It is my great honor to present the Second Place Award for Outstanding Lesson Design and Demonstration Teaching.

Her lesson, designed for upperclassmen at the Advanced-Low proficiency level, focuses on introducing students to Chinese philosophy, specifically Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. The instructional content is both ambitious and thoughtfully executed, inviting students to engage deeply with complex ideas while using the target language in meaningful ways.

What truly distinguishes this lesson is its innovative instructional design and strong integration of language, culture, and higher-order thinking. Through the effective use of visuals, sentence frames, and carefully guided questions, this teacher provides clear and purposeful scaffolding that enables students to compare philosophical traditions, express interpretations, and explain ideas in their own words.

The lesson is highly interactive. Frequent partner discussions, group presentations, and student-led explanations result in consistent and confident use of Chinese. Students are not simply learning about philosophy—they are actively using language to think, communicate, and reflect.

As judges, we were especially impressed by the high level of student engagement, the clear instructional structure, and the meaningful opportunities for interpersonal communication throughout the lesson. In her reflection, This Teacher highlights her intentional instructional choices. She emphasizes connecting learning tasks so that students experience spiral growth in both speaking and writing. While the provided materials, such as PPT slides, served as support, the lesson's true focus was guiding students to develop an awareness of language use through authentic communication. She also notes her commitment to increasing interpersonal communication, collecting student writing as evidence of learning, and paying close attention to character accuracy. This fabulous educator also shared thoughtful insight into her video submission, explaining the challenges of capturing a long class period while remaining faithful to authentic teaching and learning. The moments selected clearly showcase students’ language growth, and we appreciate her transparency and professionalism in presenting her work.

Overall, this lesson reflects excellent pedagogy, reflective practice, and a deep commitment to student-centered language learning. It is a powerful example of how rigorous content, cultural understanding, and communicative competence can come together in a highly effective

classroom.

Please join me in congratulating Ms. Wei Wei of Riverton High School in Utah, our Second Place Award recipient. 恭喜韦薇老师！

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This lesson turns Chinese philosophy into real-life communication practice. Students use Chinese to interpret scenarios, discuss their own experiences, and present their personal management style. The tasks build true communicative ability by connecting 儒、道、法 with how people lead, communicate, and solve problems in daily life.

If I teach this lesson again, I would give students more real-life scenarios to analyze, add more structured speaking time, and provide clearer sentences to support interpersonal communication.