The Second Midwest Speech Contest

Midwest Chinese Teachers’ Alliance (MCTA) is glad to announce that the second Midwest Chinese Speech Contest is slated for April 17th, 2010 at Northside College Preparatory High School. Students who are currently enrolled in a Mandarin Chinese program at an elementary school or a middle/senior high school taught by MCTA members are welcomed to participate in this event. See more information:http://sites.google.com/site/mctadochost/

SCTA Workshop

Date: Feb. 6, 2010 Saturday
Time: 9:30-3:00
Place: Rolling Meadows Library, 3110 Martin Lane, Rolling Meadows, IL 60008, Community Room (2nd floor)
Check in from : 9:15 (The library opens at 9:00, please give us a little bit time to set up if you are there early.)
Light refreshment (water, cookies) will be served in the morning and lunch will be provided.
The instructor, Lisa Urbonya, is preparing lots of information to share with us. She is going to be the Director of Chinese language at the Pomona, California site for Middlebury-Monterrey Language Academy this summer. Enclosed please find her most updated bio.

[Chicago] DePaul's STARTALK Chinese Languag Academy

Student Program:
June 22 - July 22, 2009

• An intensive Chinese Language Program for Academically Talented high school students
• 2 college-level courses: Beginning and Intermediate
• Emphasis on developing Chinese language proficiency in all language skills through studen-centered, real-life performance, cooperative learning, and cultural activities
• Classes Held Daily from 9am - 3pm

Teacher Training & Professional Development Program:
June 15-July 2, 2990; Extended practicum: July 6-July 22, 2009

• A graduate-level course on Teaching Chinese emphasizing linguistics, best practices, standard-based pedagogy and assessment, performance-base and student-centered language teaching with a communicative language approach
• Opportunities for novice teachers to directly apply teaching methods and theories in the STARTALK student courses and participate in a supervised practicum
• Option for earning graduate credits or continuing professional development credits (CPDUs)

For more information and applications,
Contact: Dr. Yvonne Lau, Program Director,
DePaul Chinese Language Academy
ylau@depaul.edu

2 Job Openings - Woodstock District 200

http://www.d200.mchenry.k12.il.us/favorite/emp_certified.htm

Positions at Northwood Middle School:

0.6 FTE Mandarin Chinese Teacher

Positions at Woodstock High School:

Teacher - Mandarin Chinese
(Will teach at both high schools)
Full-time position for 2009-2010 school year.
Candidates must possess or be eligible for
State of Illinois certificate to teach Mandarin
Chinese at the high school level.

Job Opening - Stevenson High School

Adlai E. Stevenson High School District 125.
The position is Certified Mandarin Teacher - World Languages Division.
This is an anticipated part-time position:

http://www.applitrack.com/district125/onlineapp/jobpostings/view.asp?category=High+School+Teaching&AppliTrackJobId=325&AppliTrackLayoutMode=detail&AppliTrackViewPosting=1

Job Opening- Crystal Lake

School District 155 in Crystal Lake has a 1/2 time Chinese teacher opening.
Although part-time, this position comes with a full benefit package that includes life, health, dental and vision insurance.
Please find details as:
http://www.d155.org/employment.htm?category=High+School+Teaching

Job Opening @ Harvard H.S.

DATE: March 6, 2009

POSITION: Chinese Teacher
For the 2009-2010 school year
At Harvard High School

REQUIREMENTS: Highly Qualified for Chinese Instruction
Appropriate Certification which
Must be registered in McHenry County

BENEFITS: Sick days, Personal days, Insurance,
and a Retirement Plan.

DEADLINE: April 03 or Until Position is Filled

http://www.cusd50.org/

Loyola Academy - full time position

http://www.goramblers.org/Employment/mandarinchineseinstructor.pdf

Mandarin Chinese Instructor - Full Time 2009-2010 School Year
Candidate Needs:
Related Degree, MA Preferred
Student Teaching or Teaching Experience
Native speaker proficiency in speaking, writing

Please send us a cover letter, resume (electronic okay), references listed, unoffical transcripts, proof of citizenship or proof ability to work legally in the United States.
If you are contacted for an interview, download the employment application, print, complete it and bring with you.

