My teaching philosophy
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Teach students to be creative.
I mentioned in many of my professional development sessions for faculty that there are three levels of teaching. The basic level is teaching students information and knowledge; the intermediate level is teaching students skills by applying knowledge; while the advanced and the highest level is teaching students to be creative. In other words, I wish to make my students smarter in a global sense while learning Chinese language. Language learning is using language for communication, personal enjoyment and to increase learning and career opportunities. Students should participate in and contribute to our diverse local and global communities, including virtual communities, by communicating with people from other linguistic societies.
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Language Teaching need to be meaningful with cultural elements.
Language is the tool of thinking and the carrier of culture. Confucius said, “学而不思则罔,思而不学则殆 (Learning without thinking is vain; thinking without learning is confusion).” I believe that language teaching without cultural reflection or critical thinking is absurd. My expertise and renowned teaching pedagogy is to reflect cultural elements in a language class. Cultural knowledge does not need to be fed to the students by instructors in the classroom. Culture needs to be experienced, practiced and obtained by the students. The Flipped Classroom method is a good model to practice communication skills in a language classroom.
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Input skills (reading and listening) and output skills (writing and speaking) should interpenetrate with each other, especially in advanced Chinese learning.
Many teachers find it difficult to upgrade intermediate level students to an advanced level in their language performance, especially writing skills. We often investigate what to teach and how to teach in advanced Chinese reading and writing, but what appeared to be missing was the why teach when teaching writing and reading in a complex context. Input skills are more passive and output skills are more active. If we interpenetrate them with each other, "teaching students to think while they read" and "engaging thinking through writing" (A. Gear, 2011), both writing power and reading power will get stronger because they are linked to each other. I like A. Gear's idea of "alocognition" – to be aware of a reader's metacognition. As a writer, to be aware of and invite readers to think. I have been applying this philosophy not only as a writer, but as a teacher in my advanced Chinese class for more than 8 years. Positive results are evident in my students’ evaluations.
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Language learning is the study of language, skills and strategies to interact effectively and appropriately across cultures within various contexts.
Chinese language learning is communicating through meaningful, authentic, and genuine interactions in Chinese language and culture within a variety of familiar contexts. I divided language competencies into linguistic skills, linguistic knowledge, strategies and cultural competence. These four components are relatively independent, interrelated and interpenetrating. This philosophy is reflected in the International Curriculum for Chinese Language Education (revised version), which was written by me (as a lead author) and several Chinese teachers from Edmonton Public Schools and China. I believe language teaching and learning should focus more on competencies, less on content; more on students, less on the system.
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A language teacher is an acculturator.
A language teacher is a manager, professional and acculturator (Farrell, 2011). Chinese language learning is entering into the experiences of Chinese people through language by viewing, listening, and reading the variety of forms of expression. This includes stories, essays, poetry, drama, visual arts, and music. It is also exploring, shaping, and refining thoughts, emotions and experiences through understanding, interacting, and creatively expressing in Chinese language and culture. That is why I like the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages by ACTFL.