Why Learn Chinese?
Why learn Chinese? How do you respond to this question when students ask it?
In the first few weeks of Back To School, one of the ways to connect with students is giving meaning to their learning. So why learn Chinese? Very often students will ask this question and it is important at the beginning of the school year to show how meaningful learning Chinese is in their future.
The ‘Why Learn Chinese?’ PDF (29 pages) will introduce students to the reasons people find learning Chinese, meaningful in their lives.
They will explore business reasons, cultural reasons, cognitive reasons, travel reasons, and job opportunities. So whether or not their future career includes speaking Chinese, the cognitive benefits are real.
Teachers of Chinese can present this slideshow to the students demonstrating why Chinese is an important language. After viewing, students can discuss what they learned in small groups.
At the end of the slideshow, students will complete a 15-minute individual task based on answering the following questions:
Write your thoughts about learning Chinese.
What questions do you have about China and Chinese?
Tell me something about yourself, so I can get to know you better.
This student feedback instantly ‘takes the temperature’ of your class. It tells you how students feel about learning Chinese, gives you areas of misunderstanding you can correct, and you will learn a little about the students themselves.
Question: How do you answer the question ‘Why Learn Chinese?’ What do you do if your class are reluctant learners of Chinese?