Online Learning System to Supplement Chinese Classrooms
Chinese Language Teaching (Is CLT a commonly used term now? Much like ELT?) has been through a lot of changes, fueled by better understanding the needs of the students and teachers. We begin to see that publishers and program developers start to develop materials in the market space they want to serve.
However, the value of a successful program or framework is not to do whatever the market demands. The real value is the developer's ability to analyze & digest the market requirements to come up with a novel and holistic solutions for the learners and educators.
Recently, I've joined the craze, Twitter.com/BetterChinese. My good friend, Janna from Kentucky, has been asked me to get on Twitter. Frankly, I didn't quite understand the concept until ACTFL. Someone explained to me it's between email and facebook. I am glad I did it! It gave me a chance to connect with educators quickly and see the issues that are on their minds.
There was a tweet from a teacher about technology and education, that I thought was very interesting. http://web20classroom.blogspot.com/2009/11/you-want-me-to-use-this-in-my-classroom.html
I feel that we should embrace technology but only use technology when it helps us in achieving our goals. Every classroom is different. Every program has its own objectives. Every program has different constraints. Every instructor has different styles and needs.
These basic questions need to be addressed before we can find out how different things can help educators achieve their goals. This is no different in CLT. Most of the time, students learning Chinese in the US have problems of not being able to practice and review when they leave the classroom. They don't have opportunities to hear Chinese pronunciation or a chance to practice delivering their spoken Chinese. That's where Better Chinese's Online Learning System comes in.
In the classroom, students can learn with others through communicative activities. At home, they can watch animated lessons complete with standard mandarin. At the same time, they can do listen-comprehension homework and practice speaking Chinese through our Voice Recorder.
If you haven't had a chance to experience our Online Learning System, you should sign up a free online seminar. Just write Online Learning System when you sign up, we hope to show you the tools that are available today.
Hope you're well.
-James
0 comments