Curriculum Resource

Activity 1: Know Want Learnt and revision

KWL Part 1

Teaching and learning goal: Students demonstrate what they already know about the topic and what they would like to learn during the learning sequence.

Dimension(s): Writing

Teacher notes: Students work on computers to complete the KWL template In Microsoft Word. KWL stands for the following:

• K = What I Know
• W = What I Want to Learn
• L = What I have Learnt

In the K column, ask students to write down what they already know about shopping in China, including vocabulary that will assist them when shopping in China.

In the W column, ask students to type in what they would like to learn about shopping in China.

Students will complete the L column at the end of the sequence.

Ask students to share what they would like to learn in this sequence. This will support you to plan supplementary activities to cater to your students' interests. 

Animation: Shopping in China

Teaching and learning goal: Students are familiarised with a basic conversation between a shop keeper and a customer.

Dimension(s): Listening

Teacher notes: As a whole class, watch Part 1 of the animated dialogue between a customer and a shop keeper at a Chinese market stall. Play it once.

Play it again, this time pausing after each line and ask students to guess the translation of the sentence. Play it once more—this time, asking students to repeat each line after the character. This is to familiarise students with the dialogue. They will learn the meaning of all of its components in the subsequent activities.

Point out to students that the word '笔记本' in the dialogue can mean one notebook or it can mean multiple notebooks, since the plural is not specified in Chinese.

Stationary revision

Teaching and learning goal: Students revise the vocabulary for stationery items.

Dimension(s): Listening and reading

Teacher notes: Students complete the Stationery match-up game. They listen to the vocabulary in Chinese and match it its English meaning.

Students then complete the stationery memory game. They reveal a picture and match it to the Chinese word. 

Activity 2: 'I want to buy'

Fishing game: 'I want to buy'

Teaching and learning goal: Students are introduced to the sentence structure '我想买 (I want to buy)...'

Dimension(s): Listening and speaking

Teacher notes: Create a 'fishing rod' by attaching a wooden dowel to a piece of string with a magnet on the end.

Ask students to sit in a circle. Attach a large paper clip to each picture flashcard and scatter the flash cards on the floor inside the circle. Give one student the 'fishing rod' and say: '我想买 (I want to buy)...' then insert the word for a stationery item in Chinese. The student must position the magnet on the fishing rod so that they can lift the paper clip attached to the correct stationery flashcard. If they 'catch' the incorrect card, they must hand the fishing rod to another student. If they 'catch' the correct card, it is then their turn to pass the fishing rod to another student and say a new sentence, such as '我想买钢笔' (I want to buy a pen). The selected student will then try to 'catch' the pen. Put all 'caught' cards to the side. Continue until there is one card left.

Tutorial: 'I want to buy...'

Teaching and learning goal: Explicitly teach the sentence pattern for 'I want to buy (something)'

Dimension(s): Listening

Teacher notes: Students watch the tutorial on how to say that they want to buy something. Students can view the video at their own pace, pausing and replaying as required.

Following this, ask a few students to volunteer to construct a sentence using this sentence pattern and a stationery item and share these with the class.

Invite students to construct one sentence each and say it aloud to the person sitting next to them.

Voki: What I'd like to buy in China

Teaching and learning goal: Reinforce students' understanding of the sentence pattern: '我想买 (I want to buy...)'

Dimension(s): Reading and speaking

Resources: Online

• Voki website
• English-Chinese dictionary

Teacher notes: For this activity, you will need to have an online collaborative space¹ setup which your class and your Chinese partner class can access.

Demonstrate to students how to use the Voki website to create an animated talking character. Once you have customised your character and given it a voice, press 'Publish' and then give your Voki a name. When prompted to sign up, click 'No thanks'. Then, you will see the embed code for your Voki. Copy and paste the embed code into your collaborative space.

Students think about what they would like to buy if they went to China and look up the vocabulary for it in an online Chinese dictionary. They can scroll down to listen to the word's pronunciation. They then create a Voki expressing '我想买 + item they wish to buy'. They embed their Voki into the online collaborative space. Invite students in your Chinese partner class to review the students’ Vokis and provide feedback.

¹ Two online platforms you may wish to explore for collaboration with your partner school are Wikispaces and Edmodo.

Activity 3: Price and currency

Knowledge hunt: Chinese currency

Teaching and learning goal: Students are introduced to Chinese currency to allow them to refer to it appropriately when shopping.

Dimension(s): Reading

Teacher notes: For this activity, students will work in pairs. They will conduct internet searches to find the answers to the questions on the Knowledge Hunt worksheet as quickly as they can. The first team to complete all questions correctly and have it checked by the teacher is the winning team. A solutions sheet is provided.

Students that finish early should practise their pronunciation of the Chinese currency with the interactive money images on the China Guide website. The link is provided at the bottom of the worksheet. 

