WL Self Assessment Circles Intermediate Low

Research shows that engaging students in self-assessment positively impacts language learning, motivation, and learner autonomy. To help World Language Educators accomplish this, the Nebraska Department of Education invited experienced world language teachers across the state to create student-friendly assessments in the form of can-do statements in the summer of 2022.  This document is a student-friendly self-assessment activity for Intermediate Low world language learners created based on the 2019 Nebraska World Language Standards. The language use described in all can-do statements is meant for the target language, except for the second for standard 3.1 and the first for standard 4.2.  It is recommended that word language teachers engage students with this document three times in an academic year: pre-course, mid-course, and post-course. Engaging students with this self-assessment activity will help students see growth over time and hopefully attribute growth to effective learning practices. Please feel free to contact chrystal.liu@nebraska.gov for any questions and concerns.

Material Type: Assessment

Authors: Kelleen Rosebaugh, Chrystal Liu, Nick Ziegler, Janet Eckerson, Chun-Yi Coral Su

Strategy Guide: Using Partner Talk to Strengthen Student Collaboration and Understanding

In this strategy guide, you’ll learn about Partner Talk—a way to provide students with another learning opportunity to make learning their own through collaboration and discussion. Partner Talk can be used for assessing classwork, making connections to prior knowledge, discussing vocabulary, or simplifying concepts. One of the main goals of the English Language Arts Common Core Standards is to build natural collaboration and discussion strategies within students, helping to prepare them for higher levels of education and collaboration in the workforce. In today’s classrooms, students are using complex texts and are being asked to use a variety of strategies and provide evidence-based responses. Partner Talk is a best practice that gives students an active role in their learning and scaffold the experience for students.

Material Type: Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Traditional Celebrations

Typical celebrations include annual holidays or special events in one's life.  Some of these special events can include weddings or other religious events such as baptisms or bar mitzvahs.  Special events can also include special days or parties such as a Quinceañera.  A Quinceañera can be compared to a Sweet 16; however, it is celebrated on a fifteenth birthday. In this seminar read more about a Quinceañera and the details of this typical celebration.ACTFL StandardsCommunication: Interpersonal Communication, Presentational CommunicationCultures: Relating Cultural Practices to PerspectivesCommunities: School and Global CommunitiesLearning TargetI can write about a typical celebration.Habits of MindCreating, imagining, innovatingCritical Thinking SkillConstruct Meaning 

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: IU8 Author

Food (Health)

This OER Lesson Plan Foods (Health) was created by Kelly Garcia as part of the 2024 World Language OER Summer work and training. Educators worked with Chrystal Liu, Nick Ziegler and Dorann Avey to create OER Learning Plans and materials. The attached Lesson Plan is designed for 9 - 12 World Language/ELL/ESL teachers for student learning of Mid-High Novice Learners. Students will evaluate and compare the elements of a healthy lunch and compare school lunches around the world. Students will also create their own school lunch plan based on healthy choices. The lesson plan is written in English for adaptation to any target language. This Lesson Plan addresses the following NDE World Language Standard(s): NE 1.1b, 1.3b, 1.4b, 3.2bIt is expected that this Lesson Plan will take students 60 minutes to complete.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Authors: Kelly Garcia, Chrystal Liu

Dumplings

This OER "Dumplings" was created by Chen Zhang as part of the 2024 World Language OER Summer work and training. Educators worked with Chrystal Liu, Nick Ziegler, and Dorann Avey to create OER Learning Plans and materials. The attached activity is designed for 9-12 World Language Arts teachers for Novice Learners of Chinese. Students will explore the history, cultural significance, and preparation methods of Chinese dumplings, or "jiǎozi," including boiled, steamed, and shallow-fried varieties. They will analyze the origin and development of dumplings, build background knowledge to understand their cultural context and use relevant evidence from various sources to assist in their analysis and reflection. This activity addresses the following NDE World Language Standard(s): NE WL 12.1.6b, NE WL 12.1.6l, and NE WL 12.1.6o. It is expected that this activity will take students 90 minutes to complete.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Chen Zhang

