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Icon for Festive China

Festive China

Confucius Institute Summer Camp

Learning Module

Abstract

This Learning Module focuses on Chinese culture, particularly Chinese festivals and celebrations. Students collaborate as they discuss and actively contribute knowledge about the Chinese Zodiac. They also undertake a research project on a Chinese festival or celebration, and create a personal multimedia dictionary. In both projects, they collaborate as they give and receive peer feedback, before submitting their projects for publication.

Keywords

Chinese Zodiac, Celebrations, New Year, Festivals, Holidays, Digital Technologies, Collaboration.

1. The Chinese Zodiac

For the Student 写给学生的话

In this Learning Module, you will learn about the Chinese festivals and celebrations. In each activity, you will see your learning goal, activities, and a comment where you can share your ideas with others and your teacher. Let's get started by learning about the Chinese Zodiac.

Learning Goal: To find out and share my knowledge about my Chinese Zodiac animal sign.

The Twelve Animals Signs of the Chinese Zodiac

Chinese people use their animal signs to count how old they are. The twelve signs are the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.

Comment: Find out what your animal sign is and then add it to the Comment box. Add 1 fact you know about that animal sign and a weblink to more information. Then comment on other students' comments. When you comment, let them know you are commenting on them by using @Name (and insert their name). You could start your comments with @Name, I did not know that...... or @Name That is interesting because………..

Fig. 1: The 12 Animal Signs of the Chinese Zodiac

For the Teacher 写给老师的话

Scholar is a web writing space for learners of the social media generation. Scholar engages learners through its focus on peer interaction and formative feedback.

This Learning Module focuses on increasing students' understanding of Chinese culture. It will also complement the camp activities that focus on developing their Chinese language skills.

The aim of this initial Update is to introduce the Scholar environment to participants and to value their prior knowledge. Working in Scholar promotes:

  • collaboration - connecting language users with different levels of expertise
  • students as knowledge creators, sharing their prior knowledge and new knowledge
  • creating and sharing multimodal texts - modern communication involves visual, audio, gestural, spatial, and language modes
  • recursive feedback through comments on other students' comments, learning from and with each other
  • differentiation - all students are able participate, regardless of their starting points
  • metacognition - reflection about their developing use of language
  • using language for real purposes and audiences - real world contexts
  • agency - students become autonomous learners

Creating Student Accounts and the Scholar Community

Before the camp, student accounts must be created. See Creating Student Accounts in Admin Tools or Creating Accounts for a Class using the Import Tool. Alternatively, contact Scholar. The organization should be the "Chinese Language and Culture Camp". Students who have attended the camp previously do NOT require new accounts.

Also set up the Community and invite the students to become members. See Creating a Community tutorial. A new Community should be set up for each camp.

Creating Student Profiles

Before students log into Scholar, students may participate in a "Getting to Know You" activity/game in which students introduce themselves, their interests, and strengths. This will prepare them to create their "blips" when they log into Scholar

An option at the end of creating your profile is to post an Update. Students may post an Update where they might write more about themselves and/or post an image or videoclip about an interest they have.

Creating their profiles is also a great opportunity to discuss cyberbullying and how students should represent themselves and communicate respectfully in online environments. 

Survey

Once students have created their profiles, start the survey. When you start the survey from the Learning Module, it will be delivered into the activity stream of the Community.

Surveys are included in the initial and final Updates of  the module to survey students about their knowledge and understanding of Chinese language and culture, and of using digital tools in their learning. These surveys which may be modified in the Survey Tool in Publisher, may also be used to collect research data.

Scholar Updates

Each activity in a Learning Module is called an Update. Updates are delivered from the Learning Module in the Scholar Bookstore to the activity stream of the Community. Students who are members of that community can then access them. For more information on using Scholar, see Scholar Tutorials

Throughout the camp, students will move between interactive games, practical activities (calligraphy, craft, martial arts), language sessions, and Scholar (surveys, comments, reflections, and 2 projects). 