Contact:
Mary Anne Dowe Quinlan
Chair, Language Department
(847)920-2580
maquinlan@loy.org
Fax:(847)853-4512

York Community High School - full time position

Hola,

We have two positions that were just posted yesterday at the Elmhurst 205 school district website. We are looking for 1-Chinese teacher and 1-Italian teacher. Both positions are Full-time for 09-10 school year at York Community High School. If you know of any qualified and certified candidates or recent student teachers, please feel free to pass on this information to them.

Raul M. Gaston Jr.
-World Languages Dept. Chair
-Spanish Teacher
-Steel Band Director
York Community High School
355 W. St. Charles Rd.
Elmhurst, IL. 60126
630.617.2400 x2461
raulgaston@elmhurst205.org

Niles North/West Opening

http://www.niles219.org/hr/teachingjobs.asp

Chinese Position in Barrington, IL

http://www.applitrack.com/CUSD220/onlineapp/jobpostings/view.asp?category=High+School+Teaching&AppliTrackJobId=1282&AppliTrackLayoutMode=detail&AppliTrackViewPosting=1

Speech Contest!

Dear fellow teachers,

Midwest Chinese Teachers' Alliance (MCTA) is proud to host the first
Chinese Speech Contest at Northside College Prep. on April 25, 2009.
Students who are currently enrolled in a Mandarin Chinese program at
an elementary school or a middle/senior high school taught by MCTA
members are welcomed to participate in this event.

Registration begins on February 10th and ends on March 10th, 2009. We
are only accepting 40 contestants. Each teacher may enter no more than
two students per category (see contest rules) to participate in the
contest. Completed registration form should be emailed to
mcta.chicago@gmail.com. More information can be found on the MCTA
document hosting site:
http://sites.google.com/site/mctadochost/2009-midwest-speech-contest

If you have any questions, please send emails to me at
mcta.chicago@gmail.com or ymcheng@gmail.com.

Michelle Cheng
MCTA Speech Contest Chair
Mandarin Teacher, IMSA

Members Only Section

Hello teachers!
Please click on the left link and access the documents from Swap Shop.
For security reasons, it will be viewable only for teachers who have registered at the workshop.

Please also click the link for DePaul and MCTA's 3/14/09 Full Day Workshop at DePaul Univ - Lincoln Park Campus. Space is limited, please apply now!

Hello teachers!

It was fabulous to see familiar and new faces yesterday!
Please visit the blog often and contribute ideas with fellow Chinese teachers.
In the next few weeks, I will upload all the shared materials, sites, and summaries. Feel free to comment and give further insight/updates.

See you all in March! (DePaul/MCTA workshop)

Sara

Feb 7 Swap Shop

We're hosting another Swap Shop!
Please view the online invitation and RSVP

http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/BNXZMGKTGLMRPPVPCLWH/2009SWAP

Any question, email Sara @ sarachao@gmail.com

White Rabbit Candy Pulled from Shelves

Hello teachers.

Please read the following article:

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=230100&Sn=WORL&IssueID=31191

I think it'll take a long time for me to buy another bag of White Rabbit candy to give to my students.

Chinese Teacher Position

Saint Ignatius College Prep, a Jesuit school has an open position for a Chinese teacher. If you are interested in this position or if you know anyone who is interested in it, please contact Dr. Catherine Karl. Principal. Email cathy.karl@ignatius.org

**Thank you Ren Laoshi for the update**

Hello, everyone

Hello, old and new friends,

This is Haojing (Crystal) Cheng, the Chinese teacher at Lane. Finally, I came from the other side of Lake Michicagn to join you guys in Chicago. I am so happy to meet you again virtually through this teacher group blog. Julia and Sara, thank you for inviting me to this teacher group. Please pardon me for not being able to connect with you on-line right away because Gmail kept denying the username I chose during the registration period. Being a full time mom in past years, I am not technically savvy as I used to be. Anyway, I was able to register a right username with Gmail at last.

