Building an Effective Chinese Immersion Classroom

MATC Synthesis Paper

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

Master of Arts Degree in Teaching and Curriculum
Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University

Yifei Yuan
PID A58084486
Spring, 2021
 Before I began my MATC learning journey, I had already taken part in the

Chinese Language Teacher Certification Program(CLPCT) at Michigan State

University. During my first year in the CLPCT program, I worked at an International

Baccalaureate(IB) school that offers a two-way immersion program, which means that

I would partner up with a western teacher and shared two classes of students. My

position was kindergarten Chinese immersion teacher, and I taught all subject areas,

including Chinese Language Art, Math, Social Study, and Science.

I obtained my bachelor's degree in Music Education in China, and I completed

my four-month internship at an elementary school. I taught and engaged with third to

fifth-grade students and gained helpful teaching experiences and classroom

management skills before coming to the United States. Therefore, I was confident and

full of hope. However, teaching kindergarten was way more challenging than I

imagined. Growing up in China, I became accustomed to teacher-centered learning.

Therefore, it took me a while to adapt the student-centered learning module and the

IB framework. I remember that my first two months of teaching kindergarten were

extremely stressful. Most of the time, I would stay in my classroom after work, reflect

with my mentor and partner teacher. After the reflection, I would go home and cried a

little bit because of things that didn't work out during the day, and then spent hours

reflecting by myself, write and revise my lessons. I even dreamt about doing the same

thing various times because I was too anxious and felt failing. Moreover, as a

classroom teacher, I had many duties that I wasn't familiar with, such as

communicating with parents, holding parent-teacher conferences, and completing

report cards. In other words, I got a lot on my plate compared to being a music

teacher.
 Simultaneously, I was having difficulty identifying students’ social-emotional

and cognitive development stages, understanding the curriculums, addressing

students' needs, and providing differentiated instructions. Luckily, I had a fantastic

support school team, and I survived my first year of teaching in the United States.

However, I constantly asked myself the same question: how can I build an effective

Chinese immersion classroom?

I remained to teach kindergarten during my second year, and it was when I began

the MATC program. The learning experiences and practical practices that MATC

offered had supported me to grow as an effective Chinese immersion teacher

throughout the past two years in various ways.

Understanding students’ background and developmental stages

CEP 891, Social-Emotional Development of School-Aged Youth, introduced me

to various theories by some of the greatest psychologists and allowed me to combine

book knowledge with real cases to enhance my understanding of students' different

stages of social-emotional and cognitive development. This course had helped me

recognize and dig deeper into students' behaviors and better support their social-

emotional and cognitive development. For instance, my partner teacher and I banned

rough-and-tumble play in the classroom and during recess because it was considered

aggressive behavior. However, I noticed that the more I separated the students who

were likely to be involved in a rough-and-tumble play, the more they wanted to

interact with each other physically. Later on, when I took CEP 891, I realized that,

unlike aggression, rough-and-tumble play helps develop both physical and social

skills in children (Cillessen &-Bellmore, 2010; Pellis & Pellis, 2007). Then, I started

to discuss the differences between the rough-and-tumble play and aggressive play

with my students. Instead of telling them the dos and don’ts, I used a sorting diagram
and pictures to visualize rough-and-tumble play and aggressive play. Then I asked my

students to sort them out, and we did a whole group reflection. This activity truly

helped my students understand how to physically interact with peers (Goal 2,

Standard 5). Nevertheless, it also boosted my relationship with my students because

they could see that I was being reflective and trying to understand them instead of

being the only classroom authority (Standard 3&4). As an educator, I believe showing

empathy makes students feel understood and supported, which is curtail to their

social-emotional development and cognitive development.

In this project (Artifact 1, CEP 891), I created a case of my student, Eve. I started

this case by describing Eve's academic performance and social-emotional

development based on my observation (Standard 1&3). Then, I analyzed this case

with the provided question guidelines, which enabled me to view and evaluate

students' behavior and development in a more cohesive way. This practice encouraged

me to think critically by connecting theoretical approaches and my teaching

experiences (Goal 1). I developed a better understanding of how this student's play

activities at home and at home influence her social and cognitive development, which

helped me better help and support students in my classroom (Goal 1, Standard 1).

