K-12 Chinese Language Teaching, Issue 5

Students in Taiwan.
Most students are Asian Americans, and some are American children whose parents
work in Taiwan. They have bilingual education in the school. Most of them can speak English
and Chinese well.
Students in the U.S.
Students are from a Chinese school in the U.S. They should have at least the novice-high
to intermediate-low level in Chinese to participate in this project.
Procedure.
Both groups use their target language— Chinese to do the FSP.
Context.
This experience came from Mary Down’s journal (Downs, 2006). Mary is a teacher from
Texas, who volunteered in the Taipei American School. She is a strong supporter of Flat Stanley
because her son participated in the project when he was in third grade in Wisconsin, and they
sent a Flat Stanley to their friends in Arizona where her son was born. Then she implemented it
in the Taipei American School in 2006. She helped her students in the Taipei American School
find a partner school in the U.S. to participate in the project together. She believed that both
eastern and western students would learn about each other’s cultures and gained numerous
cherished cultural experiences through the FSP. This experience allowed students to develop
written interpersonal communication with peers in the language studied.
Case 2-- Presentational Communication
Participants.
English Foreign Language Learners (EFLs) from an elementary school in Xinzhuang,
Taipei and Chinese Foreign Language Learners (CFLs) in a Chinese school in the U.S. Both are
non-immersion programs.
Characteristics of the group.
Students in Taiwan.
Students are native Chinese speakers and English learners. Their listening, speaking,
reading, and writing skills in English are at the novice-high to intermediate-low level.
Students in the U.S.
Students are native English speakers and Chinese learners. Their listening, speaking,
reading, and writing skills in Chinese are at the novice-high to intermediate-low level.