Technology/Innovation-Venn Diagram

Overview: This OER Presentational Activity - Venn Diagram was created by Shan Li  and as part of the 2024 World Language OER Summer work and training. Educators worked with Chrystal Liu, Nick Zeigler and Dorann Avey to create OER Learning Plans and materials. The attached Lesson Plan activity is designed for 9 - 12 World Language Arts teachers for student learning of Novice High Learners of Chinese. Students will do group discussion and share their ideas in class by using Venn Diagram to do their presentational activities. They can discuss pros, cons of the technology use, compare their interesting topic use between their own country and the target language countries. Topics students can use in discuss such as: reviews of online comments, technollogy use in two countries, movie, digital money, etc. Also, teachers can use this as interpersonal activities beyond this presentational acitivity. This Lesson Plan addresses the following NDE World Language Standard(s): NE: 1.1  1.2. 1.3  NE: 2.1  2.2 NE: 3.1 NE; 4.2. It is expected that this Lesson Plan will take students 45 minutes to complete.    

Material Type: Diagram/Illustration, Lesson

Authors: Shan Li, Chrystal Liu

Music, Mandarin Chinese, Intermediate-Low

In this activity students will view a few music videos from various Chinese artists in different musical genres. After each video, students will engage in a short discussion about similarities and differences in the genres between American and Chinese music.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Amber Hoye, Hannah Steiner, Camille Daw, Mimi Fahnstrom

Lunar New Year, Mandarin Chinese, Intermediate-Low

In this activity, students will plan a menu for a Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner using clues about individual dishes cultural significance. Students will read aloud the descriptions of the dishes, and then choose which ones they would want to include in their banquet to best align with traditional Chinese New Years Eve conventions.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Amber Hoye, Hannah Steiner, Camille Daw, Mimi Fahnstrom

Animals of the Chinese Zodiac

In this lesson plan, students will learn about the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. In the introductory first lesson, they will see how animals are often used as symbols. In the second lesson, they will hear one of several versions of how the 12 animals were chosen. They will then focus upon a few of the animals in the story and see how they can be used as symbols of certain human characteristics. In the third lesson, they will be introduced to the other animals of the zodiac, and they will be given a chart on which they will assign traits to each animal. Then they will consult a number of websites to find the traits traditionally associated with the animals, which they will add to their list. Then, they will come up with a number of ways to compare and contrast the animals in the list. In the third lesson, they will focus upon the animal associated with the year of their birth, learning about its traits and discussing whether or not these apply to themselves and their peers. Finally, each student will make an acrostic, combining the letters of his or her first name with adjectives that relate to his or her zodiac sign.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Homework/Assignment, Lesson Plan

Asking About Nationality, Mandarin Chinese, Novice Low

In this activity, students will practice asking someone they meet where they are from and their nationality. Students will start by asking each other what country they are from, and then each student will be given a country card at random. Students will then practice asking and answering questions about various nationalities.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Amber Hoye, Derek Cross, Hannah Steiner, Camille Daw, Mimi Fahnstrom

Shared Chinese I

OER coursework for Chinese I

Material Type: Module

Hobbies, Mandarin Chinese, Novice Low

In this activity students will practice discussing their likes, dislikes, and hobbies. Students will play charades to help reinforce vocabulary. Students will then use the charades cards to discuss their favorite hobbies and ask one another about which hobbies and activities they enjoy.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Amber Hoye, Hannah Steiner, Camille Daw, Mimi Fahnstrom

