The Chinese Lisening Coaching Program ties into a larger learning support system. Listening is just one important component of our overall language program.
This course will engage in multiple formats of listening, defined in simple terms here:
Slow listening is exposure ensuring every word is understood, to help language acquisition in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary, and word-order (grammar)
Natural listening is immersive exposure that expects not every word is understood, to help with:
getting comfortable with natural language usage situations;
listening for main ideas;
making guesses about meaning in real time, updating guesses as time goes on;
hearing fast versions of words; just like the normal way Americans say auhoh? as not simply a sped-up version of I...don...t...know--entire consonant sounds are left out in the fast version.
Problems identified in our classroom have shown students often avoiding listening (both formats), instead "gaming the system" for two goals: (1) getting the desired grade, (2) spending minimal time. These goals are understandable in the context of having so much to do for school every day. The resulting process often includes:
"cramming" as close to the graded task as possible, such as the night before and minutes before;
relying on text documents to study while avoiding any form of ear training with the audio files
scanning for unique words to use as clues to look for during the graded task;
getting meaning almost exclusively through the given English support;
leaving the room, or generally disengaging, when we do listening activities during class time
Our Chinese Reading Coaching Program addresses the above problem--avoiding reading--by providing routine opportunities for teacher-supported reading. The teacher asks questions about facts, inferences, and organization in the text.
Listening activities will include:
Class warm up, teacher Q&A about today's date, school events, etc.
Procedural talk, where we get into classroom routines understood through hearing Mandarin
Vocab prep, slow and targeted usage of key terms coming up in a "text" (print, video, audio)
Picture Talk, such as "Step in, Step out, Step back" thinking routine
Listen and discuss, focused on a multimedia text (video or audio), involving lots of replays