Hope to see you again either on-line or f2f. Have a nice week!

Crystal Cheng

Suburban Chinese Language Teacher Meeting

芝加哥郊区中文教师协会
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 | 11:00AM – 2:00PM
Rolling Meadows Library
2nd Floor Conference Room
3110 Martin Lane
Rolling Meadows, Illinois 60008
Meeting Agenda:
11:00AM – 11:10AM Introduction of “Newbies”
11:10AM – 11:45AM Sharing of Syllabus*
11:45AM – 12:15PM Sharing of Summer Teaching/Learning Experience
12:15PM – 12:45PM Brainstorming for Spring SWAP Shop
12:45PM – 12:50PM Cleanup
10 minutes travel time to lunch destination

1:00PM – 2:00PM Collaborative Discussion Luncheon

THINGS TO CONSIDER:
*Please bring your class syllabus
Coffee and cookies will be provided, no need to bring any food!
Don't be shy…ask questions, share with us! 

MCTA Annual Conference, May 3rd.

Midwest Chinese Teachers' Alliance will have its Annual Conference on Saturday, May 3 from 8:30 - 12:30, at Room 232 of Northside College Preparatory High School. The address is: 5501 N. Kedzie Ave., Chicago, IL 60625. All are welcome!

Iowa State Startalk Institute: Deadline April 1st.

There is a 10-day summer institute at Iowa State entitled "Mentoring and Leadership for K-12 Chinese teachers." For anyone interested in applying for this program, deadline is tomorrow, but I bet if you call them and say you're interested, they will grant extensions. I have applied and think it will be a great session; it doesn't hurt that Startalk is picking up the bill for all of the expenses, including travel, room and board and stipend. You or your school just needs to pay the $100 registration fee. Click the link below for all of the information.

Aaron (Gao Shan)

http://nflrc.iastate.edu/inst/2008/chinese_inst_info.html

textbook

hi, everyone! Hope all of you are doing great! I am considering changing textbook next year.My students next year will be mostly freshman and sophomore high school students. It will be their first year chinese course. Recently I came across Chengo Chinese online, it seems to be a good textbook to use. I am wondering if anyone has been using this series. Please let me know how you feel about this book or any other textbook that you recommend. I think a textbook with workbook for students doing exercise after class will be great! Your responses will be highly appreciated!

Chaoyi

Introduction of Jeanne Hennek

My name is Jeanne. I came from Shanghai seventeen years ago. I have been living in the Chicago suburbs for all these years. Currently I reside in Palatine. Thank you for accepting me as one of your members. I would very much like to know each one of you personally. I know that you are a group of very talented educators and I can learn a lot from you. I hope to meet with you in person some time soon!.

Jeanne

SWAP Workshop Recap

芝加哥郊區中文教師協會, 在二零零七年十二月一日, 于Winnetka 之New Trier 高中, 舉辦中文教師聯誼會. 二十多位來自芝加哥與Milwaukee 郊區的中文老師互相交換教學經驗與心得分享. DePaul 大學的劉博士也借此機會提供一些有助於增強中文教學的規劃, 同時也預告二零零八年暑期即將開STARTALK 課程的訊息. 大家齊聚一堂, 相談 甚歡. 同時也確定了中文教學在美國主流學校的指標.


On December 1, 2007, Chinese Language Programs of Suburban Chicago hosted a swap workshop at New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL. Around two-dozen suburban Chicago and Milwaukee Chinese Language teachers attended the meeting and shared their effective lessons with demonstrations and discussions. Dr. Lau from DePaul University shared with fellow teachers her insights on promoting and maintaining a strong Chinese program. The 2008 summer STARTALK program information was also presented to the group. The meeting commenced with fruitful collaboration amongst educators and a sense of gratification and affirmation of everyone's great effort in promoting the Chinese language in US mainstream schools.