Meeting with Friends, Mandarin Chinese, Novice Low/Novice Mid

In this activity students will practice creating short narratives in Chinese by creating a mad-libs like story. Students will take turns picking cards from different categories to fit together in a short story. Students will then share their short story out loud. Students will also read invitations for different types of parties and answer comprehension questions.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Amber Hoye, Hannah Steiner, Camille Daw, Mimi Fahnstrom

e·Chinese Tools: Digital Tools for Teaching and Learning Chinese

Nowadays, the use of technologies is deeply embedded in the teaching and learning of foreign languages. Therefore, students and teachers are compelled to continuously update their digital skills. Moreover, the need for online teaching has been spurred by the COVID pandemics, which has posed new challenges in this regard. When searching for online tools, one of the main difficulties is the vast amount and disparity of resources available to both teachers and students, who often feel overwhelmed due to the lack of time or assessment criteria. In such cases, the potential of existing resources remains largely unexplored. In this context, we developed an online open access database of digital resources for Teaching and Learning Chinese as a Foreign Language. It includes a collection of metadata to satisfy users with different profiles and needs. In sum, we set up a multilingual (Catalan, Spanish, English and Chinese) and dynamic website, which can be useful for both teachers and learners who, in turn, will be able to enrich it through different types of feedback. Check our website and subscribe to our newsletter to be informed of the latest resources added to the database.

Material Type: Primary Source

Authors: Antonio Paoliello, Helena Casas-Tost, Mireia Vargas-Urpí, Sara Rovira-Esteva

Music & Culture, Mandarin Chinese, Novice-High

In this activity students will view a few music videos from various Chinese artists in different musical genres. After each video, students will engage in a short discussion about similarities and differences in the genres between American and Chinese music.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Amber Hoye, Hannah Steiner, Camille Daw, Mimi Fahnstrom

Appointments by Phone, Mandarin Chinese, Novice Low-mid

In this activity, students will practice answer the phone and having a conversation in Chinese, using mannerisms common in Chinese. They will practice trying to make plans with someone over the phone, explaining their schedule, and politely accepting or declining an invitation.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Amber Hoye, Derek Cross, Hannah Steiner, Camille Daw, Mimi Fahnstrom

Chinese Take-In

Chinese Take-In provides an interactive environment where first-year Chinese learners can practice listening outside the classroom according to individual needs and paces while receiving immediate feedback.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Teng, Wen-Hua

German Level 4, Activity 05: Alltag und Aberglaube / Everyday Life and Superstition (Online)

In this activity, students will talk about their everyday life and discuss the differences between life in Germany and in their own culture.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Shawn Moak, Mimi Fahnstrom, Amber Hoye

Lions, Dragons, and Nian: Animals of the Chinese New Year

The most important festival in the Chinese calendar is the New Year or Spring Festival. One of the annual events used to commemorate the festival is a colorful parade complete with animated dragon and lion figures. In the first activity the student will learn the major differences between Eastern and Western dragons and discover why Eastern dragons are associated with Chinese New Year. They will hear a story about how the dragons came to rule major rivers of China. In the second activity, they will also learn about the Chinese New Year Dragon Parade and discover why firecrackers are used to drive off evil spirits, especially one called the Nian. In the third activity the students will see images of parading dragons, including sound-enhanced video and read poems about the New Year. In the fourth lesson the students will discover that the Chinese lion has imaginary characteristics similar to the dragon. They will view images of the lion and hear about how this highly stylized beast once fought the ferocious Nian. They will learn about the lion dancers in the New Year parade and compare them to the dragon dancers. Finally they will make their own lion masks.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Los mejores conjuntos (Best outfits)

This OER activity was created by Anita Saalfeld and reviewed by Chrystal Liu as part of the 2023 World Language OER Summer work and training. Educators worked with NDE staff to create OER Learning Plans and materials. The attached activity is designed for 9 - 12 World Language teachers for students at Novice Mid to Intermediate Mid proficiency level in Spanish. Students will shop on a Spanish-language website to create an outfit, and then they will vote on their favorite outfits across a variety of categories. This activity addresses the following NDE World Language Standard(s): NE WL 1.2 and NE WL 4.2.It is expected that this activity will take students about 15-20 minutes to complete.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Anita Saalfeld, Chrystal Liu