The Use of Blended Learning Model in Hanzi Teaching and Learning

The Use of Blended Learning Model in Hanzi Teaching and Learning is conceptualised with the purpose of helping students make their learning to read and write Chinese characters (Hànzì) more personal and effective. It was an innovative project developed by a team led by Senior Teacher of Fuhua Primary School

Fuhua Primary School leverages ICT tools to help students learn Hànzì through a blended learning model. Students embark on their individual self-directed online learning by completing the interactive video lesson together with their parents at home. The interactive online lesson enables the students to visualise how the characters evolve（演变）from pictorial to semantics. In addition, students can also receive immediate feedback after each assignment. Students has control over their pace of learning before joining the face-to-face (F2F) discussions in class to co-construct knowledge with their classmates. The data analytics aspect of this project also allows the teachers to effectively monitor their students’ progress and close their learning gaps in subsequent lessons. Findings from the implementation phase in 2017 showed that all learners have made significant improvement in word recognition and writing of the Hànzì. Teachers also observed that students were also more motivated and engaged when they shared what they had learned at home during the F2F lessons in class.

With the support from West Zone ICT Scaling and Transference Seed (STS) Fund, Fuhua Primary started to collaborate with Qifa Primary School and Lakeside Primary School from 2018 for the adoption and adaption of this impactful ICT pratices.

Fuhua Primary School, as the leading school of the project, has organized number of sharing session, workshop and open classroom sessions for the teams from Qifa Primary School and Lakeside Primary School to learn the lesson design structure and also technics to build up learning recourses. The exchange among 3 schools’ teachers are rich. It is build up a community that focus on how to use ICT to make student’s Hanzi learning more personal.

For Qifa Primary School and Lakeside Primary School, they have rolled out the resources building and lesson design and implementation in their school. Teachers also observed that students were also more motivated and engaged when they shared what they had learned at home during the F2F lessons in class.