Hello from Gao Shan

Hello everyone,

It was a real pleasure meeting you all at the Swap Shop on Saturday. I hope we can get together again in the future. Here is a site I recommend for learning to write Hanzi with the correct stroke order. It has a flash animation of most of the characters.

http://www.chinese-learner.com/write-chinese/write-chinese-stroke-order-dictionary.php

My other favorite site with lots of Chinese flash animation movies is www.qbaobei.com

If you do not have an internet connection and would like to save these flash files (or any other flash files) to your computer, follow these simple instructions.

1. Bring up the web page with the flash file you want.
2. Go to "Tools"--"Internet Options", and then click "Settings" under the "temporary internet files" section.
3. Click "View Files"
4. On list of "Temporary Internet Files" that pops up, look under "Type" and find the one called "Shockwave Flash Object" (it may be necessary to first delete the temporary internet files if this list is too long.)
5. Right click on this file and select "copy"
6. Go to your computer's desktop, right click and select "paste"
You should now have the file on your desktop and be able to open it.
Hope this is helpful.

Take care everyone!

Aaron Bray (Gao Shan)

Software for converting chinese scripts into Pinyin

Hi, everyone! It was so nice to meet all of you on Saturday! Your fresh ideas and unique approaches to teaching have enlightened me a lot! Though it is the first time to see each other for a lot of us, we feel so close as if we are old friends! I feel so glad that I become a member of this big and warm family! It is so great that we can share our teaching experience and life here as chinese teachers as well as Chinese in Chicago! Thank you so much for everything! I am looking forward to our next meeting! Here, I would like to share with you a software I am using to convert hanzi into pinyin. It is very convenient! You can download it from the following link:http://www.onlinedown.net/soft/45528.htm
Hope it can help all of you as it helps me a lot in preparing lessons!

Chaoyi

Blog update

Hi everyone,

I just found out today that Blogger has a limit to the number of "members" per blog.

I had to split my Spanish classes into their own individual classes.

Blog entry

Hi everyone,

Just FYI, my Chinese students have just been given their first BLOG assignment.
http://mschinese.blogspot.com

Hopefully, everything will run smoothly!

Sara

Blog/Discussion Forums

Hello teachers!
I'm thinking about setting up a Blog for my students instead of handing in journals.
Would anyone of you whom already have done blog, forums, Blackboard, etc. please give me some input or advice?
I think I should have students sign a "contract" (language, conduct, etc).
What else?

Also, any good topics?
Sara

Good luck!

Hi everyone!

I hope all of you had a good and relaxing summer.
I am sure many of you have started...or perhaps finished your classroom preparations.
I wish you all the best of luck this school year.
加油! You all are the best!

Sara

ACTFL

Is there anyone interested in ACTFl Convention in Nov?
Lusha

Hi from Lusha Yin O'Mara

Ni Hao/How are You!
First please excuse me greeting everyone by quoting the popular saying form China Radio International.
I am Lusha from Whitney Young High School. I had 60 students enrollment last year and I will have more than 140 this year ranging from level 1, 2 to AP.
I still consider myself new even though I had years of teaching experience with high school students. I truly understand what a life-long learner mean and I know my way ahead to be a better teacher needs your help and sharing to enrich my teaching expertise. Thank you.

Survivor 14 will be in China!

To all those CBS TV Show Survivor fans... Just read in the Sunday Chicago Tribune the next season will take place in China! The show will air starting September.

I love incorporating popular culture into daily classroom lessons to spark interest. This will definitely be something useful.

Those of you not familiar with the series. You should check the past two seasons. Full season recaps and (some have episodes) are available on CBS.COM. For sure you can find it on Youtube.

Season 12 was an experiment with ethnicity (divided groups by ethnic background: Caucasian, African-American, Latin-American, Asian-American). The winner...I won't spoil it if you haven't seen it.

Season 13 was an experiment with race and physical being. Not all contestants are athletic. The winner...I won't spoil it either. But, one popular contestant - YauMan - did the Chinese people proud! He used very good strategy and he explained his rationale in a very "Chinese" philosophical style.

Anyways...sounds interested? Take the summer time and watch it for yourself.

