All resources in Nebraska K-12 World Language

WL Self Assessment Circles Intermediate Low

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Research shows that engaging students in self-assessment positively impacts language learning, motivation, and learner autonomy. To help World Language Educators accomplish this, the Nebraska Department of Education invited experienced world language teachers across the state to create student-friendly assessments in the form of can-do statements in the summer of 2022.  This document is a student-friendly self-assessment activity for Intermediate Low world language learners created based on the 2019 Nebraska World Language Standards. The language use described in all can-do statements is meant for the target language, except for the second for standard 3.1 and the first for standard 4.2.  It is recommended that word language teachers engage students with this document three times in an academic year: pre-course, mid-course, and post-course. Engaging students with this self-assessment activity will help students see growth over time and hopefully attribute growth to effective learning practices. Please feel free to contact chrystal.liu@nebraska.gov for any questions and concerns.

Material Type: Assessment

Authors: Kelleen Browning, Nick Ziegler, Chrystal Liu, Chun-Yi Coral Su, Janet Eckerson

WL Self Assessment Checklist - Intermediate Low

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Research shows that engaging students in self-assessment positively impacts language learning, motivation, and learner autonomy. To help World Language Educators accomplish this, the Nebraska Department of Education invited experienced world language teachers across the state to create student-friendly assessments in the form of can-do statements in the summer of 2022. This document is a student-friendly self-assessment activity for Intermediate Low world language learners created based on the 2019 Nebraska World Language Standards. The language use described in all can-do statements is meant for the target language, except for the second for standard 3.1 and the first for standard 4.2. It is recommended that word language teachers engage students with this document three times in an academic year: pre-course, mid-course, and post-course. Engaging students with this self-assessment activity will help students see growth over time and hopefully attribute growth to effective learning practices. Please feel free to contact chrystal.liu@nebraska.gov for any questions and concerns. 

Material Type: Assessment

Authors: Janet Eckerson, Kelleen Browning, Chun-Yi Coral Su, Chrystal Liu

WL Self-Assessment Circles - Intermediate Mid

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Research shows that engaging students in self-assessment positively impacts language learning, motivation, and learner autonomy. To help World Language Educators accomplish this, the Nebraska Department of Education invited experienced world language teachers across the state to create student-friendly assessments in the form of can-do statements in the summer of 2022. This document is a student-friendly self-assessment activity for intermediate-mid world language learners created based on the 2019 Nebraska World Language Standards. The language use described in all can-do statements is meant for the target language, except for the second for standard 3.1 and the first for standard 4.2. It is recommended that word language teachers engage students with this document three times in an academic year: pre-course, mid-course, and post-course. Engaging students with this self-assessment activity will help students see growth over time and hopefully attribute growth to effective learning practices. Please feel free to contact chrystal.liu@nebraska.gov for any questions and concerns. 

Material Type: Assessment

Authors: Danielle Fulcher, Micah Ringlein, Matthew Friedel, Stephanie Call

Lunar New Year, Mandarin Chinese, Intermediate-Low

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In this activity, students will plan a menu for a Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner using clues about individual dishes cultural significance. Students will read aloud the descriptions of the dishes, and then choose which ones they would want to include in their banquet to best align with traditional Chinese New Years Eve conventions.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Amber Hoye, Hannah Steiner, Camille Daw, Mimi Fahnstrom

Animals of the Chinese Zodiac

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In this lesson plan, students will learn about the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. In the introductory first lesson, they will see how animals are often used as symbols. In the second lesson, they will hear one of several versions of how the 12 animals were chosen. They will then focus upon a few of the animals in the story and see how they can be used as symbols of certain human characteristics. In the third lesson, they will be introduced to the other animals of the zodiac, and they will be given a chart on which they will assign traits to each animal. Then they will consult a number of websites to find the traits traditionally associated with the animals, which they will add to their list. Then, they will come up with a number of ways to compare and contrast the animals in the list. In the third lesson, they will focus upon the animal associated with the year of their birth, learning about its traits and discussing whether or not these apply to themselves and their peers. Finally, each student will make an acrostic, combining the letters of his or her first name with adjectives that relate to his or her zodiac sign.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Homework/Assignment, Lesson Plan

Asking About Nationality, Mandarin Chinese, Novice Low

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In this activity, students will practice asking someone they meet where they are from and their nationality. Students will start by asking each other what country they are from, and then each student will be given a country card at random. Students will then practice asking and answering questions about various nationalities.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Amber Hoye, Derek Cross, Hannah Steiner, Camille Daw, Mimi Fahnstrom

Meeting with Friends, Mandarin Chinese, Novice Low/Novice Mid

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In this activity students will practice creating short narratives in Chinese by creating a mad-libs like story. Students will take turns picking cards from different categories to fit together in a short story. Students will then share their short story out loud. Students will also read invitations for different types of parties and answer comprehension questions.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Amber Hoye, Hannah Steiner, Camille Daw, Mimi Fahnstrom

e·Chinese Tools: Digital Tools for Teaching and Learning Chinese

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Nowadays, the use of technologies is deeply embedded in the teaching and learning of foreign languages. Therefore, students and teachers are compelled to continuously update their digital skills. Moreover, the need for online teaching has been spurred by the COVID pandemics, which has posed new challenges in this regard. When searching for online tools, one of the main difficulties is the vast amount and disparity of resources available to both teachers and students, who often feel overwhelmed due to the lack of time or assessment criteria. In such cases, the potential of existing resources remains largely unexplored. In this context, we developed an online open access database of digital resources for Teaching and Learning Chinese as a Foreign Language. It includes a collection of metadata to satisfy users with different profiles and needs. In sum, we set up a multilingual (Catalan, Spanish, English and Chinese) and dynamic website, which can be useful for both teachers and learners who, in turn, will be able to enrich it through different types of feedback. Check our website and subscribe to our newsletter to be informed of the latest resources added to the database.

Material Type: Primary Source

Authors: Antonio Paoliello, Helena Casas-Tost, Mireia Vargas-Urpí, Sara Rovira-Esteva