Moreover, I appreciated that TE870, Curriculum Design, Development, and

Deliberation in Schools, TE 807 Professional Development and Inquiry, included

social justice education topics. I became more educated on this topic by discussing the

current justice issues with my dear colleagues and reflecting on my own experience

(Standard 4). Nevertheless, I took advantage of rich professional development

opportunities that the school district offers, and I especially appreciated sessions

concerning educational equity and justice of traditionally underserved minority

student groups (Standard 1).

Understanding the curriculum and developing effective lessons

I now enjoy designing unit plans and lesson plans under the IB framework.

However, creating effective lessons had been a challenge for me during my first year

of teaching. TE 894, Laboratory and Field Experiences in Curriculum, Teaching, and

Schooling, enabled me to identify the standards and develop cross-curriculum lessons.

I learned how to generate the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant,

and Time-Bound) learning goals by incorporating the Common Core Standards,

Michigan World Language Standards, IB curriculum, and Lansing School District

Pacing Guidelines (Standard 2). This approach ensured my students' growth of

Chinese language proficiency and subject content learning simultaneously (Goal 2),

which I believe is critical for bilingual immersion classrooms.

Meanwhile, I collaborated with my grade-level team to develop the IB planner.

We also planned new activities, shared beneficial resources, and refined teaching

techniques (Goal 3, Standard 6). In my second-year lesson plan (Artifact 2, TE894), I

could successfully incorporate three communication modes: interpersonal,

interpretive, and presentational. I could use differentiated instructions and

assessments in both whole and small group learning. That way, I made significant

progress in addressing students' learning needs (Goal 2, Standard 5, and 6).

Before I took TE 870, Curriculum Design, Development, and Deliberation in

Schools, I had difficulty identifying my role in curriculum development. This course

gave me the chance to reposition myself in curriculum development. I realized that

curriculum development is not something far away from me and requires cohesive

teamwork within the school community. This course evoked my passion as an

educator, and as I become more confident in teaching, I am willing to contribute to

developing a purposeful curriculum in the future (Standard 6, Goal 3). Also, TE 870
introduced me to the possible changes in curriculum development and two successful

education system modules, which pushed me to reflect on the curriculums that I was

provided and the education system I was working in (Goal 1, Standard 4)

TE 807, Professional Development and Inquiry, offered me a valuable

opportunity to reflect on my teaching journey and comprehend the topic of quality

teaching (Standard 1 and 4). The Multimodal Response Approach allowed me to

explore and express my ideas on quality teaching in poetic creative ways. After

completing the Inventory of Self project (Artifact 3, TE 870), I developed a clear

vision of my teaching and learning path, which enabled me to reflect and dig deeper

into my belief in quality teaching (Goal 1).

Supporting students’ writing and literacy practices

Learners need to have opportunities to carry out a particular task by using the

target language (Ballman, Liskin-Gasparro, & Mandell, 2001). Therefore, I focused

on promoting learner-talk and providing differentiated instructions in small group

works in TE 894, Laboratory and Field Experiences in Curriculum, which was aimed

to enhance students' communication skills (Standard 2). In this project (Artifact 4,

TE894), I discussed how learner-talk in small groups impacts students' second

language acquisition, including the critical conditions of effective learner-talk. I also

interviewed another Chinese immersion kindergarten teacher at my school, and we

discussed learner-talk in small groups based on my previous research. To be more

specific, we shared ideas on what kind of small group activities promote learner-talk

and how teachers can support students in carrying meaningful conversations in small

groups. Moreover, we dug deep into how teachers can provide differentiated learner-

talk instructions for students at different proficiency levels in small groups (Goal 1, 3

&Standard 2, 3, 6).
 In TE 842, Elementary Reading Assessment and Instruction, I was allowed to

analyze students' literacy data (Artifact 5, TE842) and discuss how to support students

to meet their literacy learning needs. Analyzing fourth-grader Sarah's English literacy

data was challenging because I never taught fourth-grade English literacy. Still, this

practice has broadened my knowledge and helped me gain insight into English

literacy practices (Goal 1). With a fourth-grade English teacher's help, I learned how

to use multiple English literacy indicators to evaluate students' literacy learning and

what strategies can support English literacy learning (Standard 2, 3, 5).

