Day and Date: 2022.09.06
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Advanced
Class theme/topics discussed: 传统节日 Traditional Festivals
Goal of the class:
By the end of this class, students will learn more about Mid-Autumn Festival and the stories and legends of it. By the end of the class, they are expected to make a video to families and friends and send their best wishes to them.
How did you structure the class?
- Warm-up: Labor Day
Where did you go? What did you do?
- Do you know which Festival is coming soon in China?
- When is Mid-Autumn Festival? & How do Chinese people celebrate it? – Top Activities & Traditions
- Stories & Legends of Mid-Autumn Festival
- 嫦娥奔月 ‘Chang E Flying to the Moon’
- 玉兔捣药 Rabbit in the Moon
- 吴刚伐桂 Wu Gang Chops the Tree
- 朱元璋和月饼起义Zhu Yuanzhang and Moon Cake Uprising
- What phrases do people usually use for this Festival?
Make a lantern!
- Make a video to your family/friend and give him/her your best wishes on this festival.
写一段祝福，并录下来，发送给你的老师/朋友
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
PowerPoint slides
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
Things that worked well:
The class went really well! Since I had some inventories(lanterns) from last semester’s study break, and I only got 2 students in this group, an idea popped up just before the class began: why not making lanterns, writing wishes on them & making videos to loved ones(families/friends)? So I added two slides of lantern-making traditions and did this activity in class. It went so well! I think my students love it!
The thing that did not work:
Actually everything worked really well. The students were not as shy as last week and I could see that they engaged more and more in this class. We had a conversation about their Labor Day break at the beginning of the class and they even started making jokes about each other. At the end of the class they asked me to airdrop them the videos and I think one student actually sent the video to her mom. Since I had the experience from last semester that the stories maybe too hard for them to understand, so instead of showing the videos on Youtube, I told the stories myself with easier sentences and phrases(+ an amount of body language). So I think they understood the cultural background and the stories really well.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
I’d say nothing much. Just this class would probably only works for a small group of students. Any class with more than 5 may not work as well.
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well.