information: title of the lesson, author's full name, grade level, proficiency level, targeted standards and the time frame for the lesson (for example, one 45-minute period).
The outcomes and assessments that teachers developed for their units were varied. Included in all units were informal assessments that sometimes required students to follow teacher's oral directions or for students to report orally before the class. More formal assessments included the possibility of students creating their own books/stories to be read by other members of the class at the end of the unit.
Thematic unit writing had a profound effect on teachers in the overseas program. They began to look at materials and experiences in a totally different light as they traveled through the country. For example, drinking tea (one of the thematic units developed in 2004 centered on tea) took on new meaning. The teacher who developed that unit focused on the importance of tea from a historical perspective as well as an economic one and explored ways that tea has served both social and culinary purposes in other cultures. The overall effect was that the thematic units created resulted in improved teaching that consistently encompassed all of the 5 C's of the Standards for Language Learning in the 21st Century.
References:
Curtain, H., & Pesola, C. 1994. Languages and children: Making the match.
Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project. 1999. Standards for
Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century. Lawrence, Kansas: Allen Press.
Shrum, J., & Glisan, E. 2000. Teacher's handbook: Contextualized Language
Instruction (2nd Edition). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
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