Ohio’s K-4 Content-Enriched Mandarin Chinese Curriculum and Professional Development Modules

Welcome to Ohio’s K-4 Content-Enriched Mandarin Curriculum. This project was funded in 2006-2009 through a U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant with matching funds from the Ohio Department of Education.

For copies of all materials, please email WorldLanguages@education.ohio.gov 

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Project Goals

The goals for our K-4 Content-Enriched Mandarin Curriculum Project were to:

1. Develop an age-appropriate Chinese language program that reinforces content and skills from the regular curriculum and spirals vocabulary, sentence patterns and cultural content so that all children can be successful learning Chinese;
2. Build the capacity of teachers to use the curriculum and to adapt it for their particular teaching settings through Web-based professional development modules;
3. Pilot the curriculum in 10 Ohio sites to garner feedback to revise the curriculum for wider distribution; and
4. Establish a network of elementary Chinese language teachers to support professional growth and the exchange of ideas during the pilot phase of the project.

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Professional Development Modules to Understand our Curriculum

These modules may be used by individual teachers or form the basis of group discussion around implementing high-quality elementary Chinese programs. 

To make the most of the K-4 Content-Enriched Mandarin Chinese Curriculum, it is helpful to understand the guiding principles of this project. These include:

• The curriculum is based on 90 minutes of instruction per week in grades K-4;
• All children can be successful learning a second language to the extent that they can learn their first language;
• Explicit grammar instruction is not appropriate for young children;
• This curriculum is designed for non-heritage speakers of Mandarin Chinese;
• Content-enriched instruction reinforces concepts and skills across the curriculum while developing language proficiency;
• Backward Design enables us to work towards specific performance outcomes;
• While the focus in early grades is on oracy, it is important to develop literacy skills as well; and
• The appropriate use of technology can enhance an elementary Mandarin Chinese program.

Each of the five modules provides further explanations about the guiding principles of this curriculum. Completing the suggested activities and consulting the additional resources will deepen understanding, help advocate for a program with a variety of stakeholders, and create an enjoyable program of study for your learners.

Module One

• Overview
• Ohio's Learning Standards for K-12 World Languages

Module Two

• Content Enriched Instruction

Module Three

• Backward Design

Module Four

• Developing Oracy and Literacy Skills
• Reading and Writing in Elementary Chinese Programs

Module Five

• Using Technology to Enhance Your Program

Assessing Student Performance

As outlined in the Backward Design professional development module, all of the units “begin with the end in mind.” The unit assessments allow students to demonstrate what they know and can do in Chinese in relation to unit performance outcomes. Scoring guidelines accompany many of the tasks.

Teachers who understand standards-based instruction will comprehend the unit performance outcomes and assessments with ease. Elementary learners, however, need language more suited to their cognitive abilities. By creating can-do statements tied to the formal unit outcomes, students will be able to maintain a yearly record of their accomplishments and identify areas for improvement.

create a checklist for learners with the following child-friendly language:

	I can do	I can do with help	This is a goal
I can say hello to a friend.
I can tell someone my name.
I can ask someone how she or he is feeling.
I can show how to use chopsticks.

Children demonstrate what they can do with language during units of instruction through a variety of activities and media. With teacher help, even primary children can participate in self-assessment activities to track their progress in Chinese. 

In addition to unit performance assessments and periodic self-assessment, teachers may also choose to develop a program summative assessment to document student performance on a yearly basis and/or after five years of instruction. This assessment should be based on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Integrated Performance Assessment model. Learners complete interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational tasks. First, they demonstrate comprehension by extracting key information from oral, written or visual texts. Next, they exchange information or express feelings and emotions based on the information. Finally, they present information in novel ways to an audience of listeners, readers or viewers.

While classroom assessment represents the main avenue through which to track student performance, it also is desirable to use nationally recognized valid and reliable instruments to assess student proficiency at key program intervals. There are three existing assessments for your consideration.

The Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) developed the Early Language Listening and Oral Proficiency Assessment (ELLOPA) for use with PreK-2 students and the Student Oral Proficiency Assessment (SOPA) for use with K-8 students. Both assessments allow learners to demonstrate their highest level of performance in oral fluency, grammar, vocabulary and listening comprehension. Two trained test administrators engage pairs of students in interactive listening and speaking assessments conducted in the target language.

The Center for Applied Second Language Study (CASLS) at the University of Oregon developed the National Online Early Language Learning Assessment (NOELLA) in partnership with CAL and language teachers from a six-state consortium (Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, South Carolina, Virginia and Wyoming). The computer-based assessment targets the interpretive (reading and listening) and presentational (speaking and writing) modes of communication.

Used together, the NOELLA and the SOPA or ELLOPA provide a complete picture of proficiency across all three modes of communication. To learn more about these assessments, visit http://www.cal.org/. Visit the journal of the National Network for Early Language Learning (NNELL) at  http://www.nnell.org/.

K-4 Content-Enriched Curriculum

Once teachers have completed the five professional development modules, they are ready to access the K-4 units and adapt them to their teaching situation. 

It is recommended that teachers use the units in each grade level in the order that they are posted. This will enable the purposeful spiraling and recycling of vocabulary and sentence patterns across our units.

As mentioned in the Overview professional development module, this curriculum is based on the assumption that classes meet for 30 minutes, three times a week. If the time allocation is different, the teacher will need to do fewer or more of the daily activities during each class session. 

For copies of all materials, please email WorldLanguages@education.ohio.gov 

Kindergarten	Grade 1	Grade 2	Grade 3	Grade 4
Greetings!	Things in my Backpack	Movements and Directions	Getting to Know You	Making Friends and Sharing Likes and Dislikes
Classroom and Courtesy Expressions	Things in My Classroom	More Numbers and Calendar	Shopping for School Supplies	Folktale for Autumn Festival
Numbers 1-10	Meet My Grandparents	Mid-Autumn Festival	My School Schedule	Expressing Time
Calendar	What I Like to Eat and Drink	Rooms In My School	Dining Out for Grandma's Birthday	Household Chores
My Family	Chinese New Year	Snack Foods	Transportation	I Don't Feel Well!
Pets and Animals	Chinese Zodiac Animals	Pastimes and Hobbies	New Year	Daily Routine
Colors and Fruits	Describing Family and Friends	Expressing My Emotions	Welcome to My Home	Eating Healthy Lunches
Weather and Seasons	Shapes and Sizes	More Pets and Animals	Weather and Activities	Getting Ready
Our Bodies	My Room	Clothing	My Friend	Let's Go Shopping!
	More Weather and Seasons	My House	Places in My Neighborhood	An Original Play
	Pastimes and Sports	Chinese World	Mother's Day (Filial Piety)
		Dragon Boat Festival	What I See in Nature

 

Last Modified: 1/28/2025 7:54:44 PM

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