Student-led discussion with a native speaker guest

Greetings and welcome to my real Chinese classroom, with sections ranging from an Intro Grade 6 class to a Level 4 with High School 10th Graders. We share what is happening in our classrooms, what works, our challenges, the latest methods, materials and research as it plays out in a real classroom.

Highlight of our week: On Thursday during Chinese Club we had a native speaker visitor from Taiwan, all spoken in Chinese! The students loved this opportunity with a native speaker. They wonder, "Will my Chinese really work with them? Will I understand them and they understand me?"

YES! to all of these questions. Our speaker introduced herself and then we opened up for questions.

Students raised their hands and she called on them for short interchanges with individual students. The students initiated the questions themselves, all in Chinese:

- Where are you from?
- How many people in your family? Who are they? (she discussed both her husband and children and her family of origin - parents and so on.)
- Where have you traveled?
- How long have you been in the US?
- Do you have a pet? Do you like cats?
- Do the students in Taiwan look like those in the US (boys' length of hair, i.e., was discussed)?

When the bell rang, students were still engaged and very satisfied that their Chinese worked!