In the first Update, students find out about their animal on the Chinese Zodiac. Online searches are encouraged so that participants are active knowledge makers, adding more information through weblinks to their comments.

Updates may be created by admins and students at any time. Just go to the Pull-Down menu above an individual avatar (the Update will go to your peers) or the Community avatar (the Update will go to all members of a specific community).

Daily Updates and Reflections

Reflections provide valuable information about how the camp is going as well as providing research data. Create Updates on Days 2-4 such as: 

Day 2: What were some of the things you learned on Day 1 of the camp? What were the highlights for you? Then, comment on 2-3 other students' comments, giving them positive feedback on their comments.

Day 3: What did you learn on Day 2 of the camp? Consider new skills as well as new knowledge. Comment on 1-2 other students' comments.

Day 4: Today's reflection is a little different. This time we want you to imagine that you are the organizer of next year's camp. What would you add, do more of, or do differently?

Note: Students complete the Baseline Survey on Day 1 and the Post Survey on Day 5, so no other reflections are needed.

You can also create an Update each day to ensure students understand what they are expected to complete in Scholar each day. Alternatively, this can be listed on a whiteboard for students to refer to. Requirements may include responding to comments in an Update, commenting on other students' comments, working on projects (draft, give feedback, revise, submit), creating Updates about a topic related to the camp, checking messages, and changing avatar and profile.

Camp Groups

If students are placed into small groups and rotate through the activities, most Updates and projects will still only have to be posted once in Scholar. This will enable students to interact across and within groups.  By starring an Update, it will go to the top of the activity stream. Students can also find Updates by using the filter tool.

 

 

 

2. Discovering Chinese Festivals and Celebrations

For the Student 写给学生的话

Learning Goal: To find out more about a Chinese festival or celebration and share what I have learned with others.

Now it is your turn to create an Update about a Chinese festival or celebration. 

In the Community, go to the Community avatar and in the Pull down menu select Updates. Create an Update.

List 5 facts about a Chinese festival or celebration. These should be in bullet points. 

Include an image or video to add more information to the facts you have recorded. 

Comment: Read the Updates of other participants. Read as many as you can and then comment on 2-3. You can comment on what interested you and explain why, add more information that you know about the festival or celebration.

Fig. 2: Chinese paper-cuts are used as decorations for religious and ceremonial purposes, particularly during traditional Chinese festivals, such as Chinese New Year and the Spring Festival. People believe that hanging red paper-cuts on the door can bring good luck and happiness to the whole family.

For the Teacher 写给老师的话

Participants explore Chinese festivals and celebrations through research and discussion in Community. They also learn about how to create their own Updates in Scholar and add multimedia.

By adding an image or video, they are introduced to the multimodal affordances of Scholar

This Update and the Multimedia project provide an opportunity for students to create their own works, post them in an Update to share with peers, and to create a lasting record of this work.

Collaboration continues to be emphasized through reading and responding to others' posts.

3. Multimedia Research Project

For the Student 写给学生的话

Learning Goal: To start my Multimedia Project and to use the Rubric to identify what is important to include.

Project Name: Chinese Festivals and Celebrations Multimedia Research Project

Description: Research a Chinese festival or celebration. Write in full sentences and expand on the bullet points from your Update. Your should refer to 3-5 sources. Make sure you paraphrase  information from sources in your own words.

Include multimedia (images, video, audio, and weblinks) to add more information to the written text. Also add the Chinese word for the festival or celebration and how to write and pronounce it. Look at how it is written in Chinese characters? What do the characters mean? 

Starting your Project

Check the Work Request in your Notifications. Click on this link to open the “Untitled Work” in Creator. Then, change the title, and begin a first draft. Go to About This Work => Project => Description for further project information.

For what you need to do in order to write a good research project, go to Feedback => Reviews => Rubric. Keep the Rubric open and refer to it as you write.

When you are ready to submit, click “Submit Draft” below the work. This is the version of your work that will be sent to others for review.

Comment: Do you have any questions about how Scholar works? Make a comment in this update. If you think you have an answer to another student's question, please answer it - be sure to name the student you are replying to in your comment by starting with @Name.

