Introduction
This learning module is designed to present how I incorporate technology in a meaningful and pedagogical sound way to enhance young students’ Mandarin learning experience and motivate them in narrative story writing and telling. This task is consist of two main parts:
- Students will work in groups to collaboratively create and write a fictional or non-fiction story. The stories do not need to be true, they can happen at anywhere, anytime, etc.
- After finishing writing the narrative story, each group will use Stop Motion app on iPads to turn their stories into movies. To make stop-motion movies, students in groups need to design the scenes, prepare (handmade or choose from existing toys) props, take pictures of every stop-motion of the characters and the change of the scenes, compile the pictures together, and record their narrations and background music.
Learner Audience
I teach Mandarin in a Chinese weekend school. My learners are Canadian born Chinese around age nine to eleven. Their parents speak Cantonese at home, and some of their parents know Mandarin in a variety of levels. Therefore, my students can understand some Cantonese, but they seldom speak Cantonese and rarely have a chance to speak Mandarin outside classroom. English is their first language although they are considered as ESL learners in their English schools. Six hours of Mandarin class every Saturday is likely the only chance for them to learn and practice Mandarin. Their mandarin is at the high beginner level according to the program entry placement exams, the mid-term and the final-term examinations.