怎么/怎么这么 "How" Question Formation, Mandarin Chinese, Novice-Mid/High

Please Note: Many of the activities on the Pathways Project OER Repository were created by upper-division students at Boise State University and serve as a foundation that our community of practice can build upon and refine. While they are polished, we welcome and encourage collaboration from language instructors to help modify grammar, syntax, and content where needed. Kindly contact pathwaysproject@boisestate.edu with any suggestions and we will update the content in a timely manner.  — The Pathways Project

About the Boise State World Languages Resource Center (WLRC) Language Activity Repository

The activities provided by the Boise State World Languages Resource Center (WLRC) serve as foundational activities which can be adapted by any language and scaled up or down on the proficiency scale. Many of these activities offer an English Version that is “language-agnostic” to provide language instructors from around the country a platform to remix these instructional materials, infusing them with their target language and culture! The activities within the Pathways Project OER Repository seek to help students solidify their interpersonal speaking and interpretive skills through task-based situations or communicative activities. These activities should be facilitated in the target language for approximately 90% (or more), per the recommendation of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

How to use the WLRC Repository’s Activities:

1. Use the Activity as is:

Before you begin:

• Most activities are 30 minutes in duration, unless otherwise specified.
• Be sure to read through the activity description, and review the list of required materials. You will notice that the activity materials are also highlighted in yellow throughout the activity instructions.

If you have any suggestions about grammar, syntax, and content, please kindly contact pathwaysproject@boisestate.edu.

2. Remix for Your Language Classroom:

When you are ready to begin remixing the activity, in order to adapt it for the needs of your language classroom, simply click the blue “Remix This Resource” button at the top of your screen. This will then take you to a screen with a NEW, editable version of this activity. The text provided in purple is a suggestion of what you might say to your students in the target language, and may be altered for different levels and age groups. All activities have “NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do” statements, a warm-up, a main activity, and a wrap-up.

Many of the activities include printable cards and other instructional materials such as Google Slideshows. If you would like to make changes to these materials for your classroom, follow the instructions below:

• Google Slideshows:
  
• To begin, go to File -> Copy to create an editable version of the slideshow.
• Once finished with your changes, please complete the following steps to share:
• Click on Share
• Who Has Access
• Ensure link sharing is on and allow external access.
• Materials Saved as PDF: Please email pathwaysproject@boisestate.edu and we will provide you with an editable copy. Please allow up to two business days for a response. For YouTube videos and other websites, hyperlinks are provided. 
  

3. Adapt for Another Language:

• See the linked English Version at the top of the activity (English Version may not be available for all activities)

怎么/怎么这么 "How" Question Formation (Novice-Mid/High)

Description:

In this activity, students will practice using 怎么 and 怎么这么 to create “how” questions to describe how to do something and to create emphasis when asking how something could be a certain way. Students will use cards to help them build sentences.

Proficiency Level:

Novice Mid/High

Keywords:

China, vocabulary, games, language games, question formation, Chinese 

NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements:

• I can recognize and use the appropriate form of “how” in Chinese
  
• I can create short, creative, and spontaneous narrations
  
• I can give basic instructions about how to do something
  

NCSSFL-ACTFL World-Readiness Standards

• Standard 1.1 - Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions in Chinese
  
• Standard 1.2 - Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics in Chinese
  
• Standard 4.1 - Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of the Chinese language with their own

Idaho State World Language Standards:

• COMM 1.1 - Interact and negotiate meaning (spoken, signed, written conversation) to share information, reactions, feelings, and opinions
  
• COMM 2.1 - Understand, interpret, and analyze what is heard, read, or viewed on a variety of topics.
• COMP 1.2 - Identify patterns and explain discrepancies the sounds and the writing system in the target language.
• COMP 1.3 - Compare and analyze idiomatic expressions in the target language.
  

Materials Needed:

Google Slideshow

怎么/怎么这么 Card

People Cards

Verb Cards

Adjective Cards

Warm-up

Main Activity

1. Spread the different colored cards out on the table in front of the group. Yellow cards are people, purple are location, blue are verb/activities, green are adjectives
   
   
2. Students will randomly pair up each round to ask each other questions
   
   
3. Start with a random student. The lab instructor will hold up the 怎么 card, showing the student which form of 怎么 they will use
   
   
4. The student will then use the cards in front of them to ask another student a question using the correct 怎么 construction they have been given. The other student can use the cards that are in front of them to formulate their answer, or come up with their own answer that correctly responds to the question.
   For Example: A student pulls the People Card for Xi Jinping, and the Location Card for School. The student might say:
   习近平每天很晚来学校。他怎么去学校？他每天怎么都这么晚？
   Xi Jinping is late to school everyday. How does he go to school? How is he so late every day?
   
   
5. It is now the turn of the student who was asked a question to ask a new student a question using 怎么. The lab instructor will randomly flip the 怎么 paddle in between questions so that students have the opportunity to create sentences with both usage forms
   
   
6. Let students know they are encouraged to use the cards as a guide, but can bring in any other verbs, nouns, or adjectives they would like to use! The cards and example questions in the Google Slideshow are a guide if they get stuck, but they don't have to limit themselves to the cards in front of them.
   

End of lab:

• Read Can-Do statements once more and have students evaluate their confidence. 
(Use thumbs up/thumbs down or download our student cards.) 
• Encourage students to be honest in their self-evaluation.
• Pay attention, and try to use feedback for future labs!

NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements:

• I can recognize and use the appropriate form of “how” in Chinese
  
• I can create short, creative, and spontaneous narrations
  
• I can give basic instructions about how to do something
  

Where are we? Rate yourself on the weekly Can-Do Statements using this scale: I get it!, I got it!, I kind of get it..., I don't get it...