The price is right

Teaching and learning goal: Students revise the characters for numbers and all students to practise writing a new character: 块 (kuài)

Dimension(s): Writing and listening

Teacher notes: Demonstrate on the whiteboard how to write the character for kuài: 块.

Ask three students to come up to whiteboard and take a whiteboard marker. Call out a price in English or Chinese, for example, sìkuài (4 yuan) and ask students to write it in characters (四块) as quickly as they can. The first student to write the price correctly on the whiteboard is the winner and the other two students are replaced by new contestants.

Be sure to include a price that includes a 2 at some stage during the game, so that you can demonstrate that 两块 needs to be used instead of 二块. 

Currency conversion

Teaching and learning goal: Reinforce students' understanding of Chinese currency in order to estimate reasonable prices for items they wish to buy.

Dimension(s): Writing

Teacher notes: Students watch the tutorial on how to say a particular activity at a particular time. Students can view the video at their own pace, pausing and replaying as required.

Following this, ask students to construct a sentence using this sentence pattern and share these with the class.

Invite students to construct one sentence each and say it aloud to the person sitting next to them.

Activity 4: How much is it?

Cartoon: How much is it?

Teaching and learning goal: Students learn how to ask the question 'How much is it?' and reinforce their understanding of prices.

Dimension(s): Listening and reading

Teacher notes: Prior to the lesson, cut up the Daily Routine cards in the template provided. The cards include different times of the day, different daily activities and three cards with the word 我 (I).

Divide students into groups of three and give each group an envelope containing the Daily Routine cards. Say a sentence aloud, either in Chinese or English, such as 'I go to school at 9.00am'. Allow time for students in each group to work together to arrange the cards in the correct sequence to create the sentence you have given them.

Then, ask students to each take a 我 (I) card and use it to create at least 5 sentences using the time and activity cards. These can be nonsensical sentences, such as ‘I go to school at 6:00’ or ‘I eat dinner at 2:30’ Students write each sentence in their workbook and share each one with their group. They then select one sentence to share with the whole class. 

I'd like to buy your pen

Teaching and learning goal:  Students engage in a two-way basic conversation between a shopkeeper and a customer, practising their skills of saying a price.

Dimension(s): Listening and speaking

Teacher notes: Go to a student's desk and pretend to be a customer. Pick up a pen from their table and say 'I want to buy a pen' (我想买钢笔). Elicit the response 'Here you go' (给你) from the student. Then ask, 'How much is it?' (钢笔多少钱?) and ask the student to give you a price for their pen. Up until this point, this is the same dialogue as the short animation that students watched earlier. However, the conversation will be extended slightly. Depending on the price they give, respond with, 'Too expensive!' (太贵了), or if it's a reasonable price, respond with 'Here's (price) yuan' (这是__ 元).

Ask for a few more volunteers who would like to sell you a stationery item. Repeat until students become more comfortable with the dialogue.

Then, ask students to try the dialogue with a partner. They may play and pause the Shopping animation (Part 1) if they require additional support.

How much is it in China?

Teaching and learning goal: Students are prepared for the video conference with a Chinese partner school.

Dimension(s): Listening, speaking and reading

Teacher notes: Teach students how to ask the question, 'How much is ____ in Australia/China?' Explain that they will be using this sentence pattern in a video conference with your partner school in China to find out about how much things cost in China.

Students think of which products they would like to ask the price of during the video conference. They can use the online Chinese dictionary to research their word or ask you. Students write three possible questions in their notebook, just in case one is taken by someone else.

Students already know the word for expensive (贵 guì). Now, teach them the word for cheap (便宜piányí). Give each student one card that reads '贵 guì' and another card that reads '便宜 piányí'. Explain to them that when they discover the prices of different items in China during the video conference, they can hold up their '贵 guì' card or their '便宜 piányí' card to show their opinion on the prices given. Give an example conversation and invite students to hold up their cards based on the price given, as a practice. Students then rehearse the conversation and the use of the cards in small groups. Collect the cards back from students.

Schedule the video conference with your Chinese partner school and hold a practice session with the Chinese teacher beforehand to ensure you are able to clearly communicate with each other using your selected video conferencing application². Before the video conference session, ask the teacher in China to give the Chinese students a quick revision of how to ask 'How much is ____?' in English.

Create a list of your students' names and place them in a hat or bag. Ask the teacher at your partner school to do the same with their students' names. Let the teacher know about your '贵 guì' / '便宜 piányí' cards and invite them to use them also during the video conference, or create similar cards in English.

²It is recommended that you test a number of different video conferencing applications to determine which will work best for your school and your partner school. Some free applications to try are: Skype and BlackBoard Collaborate vRoom.   

Activity 5: Comparing prices in China and Australia

Teaching and learning goal: Students practise the learnt sentence structures in an authentic conversation with native speakers, and gain first-hand insights into the prices of various products in China.

Dimension(s): Listening and speaking

Teacher notes: Give each student '贵 guì' card and one '便宜 piányí' card.