After date analyzing, I referred to Chinese literacy inquiry in my classroom and

created (Artifact 6, TE842). In this article, I focused on the importance of literacy

inquiry in Chinese immersion classrooms and what actions teachers should take to

promote literacy inquiry (Goal 1, Standard 2, 3). I interviewed three of my students,

collected their views on literacy inquiry, and reflected on my teaching based on my

students' feedback (Standard 4, 5). I enjoyed developing this project because I gained

a better understanding of literacy inquiry and ways to effectively assist my students,

which helped me build up my Chinese literacy teaching confidence.

TE 843, Secondary Reading Assessment and Instruction, allowed me to situate

reading creatively as a teacher and design age-appropriate literacy activities, which

benefited my students' literacy learning (Standard 4). By reflecting on my personal

experience as a reader and educator (Artifact 7, TE843), I developed a better

understanding of the role that reading has played in my life (Goal 1, Standard 4),

which reminded me of the challenges my students might encounter literacy practices

(Standard 1). These two courses allowed me to combine theoretical perspectives and

real cases, which had enhanced my analyzing skill and problem-solving skill as a

teacher (Standard 3).

 Speaking from my personal experience, writing Chinese characters is challenging

for most of my students. Instead of writing Chinese characters, many of my students

think they are drawing Chinese characters. As novice-low learners, they are not

familiar with Chinese characters' structure and do not fully understand that specific

stroke orders are needed to follow. The stroke forms can be viewed as the basic

graphic units comprising the Chinese script, much like the letters of the alphabet are

to the English script (Law, N., Ki, W., Chung, A. 1998). After reflecting on my

teaching and students' current achievement (Standard 4), I developed an improvement

plan to help my students practice Chinese handwriting in small groups (Artifact 8, TE

894). In this project, I thoroughly introduced the basic strokes and consistently guided

my students to practice writing Chinese characters in small groups (Standard 2, 3). I

was surprised by the progress that my students made after two months of

implementation. Not only their handwriting skills have improved, but also their

reading skills (Goal 2).

Conclusion

In the past two years, I have learned and grown so much as a teacher. Back then, I

mimicked everything my partner teacher did and took everybody’s advice, just like a

copy machine. I remember the feeling of I am not enough, the tears, and the fear of

failure. Now, all the hard works have paid off. I always tell my students that I am

proud of their progress and encourage them to keep up with the great work. I think it

is time to say it to myself: I am so proud of you! Keep it up!

My MATC journey had helped me collect both theories and practices that

contribute to being an effective teacher. Most importantly, it helped me find my pace

and style. As I learned to identify students’ learning needs, design age-appreciate

lessons, provide differentiated instructions, and collaborate with school community

members, I applied those teaching skills to my life. It opened my eyes and offered me

a different perspective to view myself and the world around me. Thus it might be said

that at its best education is a process of learning how to become the architect of our

own education (Eisner, 2005).

As the old Chinese saying goes: 学无止境, learning is an endless process. I

identify myself as a life-long learner, so learning is my life-long habit. With my

passion for education and open-mindedness, I am excited to teach and co-learn with

my future students while they flourish in their elementary years.

 References

Ballman, T. L., Liskin-Gasparro, J. E., & Mandell, P. B. (2001). The communicative

classroom. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle/Thomson Learning.

Eisner, E. W. (2005). What can education learn from the arts about the practice of
education? Reimagining Schools, 213-222. doi:10.4324/9780203019078-25

Law, N., Ki, W. W., Chung, A. L., Ko, P. Y., & Lam, H. C. (1998). Children’s stroke
Sequence errors in writing Chinese characters. Cognitive Processing of the
Chinese and the Japanese Languages, 113-138. doi:10.1007/978-94-015-9161-
4_7

Rathus, S. A. (2016). Childhood and adolescence voyages in development (6th ed.).

Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.