Fig. 3: Chinese Lanterns symbolize Chinese New Year

For the Teacher 写给老师的话

This Update introduces the Festivals and Celebrations Multimedia project. Students of different abilities may collaborate successfully on this Scholar project through giving and receiving feedback. Students will be able to use the bullet points and multimedia from their Community Update as a starting point for their projects.

When you start the project, you will be taken into Publisher where you set up dates and feedback settings for the project. Once the project is finalized, Notifications with "Work Requests" will be sent to students. 

Setting Up the Dates for the Project 

Day 1 (end of day): Start project.

Day 2: Work on project. Submit draft by the end of the day. 

Day 3: Look at feedback, revise work, and submit it for publication by end of the day.

Note: Notifications are advisory so students can still submit work late.

Feedback Settings

If all three boxes are checked, students must complete all of the feedback requirements - Reviews, Annotations (at least 2), and a Publication Recommendation - in order to submit their feedback. They submit feedback in the "About this Work/Project/Status" Toolbar. See Submitting a Review and Annotations tutorial.

More advanced students may be assigned a second work to review. Go to the Project in Publisher and manually assign the student to another work. See Manually Assigning a Reviewer tutorial.

Starting Drafts

Once students open the Work Request in their Notifications, they will be taken into the writing space in Creator. As students begin to draft their work, encourage them to use the Structure tool to create a section for their report and a section for sources. See the Structure Tool tutorial. Some students may create more sections, for example: introduction, information/body,  conclusion, and sources. This will help them to organize some of the key ideas they gathered from their research about an invention. As students continue to research, they add more notes, refine the elements of their text, and draft new versions, transforming their notes into well written text. This helps them to paraphrase and avoid plagiarism as well.

Students should also refer to the rubric as a guide when they write in Creator. If necessary, look through the rubric with students.

Project Rubric

 

 

4. Collaborate: Give Feedback and Revise

For the Student 写给学生的话

Learning Goal: To understand the importance of collaboration as you give and receive feedback in Scholar. 

Think about other activities at this camp (games, arts and crafts, martial arts, discussion in Scholar where you were commenting on each other's comments.) These all require collaboration. Look at the Chinese characters for collaboration.  See how the characters all depend on each other.

Now in the next phase of your Chinese Festivals and Celebrations research project, you will be collaborating by giving and receiving feedback. 

Check your Notifications for Feedback Requests. Complete the review, the Annotations and make an overall Recommendation. 

Submit your feedback once it is finished at About This Work => Project => Status. You will not be able to submit your review until all requirements set by you teacher have been met. These include a Review, Annotations, and a Publication Recommendation. For more information, see Reviewing a Work and Submitting a Review and Annotations.

Revision Phase

The next stage of the writing process is to revise your own work. Check your Notifications to see whether there are Reviews Available. Open the Feedback Request and incorporate all of the feedback (Reviews/Annotations) from your peers. Click Submit Revision below the work. 

You can also write a self-review, explaining how you have taken on board the feedback you received. For more information, see The Revision Phase

Comment: Do you have any more questions about Scholar at this stage? Make a comment in this update. If you think you have an answer to another student's question, please answer it - be sure to name the student you are replying to in your comment by starting with @Name.

Fig. 4: The Dragon Boat Festival

For the Teacher 写给老师的话

This Update also  covers two stages of the writing process in Scholar: Review and Revision. Many students will just click on the Notifications and work out what to do. The instructions and videos are useful for those students who wish to go through them and for the teacher/instructor to guide and support those students who need it.

Refer to Analytics to monitor how students are progressing with their writing and reviews.

5. Multimedia Dictionary Project

For the Student 写给学生的话

Learning Goal: To start my Multimedia Dictionary Project and to use the rubric to identify what is important to include.

Description: Create a Multimedia Dictionary that includes Chinese sentences, phrases, words, meanings, and pronunciation, and that demonstrates your knowledge of Chinese.  Practice the pronunciation of each word in your dictionary.

