The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition
(CARLA) at the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Department
of Education (MDE) announce a new listserv dedicated to promoting
and supporting Chinese K-12 language education in Minnesota.
The purpose of this list is to provide a forum to exchange
ideas and information on Chinese language education in Minnesota
targeted at:
- Chinese K-12 teachers currently teaching in programs
across the state
- Individuals/groups interested in setting up a Chinese
language program in their area
- Anyone who is interested in Chinese K-12 language programs
Subscriptions to this list are open and the list is unmoderated.
How to Subscribe to the MN-K-12 Chinese Listserv:
The MN K-12 Chinese listserv is a partnership between
CARLA and Minnesota Department of Education. The list is
managed by Louis Janus
at CARLA
The Asia Society
http://www.askasia.org/chinese/
The Asia Society website is the “go to” site
for information needed to start or expand a Chinese language
program. The website provides the following features:
“Why Chinese?”
http://www.askasia.org/chinese/whychinese.htm
Provides a list of compelling reasons to support Chinese
language education
Find a School
http://www.askasia.org/chinese/schooldirectory.htm
See a listing of currently existing Chinese programs in
the country.
Creating a Chinese Language Program in Your School:
An Introductory Guide http://www.askasia.org/chinese/publications.htm
This guide provides you the basics of setting up a new program.
Chinese Languages in the Schools Newsletter http://askasia.org/chinese/announcements/newsletter0107.htm
This newsletter was launched by the Asia Society in
January 2007 is intended to provide information to
a wide range of people who are involved in or becoming interested
in Chinese education
China Center at the University of Minnesota
http://www.chinacenter.umn.edu/
This website includes information about local organizations
involved with Chinese language and culture.
Immersion Education and Research at CARLA
http://www.carla.umn.edu/immersion/
Immersion education has long been a priority at the Center
for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition. This site
provides in-depth resources for those interested in immersion
education.
Minnesota Department of Education Mandarin Initiative
http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/Teacher_Support/Chinese_Language_Initiative/index.html
This site has information from the taskforces focused on
Chinese Curriculum Inventory, Curriculum Development and
Legislative Recommendations.
This list of online resources was annotated by Zhen
Zou at theUniversity of Minnesota
Collections of Materials
CLA Language Center at the University of Minnesota
(http://languagecenter.cla.umn.edu/index.php?page=links_chinese
)
Website features links to many resources on Chinese language,
society, and culture.
E.L. Easton Languages Online
http://eleaston.com/chinese.html
Provides links to online resources including games, culture,
activities for writing characters and more.
Less Commonly Taught Languages Project at CARLA
http://www.carla.umn.edu/lctl/materials/language/chinese.html
Includes links to a database to find where Chinese is taught
at the postsecondary level and links to many online educational
resources
UCLA Language Materials Project
http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/
This site features over resources in Chinese and 100 different
languages.
Language Resource Centers
http://nflrc.msu.edu/index.php
Includes links to professional development opportunities
and materials in Chinese and many other languages that have
been created by the U.S. Department of Education’s
Language Resource Centers.
More Online Resources
Beautiful China
http://www.chinapage.com/main2.html
This is a website offers many useful resources for Chinese
language and cultural education, including Classical Chinese
Art, Calligraphy, Poetry, History, Literature, Painting
and Philosophy.
Better Chinese
http://www.betterchinese.cn/
This Chinese website is targeted at kids aged 2-13. It contains
such sections as “Happy Chinese,” “Magical
China,” “Parents & Teachers,” and
“Wonderful World.” The website offers paid course,
but offers nine free trial lessons.
Chengo Chinese
http://www.elanguage.cn/
This website is the result of a joint Chinese online courseware
project done in collaboration by the U.S. Department of
Education and the Chinese Ministry of Education. It takes
the Olympics as the main theme, and language camps and home-stay
life as its storyline, which presents thirty-five 50-minute
episodes, targeted at students aged 12-18. Each episode
has five parts: view story, read story, explore scenes,
cultural notes, and language notes.
Chinese Multimedia
(http://www.ctcfl.ox.ac.uk/Chinese/lessons/1/index.htm)
This website is an excellent resource for video, audio,
speaking, grammar exercises, and much, much more.
“Getting Around”
http://video.csupomona.edu/AnnenbergCPB/DragonsTongue-GettingAround-245.asx
This website features one episode about getting around in
China from a 19 episode program called “Dragon’s
Tongue.” Running almost 30 minutes, it consists of
six sections: Traffic in Beijing 0:00- 6:05; Trip to Shanghai
6:06-14:24; History of Chinese Characters 14:25-17:29;
Misunderstanding (Tones) 17:30-19:50; Bicycles 19:52-23:18;
Wang Family Episode 23:19-
28:09 (Bicycle Traffic Ticket). The episode is mostly in
English, with some clips in Chinese.
Unfortunately, the other 18 episodes are not available.
Integrated Chinese Lesson Notes
http://www.nyu.edu/pages/east.asian.studies/classnotes.html
These notes were written by a New York University instructor
on Chinese characters for Integrated Chinese, Level One,
Part One. It contains notes that explain the origin and
structure of many most commonly used Chinese characters
and basic vocabulary.
New Concept Mandarin
http://www.newconceptmandarin.com/
This website created in Hong Kong offers three levels of
Chinese. Each level contains 30 lessons in structural study,
12 units in functional study, 22 conversation topics, and
420 online quizzes. But you have to register and pay to
use all the materials. The price is $70 for three months
online Mandarin courses, or $120 for the CD-Rom Learning
Kit. On the website there are six demo lessons, with two
in each level.
Real Chinese
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/real_chinese/
Real Chinese is the BBC’s Chinese language learning
website. It contains such survival topics as introducing
oneself and one’s family, ordering a meal, shopping,
transportation, and booking a hotel. It displays Chinese
Pinyin, but not characters.
Rutgers’ Chinese Website
http://chinese.rutgers.edu/content_cs.htm
This website offers free online multimedia Chinese courses
that contain 80 lessons, running from beginning to advanced
levels. Each lesson has a dialogue, sound files, vocabulary,
grammar notes, and sentence structures.