New Teacher

Hi, Everyone,


This is Sarah Bien. I'll be teaching Chinese at Lyons Township in LaGrange this fall. It's going to be an adventure for me. With the help from all of you, experienced teachers, I hope it's going to be an enjoyable learning experience for me. And, hopefully, I'll have somthing to contribute to our Chinese teaching community along the way.

Have a great 4th of July!


Sarah

教学交流

上两个星期我们郊区有几位汉语老师参加了傅老师的讲习班。史老师也参加了外州的学习班。能不能请你们几位老师把你们学到的教学法和其他没有参加的老师分享。请不要太长，要短小精悍。
谢谢！

Soyodo書原--disappointment

Hi everyone,

I went to 書原again today. Trying to buy some supplies for calligraphy. Sadly, the brush set is only package of 3 sizes. I asked the clerk if I can order, she was not very eager to help. She was trying to sell only what she has in the store.

I was a bit frustrated. So, I think perhaps it's time to research other venues online.
Any suggestions?

Sara

Teacher to Teacher Workshop week of June 25

Hi everyone,
I just received an email from Confucius Center regarding STARTALK's Teacher to Teacher Workshop next week at DePaul University. Will any of you go? I'm looking for carpool from Hinsdale area (Western Suburbs by Westmont).
Sara

Chinese Link PPT

I will make the PPT of the vocabulary on the part 1 (level 1) of the Chinese Link.

Call for Chinese Link Collaborators

Dear all,

How's the summer so far? Enjoy it before it gets too hot.

At the meeting on 6-11 I know several of us are going to adopt Chinese Link in the fall. I am thinking that if we can collaborate to design tests for each lesson for the Book one part 1 so that we can have a test bank on vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension and culture . At the end I would be more than happy to put them together so each of us can have a copy of it before the school starts. If you would like to participate, please email me at meredithshi@yahoo.com by June 18th. Then we can discuss further. Look forward to hearing from you and working with you soon.

Thanks.

Meredith Shi

A New Teacher

Sorry, I am late. My name is Zhongqi Lu. Since many people who do not know Chinese Pinyin have difficulties pronouncing my first name, I gave myself an English name: Joan. I will be teaching Chinese in Waubonsie Valley High School during the next school year. I am very excited about the opportunity (Finally I will have chances to teach Americans how to pronounce my Chinese name!). But as a new teacher, I am anxious at the same time. Fortunately, I have met so many experienced and new Chinese teachers like you who are so supportive and helpful and willing to share your wonderful experience with everybody else. I have learned a lot from you. I sincerely hope that we all grow as the Chinese programs grow in the Chicagoland. Thank you all!

Joan (Zhongqi)

Thank you all for the input!

Dear all,
Thank Julia to set up the blog. It was really exiting to see our team getting bigger. The even more exiting thing is to see so many of you share your information. We are getting stronger! Go SCTA! I am going to post a proposal. You will expect it in your email and our Blog.

Meredith Shi

Lyons High School Chinese Teacher

Marie reminded me that there is a Chinese teacher at Lyons Township High School. The school hired this teacher from the CPS. I remembered the school department chair called me a month ago asking about the Chinese Link. Whoever can reach this teacher, please let him/her know our group. Thanks.

Link Changes

Wang Jianghong laoshi suggested that if I can make the school name in the teacher list linked to the school website. I think I like the idea. Here we go. Please click your name and see if the link of your school is right.

Added authors

Hi everyone,

I have added authors with the email address I have. If I missed anyone, sorry, but please email me and I will add you to CTR (Chinese Teaching Resources).

Sara

My name is Piling Eliza Chiu, currently teaching at Naperville North HS and Naperville Central HS. I consider myself a rookie for I just started my teaching at the two HS this February. It's a great pleasure to meet with all of you and learn from you. Through networking and interacting with each other, I believe we will only be better. Thank you all for inspiring and enriching me.

The presentation remote that I use is manufactured by "Logitech". It is very user friendly and offers a good hand grip.

Have a good summer respite!

Piling

How exciting this is!