Once connected to the video conference, select one student's name from your hat/bag. Ask the Chinese teacher to select a student from her class also. Your student will begin by asking the Chinese student how much a product is in China. The Chinese student answers the question, and the rest of the students hold up their '贵'or '便宜'card, depending on the response.

The Chinese student then asks a different question to another Australian student about the price of a product in Australia. Alternate between members of the Australian class and the Chinese class. Meanwhile, all students should take notes of the prices of different items in China.

Following this, facilitate a discussion in English³ about the prices of items in China and Australia, using the following prompt questions and any others you may wish to include:

• What kinds of things seem to have the largest price difference between Australia and China (e.g. electronics, clothing etc)?
• Why do you think this price difference exists?
• Are there any things that are cheaper to buy in Australia?

³The Chinese students will likely have greater proficiency in English than your students do in Chinese, allowing for this higher level discussion to occur in English. However, you should check with your partner school teacher whether this discussion would be appropriate for the students in the Chinese class.

Activity 6: Bargaining in China

Teaching and learning goal: Students are introduced to the custom of bargaining in Chinese markets.

Dimension(s): Listening, reading, writing and speaking

Teacher notes: As a whole class, watch the two videos on an interactive whiteboard or projector screen. As students are watching the videos, they should note down any words that they recognised in them and their meaning. They should also write down any new vocabulary or unfamiliar words in the videos.

The second video introduces some more complex sentence patterns that students may not have seen before. They do not need to understand the grammar in all of the sentences shown. The focus is on the bargaining process and the simple phrases that they will already be familiar with.

Facilitate a discussion about the videos, allowing students to share their observations and questions.

Activity 7: Measure words

Introduction to measure words

Teaching and learning goal: Students are introduced to the concept of measure words in Chinese.

Dimension(s): Listening

Teacher notes: The concept of measure words was briefly referred to in the Survival Chinese video. Students now watch a tutorial on measure words. Students can view the video at their own pace, pausing and replaying as required.

Students then play the memory game and guess the measure words that pair with the different stationery items. Students are not expected to already know these, though they may remember some from the tutorial. It is intended that students will learn the different measure words through trial and error whilst using the game. They should write down the correct pairs in their notebooks as they go.

Which measure do I use?

Teaching and learning goal: Students apply their knowledge of measure words for different stationery items.

Dimension(s): Reading and writing

Teacher notes: Students use their notes from the previous activity to assist them in completing the measure words worksheet. They write sentences which use the correct number and measure word for each stationery item. A solutions sheet is provided.

Activity 8: Shopping in China

Shopping animation

Teaching and learning goal: Students consolidate all vocabulary and sentence structures covered in this sequence, within a meaningful context.

Dimension(s): Listening and speaking

Teacher notes: As a whole class, watch Part 2 of the animated dialogue between a customer and a shop keeper at a Chinese market stall. Play it once through.

Now, play it again, this time pausing after each line. Discuss the meaning of each sentence. Play it once more - this time, asking students to repeat each line after the character.

Students then practise the conversation in pairs. They can use the video to assist them, playing and pausing as required. Select a few pairs to perform the dialogue in front of the class.

Role plays: Shopping in China

Teaching and learning goal: Students demonstrate their understanding of all of the linguistic structures and cultural aspects introduced in this sequence.

Dimension(s): Writing, listening and speaking

Teacher notes: Divide students into groups of 4 and ask them to designate who will be A, B, C and D. Then, give each group a scenario card. The scenario card will state the shopping scenario that the group must act out for the class.

Students may choose the items that will be purchased, for example, if the scenario says 'an electronic device' they may choose to purchase a camera, mp3 player, computer etc. Students research the vocabulary required and draft a script for their role play. They may need to ask you for the correct measure word for the item(s) they choose to purchase. Students can include props (for example, a calculator) and can also include non-verbal bargaining strategies that they observed in the 'Pro tips' video. More advanced students may also wish to include some of the new expressions introduced in the 'Survival Chinese' video. Students practise their role play before presenting them to the class.

Whilst students are performing their role plays, record them on video. Then, upload them into your online collaborative space⁴. Invite students in your Chinese partner school to view the role plays and provide feedback as peer assessment.

The assessment criteria will be: Pronunciation, intonation, fluency, vocabulary, grammar, appropriate use of measure words and creativity.

You may wish to set up a poll⁵ and embed it on the collaborative space for students to vote for the 'Best Performance'. Award the student with the most votes a 'Chinese Oscar'.

⁴Ensure that you have parental permission to video record your students and upload their videos to the online collaborative space.

⁵A simple and free tool for creating polls which you can embed in your online collaborative space is Poll Daddy. You'll find step-by-step instructions on how to use Poll Daddy here.

Activity 9: Know Want Learnt Part 2

Teaching and learning goal: Students demonstrate what they have learnt during the learning sequence.

Dimension(s): Writing

Teacher notes: Students complete the L column of their KWL sheet, reflecting on what they have learnt during the learning sequence.