Multimedia Dictionary
Word/Phrase/ Sentence Chinese Characters Picture Link to Pronunciation
Goat: 2015 is the year of the Goat. 山羊

 

yáng

Rabbit: My sign is a rabbit.

兔子。

我的标志是一只兔子。

   

 

 

 
       

Check the Work Request in your Notifications. Click on this link to open the “Untitled Work” in Creator. Then, change the title, and begin a first draft. Go to About This Work => Project => Description for further project information.

For what you need to do in order to create a good Multimedia Dictionary, go to Feedback => Reviews => Rubric. Keep the Rubric open and refer to it as you write.

When you have 10-20 entries in your dictionary, click “Submit Draft” below the work. This is the version of your work that will be sent to others for review.

The Chinese Word Dictionary is helpful with pronunciation. Record yourself using the new words, phrases and sentences. Listen to the recordings. This will help you to notice your own mistakes in pronunciation.  See online dictionaries for the Chinese pronunciation of the words, sentences and phrases. Also check the Chinese characters are correct by using tools such as Google Translate.

Comment: Share some  of your sentences, phrases, and words. Comment on other students' comments. Add any of their sentences, phrases, and words that interest you to your Multimedia Dictionary.

For the Teacher 写给老师的话

In this Update students start their second project in Creator in Scholar. This project enables them to identify new vocabulary and to reflect on meaning and pronunciation. The Chinese Word Dictionary is helpful with pronunciation.

Students of different abilities may collaborate successfully on this Scholar project through giving and receiving feedback. Selecting their own words will also give them agency and will support the differentiation of learners. Selecting words that other students have commented on will also promote collaboration.

Students who are attending the camp for a second time may start a new dictionary. They cannot build on their first dictionaries. Tell them that they should challenge themselves with much harder words to reflect their growing knowledge of Chinese.

When you start the project, you will be taken into Publisher where you set up dates and feedback settings for the project. Once the project is finalized, Notifications with "Work Requests" will be sent to students. 

Setting Up the Dates for the Project 

Day 4 (beginning of day - before initial session): Start project.

Day 4: Work on project. Submit draft by the end of the day. 

Day 5: Look at feedback, revise work, and submit it for publication by end of the day.

Note: Notifications are advisory so students can still submit work late, even after the cam ends.

Feedback Settings

Do not check annotations for this project as they are not very useful here. Students must complete  Reviews and a Publication Recommendation in order to submit their feedback. They submit feedback in the "About this Work/Project/Status" Toolbar. See Submitting a Review and Annotations tutorial.

More advanced students may be assigned a second work to review. Go to the Project in Publisher and manually assign the student to another work. See Manually Assigning a Reviewer tutorial.

Project Rubric

 

6. What's Your Chinese Name? (Optional)

For the Student 写给学生的话

Learning Goal: To write the Chinese characters for my name and introduce myself in Chinese.

What is your Chinese name? You can go to websites such as Online Chinese Tools to create a Chinese name if you like. 

Record yourself saying your name and introducing yourself in Chinese. You can use your phone, iPod, iPad, computer or another audio/video recording device to record yourself and your partner. Listen to the recordings and discuss things you did well, things you would like to improve, and new words you have learned.

Comment: What is your Chinese name? What does it mean?  Comment on other students' names and whether you think the meaning matches their personality.

Fig. 7: 2016 is the year of the monkey.

 

For the Teacher 写给老师的话

This activity is an optional activity. If students work quickly, it can provide another useful activity to extend students' knowledge of Chinese language.

 

7. Acknowledgements

Title: Green Dragon (Source);  Fig. 1: "20100720 Fukuoka Kushida 3614 M" by Jakub Hałun - Own work. Licensed under GFDL via Wikimedia Commons (Source); Fig. 2: Pig (Source); Fig.3: Red Lanterns (Source); Fig.4: Dragon Boat Race by See-Ming Lee (Source); Fig. 5: Goat (Source); Fig. 6: Rabbit (Source); Fig. 7: Chinese Zodiac Monkey (Source).