"Wow..." was my first reaction to what I saw in our blog. How wonderful and how exciting this is. Thank you, Julia, for everything you have done for our new teachers! Thank you, Sara! We are so lucky to have you in our group. Thank you for all of you to participate! I am so glad to see that Julia (our all time supporter) and Debroah (our new supporter) are here. We are going to have a great future because all of you.
Sorry! I am so happy that I forgot to introduce who I am. My name is Weifang Wang(王玮芳), the Chinese teacher at Highland Park High School. I am going to learn very much from all of you.
Thank you!

Teaching Resources Page

I am Judy Gressel, librarian at New Trier High School. Julia Kessel and I have worked on project for Chinese Language for the past 8 years. I am an active member of Chinese Language Advocates.

Sara, I love your teaching resources blog which is linked to this blog. I found some good resources I would like to add. I discovered that we cannot post any resources to your blog unless you invite us all in as authors (contributors) even though it is open to the public. You have to send us an email invitation. Go to settings --then click on permissions. Right now all we could do is to post a comment, not a new posting of resources.

My email is gresselj@newtrier.k12.il.us

I'm free, well, almost!

Hi dear fellow teachers,
My name is Michelle Cheng (魏老师）. I am finally done with finals! Three more days, I'll be free! This is my first full-time teaching job and I'm so thrilled my long over-due break is just around the corner! It has been tough, you know, being a first-year teacher, working in an urban high school in the south side of Chicago; and not to mention the long and exhausting commute. Though I'm excited to transfer to a suburban school (IMSA, Aurora, IL) that is much closer to my house next year, it was hard for me to say good-bye to my students today (Not all, but I do have a few good ones that I wish I could take with me!) .
I can't wait to meet with all of you in the next meeting. Thank you so much for including me in your group/blog!

Hi I am Janet Wang

Hi my name is Janet Wang. I am teaching Chinese in Adlai E. Stevenson High School. We are using Integrated Chinese Part I Level I. In the school year 2007-2008 we are going to have both Chinese 1 and Chinese 2 accelerated. I enjoyed teaching Chinese in the school. Hope we can share our teaching with each other. Have a wonderful summer!

I found a great deal on Little White Boards

http://www2.abcstuff.com/cgi/Web_store/web_store.cgi

I ordered 35 white boards 9" x 12" for under $90! The price is incredible. I'll share with you my review of the product once I receive them next week.

Thanks Sara

Sara and I discussed the blog for our teaching resources. Since she has one already, I am not going to start a new one. Please add any resources you think is helpful in teaching.
Julia

Teaching Resources

Hi All!

I have compiled some of my links in a public blog called Chinese Teaching Resources (see link at right).

Since it is a public group, there shouldn't be a need for me to send an invitation. But, if you run into any problems, please let me know.

Sara

Hello from Brenda Hsu

Hi, All:
This is Brenda Hsu. I am going to teach Chinese in two middles schools of Arlington Heights School District 25 in fall, 2007. I feel so comfortable and confident to start a new program because there are so many resources available and experienced teachers support us . Big thanks to Kessel Laoshi and Weifang Laoshi for today's meeting. I got a lot of information and advice today. Wish you all have a nice summer!

Resource Link from Confucius Center

Here are some useful links from CC for Spring Festival:

Extensive collection of links and activities for elementary teachers.
http://www.theteacherscorner.net/seasonal/chinese-new-year/index.htm


Good collection of links (Apples for the Teacher)
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/chinese-new-year/

* Well organized group of links; lessons and worksheets; other links
http://www.teacherplanet.com/resource/chinesenewyear.php

Teacher vision: extensive links to Chinese culture sites and activities
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/chinese-new-year/china/6603.html


Activities for elementary or middle school
http://www.newton.mec.edu/Angier/DimSum/china__dim_sum__spring_fes.html

Extensive and well organized crafts and activities for elementary aged children
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/chinesenewyear/

Unit Plan: "Chinese Inventions and the Chinese New Year”
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/unitplan.jsp?id=20

Extensive listing of links to teacher resources for Chinese Culture and New Year (Utah Education Network)

http://www.uen.org/utahlink/activities/view_activity.cgi?activity_id=5279#teacher

