Curriculum and Instruction - SAS-WASC

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When the standards and benchmarks were revised, particular attention was paidto ensuring that the Chinese language learning reached across a variety of subjectareas and topics – allowing integration with other subject areas in the school’scurriculum (e.g., the language of mathematics, the language of science, and so forth).In the lower levels, ensuring that benchmarks called for practical application of thelanguage was paramount.The Chinese department was the first to have units posted on Atlas – but units werewritten in Chinese. While this was quite helpful to the Chinese teachers, it did notlend itself to integration and sharing of practice with teachers of other subject areasand it was not possible for building administrators, whose charge was to evaluateteachers in their buildings, to review the curriculum work accomplished. Movingforward, unit plans based on the revised standards and benchmarks will be written inEnglish – with linguistic content written in Chinese – in the same manner as Frenchand Spanish unit plans.The task force articulated units for common proficiency levels that span divisionsthrough high school level 2 (aligned through MS CFL 4) and identified themesand topics for units through high school level 4 (aligned with MS CL 3) shownin the chart below. The task force will complete this work in the fall, addressingredundancies and gaps, adding essential questions for each theme/unit and identifyingage-appropriate themes for middle school in the MS CL courses.MiddleSchoolMS CFL 1MS CFL 2MS CFL 3MS CFL 4MS CL 0MS CL 1MS CL 2MS CL 3Common Units and ThemesGreetings, Personal Information and Self-introductionFamilyDaily Routines (dates and time)Free Time: Visiting Friends, Dining, Making Reservations,AccommodationFree Time: Hobbies, Sports, Interests, Entertainment,MediaSchool LifeShopping: Clothing, Food (quantity and weight)Climate and its Effects (including weather, vacations)Public Transportation, Asking DirectionsSchool: Maps, Calendars, Facilities, Locations, DirectionCommunication ( telephone conversations, email, internet,etc) and Public Service (bank, post office)Festivals, celebrations, Seasons, Gift-givingFitness and Health (exercise and balanced lifestyle);Sickness and Injury (doctors and hospitals)Emergencies, Repairs, Accidents, Loss and TheftTravel, Physical Geography, Countries, Continents,Environmental concernsTown services, Markets, Shops, PurchasesArriving on CampusAt the RestaurantChinese Food CultureShoppingMS: TBD HS: Dating – boyfriend/girlfriendInterests – My Dream CareerPopular Culture: Music, Celebrities and IdolsSocial Influence of Television, Movies, MediaTravelChinese FestivalsSportsFamilyMS: TBD HS: Gender EquityMS: TBD HS: EducationAnimals and Human BeingsProtecting the EnvironmentHighSchoolHSLevel 1HSLevel 2HSLevel 3HSLevel 4(APChinese)100Shanghai American School Self Study Report
In 2008-2009, the articulation needs to expand to include the remaining levels ofboth Chinese literacy and Chinese as a foreign language. Clear articulation willsupport and clarify placement decisions both for incoming students and for studentstransitioning between divisions.Next Steps:• Set Atlas goals for 2008-2009 in 6-12 Chinese.• Review and revise standards and benchmarks for Chinese literacy in middleand high school.• Complete alignment of performance indicators for CFL with HS levels threeand four and MS CL one through four.• Align performance indicators for middle school Chinese literacy five througheight and high school levels five and six.• Continue the work of articulating the all levels of Chinese language proficiency(CFL and CL) in middle and high school.• Identify clear performance indicators for all middle and high school levels.HOW CURRICULUM IS TAUGHTInstructional StrategiesTeachers report that student learning happens in a variety of groupings from wholeclass to individuals and pairs. At the lower levels, there is more teacher talk – butas student proficiency with the language grows, so does student talk time in class.Individual teachers employ a range of instructional strategies in delivering curriculumto students. Blaine Ray’s Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Story-telling(TPRS) and James Asher’s Total Physical Response (TPR) enliven and enhancelanguage learning in many CFL classrooms. There are new faculty who have not yet,but should receive training in curriculum delivery.Going beyond the limits of the textbook, teachers employ collaborative activities,video-taping and online classroom discussions on Moodle. Some are using multimediatechnology, especially at the beginning levels. Some teachers are beginning todifferentiate according the individual students’ unique experiences and learning styles(examples can be seen in student portfolios), but more professional developmentis needed to ensure that Chinese language teachers across the school know how todifferentiate. The evidence of expanded instructional strategies speaks to the resolveof individual teachers of Chinese. While practical applications are still difficultfor many (classroom management and careful planning to include a variety ofinstructional strategies are particular challenges) and continued training and learningin daily teaching practice is called for, progress is evident.“I observed a Chinese class theother day, and what I saw was someof the best teaching I have seenin any classroom.” – Mary Lane,Puxi campus elementary schoolprincipalNext Steps:• Continue a comprehensive best practices pedagogical professionaldevelopment program for the PRC faculty (e.g., curriculum literacy: unitplan writing, authentic assessment, instructional strategies, and classroommanagement).• Continue to provide professional development in instructional strategies andcurriculum delivery (e.g., TPR and TPRS).• Ensure support and guidance of building administration in realizing essentialteaching agreements in classroom practice.HOW CURRICULUM IS ASSESSED and HOW ASSESSMENT IS USEDPlacement and Common AssessmentsA particular concern of the Chinese language task force has been to determine howto place students from one level to the next. Historically, all students were given aplacement test in the spring of the year, then placed according to their performanceon the testing instrument. Some students attempted to place lower than their actualShanghai American School Self Study Report 101
Page 1 and 2: Curriculum and InstructionShanghai
Page 3 and 4: Curriculum and InstructionThe Proce
Page 5 and 6: • Curriculum is best designed by
Page 7 and 8: Pudong Elementary SchoolPuxi Elemen
Page 9 and 10: written curriculum using Atlas curr
Page 11 and 12: Mainstream Classes (TESMC) to teach
Page 13 and 14: AlignmentAligning divisions across
Page 15 and 16: These discussions have, in part, ar
Page 17 and 18: Finally, the question of academic h
Page 19 and 20: Program Review Progress ReportsLang
Page 21 and 22: 1 st Grade• PM benchmarks assessm
Page 23 and 24: consumables. Puxi adopted them in 2
Page 25 and 26: • Ensure a variety of types of as
Page 27 and 28: A subcommittee of the task force co
Page 29: the training is applied in the clas
Page 33 and 34: from the United States, including C
Page 35 and 36: content knowledge. Teachers are con

Curriculum and Instruction - SAS-WASC

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