A-Z Teacher Stuff
http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Themes/Chinese_New_Year/index.shtml

http://my-ecoach.com/online/webresourcelist.php?rlid=4324

* Sites and Links
http://www.thecanadianteacher.com/archives/318

I am Marie Chou

Hi, my name is Marie Yi-Hua Chou. I will be teaching Chinese at York Community High School (Elmhurst School District 205) with 2 Chinese I classes. The textbook I will be using is Chinese Link. Teaching is a new career for me and I am very excited about it. I feel very luck to have such a support group to back me up, and I am looking forward to sharing my experiences with all of you too. Have a great summer, and see you all soon.

Presentation Remote

Hi All,

We all loved Piling's Presentation Remote, perhaps she can share the make and model of her remote.
I did a search on Amazon.com and here they are...
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_e/103-9128585-8509421?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=Presentation+Remote&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go

Usually, if you go to overstock.com there are competitive prices too.

Enjoy shopping!

Sara

My name is Sara Bosa

Hi everyone. My name is Sara Bosa. I will be teaching Chinese at Maine South (District 207) starting this fall. I'm extremely excited for the school and program. I have been teaching Spanish and look forward to adding Chinese to my career.

The textbook I will be using is Integrated Chinese. I have viewed Chinese Link and like the format of the book a lot. Hopefully in the near future, we will adopt the new series.

May 8, 2007 5:58:00 PM CST

I am Meredith Shi

I am Meredith Shi. I am teaching Chinese at New Trier High School now. I started to teach Chinese to the speakers of other languages in 1990 in China. Here in the States, I taught at both universities and grade schools and secondary schools. The textbooks I used are Integrated Chinese and New Pracitcal Chinese Reader. The following is the pros& cons after using both of them in my teaching.
The Pros.
New Practical Chinese Reader
To introduce pinyin and dialogue at the same time
There are pictures & explanations for most of the basic characters
Culture notes in each chapter
Broad and plenty pattern drills
The key sentences and pattern drills are connected.
Broad vocabulary
Exercises include reading the phrases, pattern drills, speak about the pictures, communication exercises， reading comprehension and paraphrase it.
Online video for each chapter
More authentic scenes and expression of China
The workbook combines both character practice and other exercises in one.

Integrated Chinese
To introduce pinyin, basic characters and strokes before introduce the dialogues
The exercises match the dialogues in each lesson
Cultural notes connects to the content in each lesson
The pattern drills closely related to the dialogues
Pattern drills closely match the grammar patterns.
The vocabulary is more close the college life.
Workbook and character practicing book are easy to use to match the content.
English translation to each lesson
Plenty of online materials
The CD is divided by page number, easy to use and assign HW.
Separated workbook and Character Workbook with stroke orders and meaning.

The cons:

New Practical Chinese Reader
The translation of some vocabulary is not accurate enough
Audio materials are not easy to use
Grammar ex. and explanation are not through.
Less interesting contents and exercises
The book is designed for college students
The workbook is not friendly used to match each dialogue, but for reviewing the whole chapter.
No English translations for texts.
Integrated Chinese
The content and the layout of the book are not interesting enough.
Designed for college students
Cultural notes not enough
The basic characters do not have pictures.

November 24, 2006 1:03:00 PM CST

My name is Deborah Rine

My name is Deborah Rine. I am Department Chair at York H.S. in Elmhurst. I am excited and fascinated with the Chinese program we shall launch next fall. I would like to study it myself. I would particularily like to hear about pros and cons on textbooks!! We need to pick a book! And a teacher!

Meeting Monday June 11, 2007

Let's get together to share our experiences from the past school year. Some new teachers will be joining us. We will meet at New Trier High School, Northfield Campus, 7 Happ Rd. Northfield, IL 60093 from 10 am until noon in Building D-226. See you then.

Please introduce youself and the Chinese program at your school

I started teaching Chinese at New Trier High School from 1999. So far, we have 8 classes with 180 students in the program. We plan to have AP Chinese in 2008. We are using the New Practical Chinese Reader as our textbook.