NEWSLETTER

Vol-3 | 31 July 2013

Teaching Asian

Languages

Charlie Thompson

shares her story on

teaching Chinese at St

Kentigern College.

Read more here

Fourth German

PASCH school in NZ

Ashburton College has

become the fourth

German PASCH school

in New Zealand

Read more here

International Lan-

guages Week

Celebrate Internation-

al Languages Week

with music.

Read more here

Salamanca Scholar-

ship Programme

14 NZ language teach-

ers gained a scholar-

ship in Spain

Read more here

PD for teachers

Gordon Gallup reflects

on his TPDL experi-

ence

Read more here

Have you see thought about different

approaches to teaching Asian

languages? If not, have a look here at

a recent article in the Education

Gazette where teachers share their

experiences and practices.

We would also like to share a story

with you.

Charlie Thompson is a trained primary

school teacher with a high level of

Chinese. She is so enthusiastic and passionate that she recently

began teaching Chinese in a secondary setting at St Kentigern

College in Auckland.

“I was really keen to share my language skills but I really didn’t

know anything about teaching languages. I am fascinated

to understand more about second language acquisition and think

that the in-school support programme will be hugely beneficial to

my teaching practice.

Chinese is three and a half times more difficult to learn than any

other language, there is so much for students to get their heads

around (tones, pronunciation, characters, pinyin etc). However,

it is a fascinating language and so rewarding to learn - the

challenge is making it fun and accessible to students without

letting it get overwhelming.

Teaching Asian Languages

I am not a native speaker and so it is really important to ensure

that the students are getting a variety of external input of the

spoken language other than just me! Such as from DVDs, CDs

and using native Chinese speakers in the class.

The complex sounds and form of writing (characters) also make

it fun to learn - the students seem to be able to latch on to the

tones and pronunciation far faster than adults do.

Through teaching Chinese I am reconnecting with my own

language learning journey - it is really exciting to be using and

building on my own language skills! I think the fact that I am

not a native speaker of the language, gives me an insight into

how to make the language more accessible for students. I can

share my own experiences as a learner, I show them that it is

okay to make mistakes (regularly!) and I hope that I am able to

pass on my passion and knowledge about the country and

China’s vast history and culture.”

Have you had similar experiences teaching Asian languages? We

would like to hear your story. Contact us at plc@ilep.ac.nz.

In her TED talk, ShaoLan Hsueh

walks us through one simple

lesson on Chinese characters.

Learn to read Chinese with ease

here.

Ashburton College becomes German Partnerschule

German Ambassador Dr. Anne-Marie Schleich and Prime Minister

John Key signed a Memorandum of Understanding at Ashburton

College inaugurating the school as the fourth German PASCH

school in New Zealand.

PASCH stands for “Schools: Partners for the Future” and

comprises a network of 1,500 schools with German language

programmes. The goal is to interest students in modern Germany

and to create long-term relationships and networks between

teaching staff and German society.

Head of Languages at Ashburton

College, Ken Pow, said the official

ceremony was a great success with

students and teachers. The

German Ambassador extended a

warm welcome to Ashburton

College and complimented college

principal Grant McMillan and

German teacher Ken Pow on their

work and continued focus on

excellence in the teaching and

learning of the German language.

This year, Germany and New

Zealand are commemorating the

60th Anniversary of Diplomatic

Relations and John Key highlighted

Germany’s role as the leading

economic “powerhouse” of Europe

and the benefits this global

exchange programme will have for

Ashburton College.

Are you and your school interested

in providing German language

programmes or would you like to

increase your network to

Germany? Then contact the

German National Advisor, Heike

Papenthin, at German@ilep.ac.nz.

MUSIC FOR INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGES WEEK —

18 to 24 August 2013

International Languages Week is a time for celebration and a well

established event in New Zealand’s schools. Music is a great way to

engage students with another language. Here are some ideas and

suggestions on how to use music for language teaching.

Beijing Opera (Jīngjù) is one of the most classical styles of Chinese mu-

sic. And a wide range of information about its role in Chinese culture

and its historical importance as well as a description and photos of the

performing roles (Shēng, Dàn, Jìng, Chǒu) are available on Wikipedia.

Your students are going to love the colourful costumes and the mime,

dance and acrobatics involved can help students interpret the meaning

of the words used in the vocal performance.

For beginners, teachers could introduce the very basic information of

Beijing Opera, including words like “京剧 (Jīngjù)”, ”北京(Beǐjīng)”, “戏剧

(xìjù)”, “脸谱(liǎnpǔ)”, ”女(nǚ)”, “男(nán)”, “生(shēng)”, ”旦(dàn)”, ”净

(jìng)”, ”丑(chǒu)”, then students could do face or mask painting or play

games, such as matching photos of opera roles to their Chinese names.

For an intermediate and advanced level, the language part could include

more complicated words, like “老生Lǎoshēng”, “小生xiǎoshēng”, “武生

wǔshēng”, “青衣qīngyī”, ”花旦huādàn”, ”lǎodàn老旦”, “dāomǎdàn刀马旦”,

“shuǐxiù水袖”, ”shuǎi甩”, ”zhē 遮”, etc ; the hands-on activities could in-

clude imitating some basic but typical Beijing Opera performer’s actions,

such as “shuǎi shuǐxiù 甩水袖” and “zhēliǎn遮脸”, which “Qīngyī青衣” uses

to express her feelings. Other activities like on/off a horse, open/close a

door, up/down stairs could also be fun.

Karaoke is a great tool to use in lan-

guage classes. Students can watch

the video clip and discuss the con-

tent, title and how the characters are

depicted. Or they can observe lyrics

and choose words and phrases they

recognise and guess the meaning of others.

Karaoke can develop students’ listening skills and improve pronunciation

as students sing along. The story line and general meaning of the clip

can be discussed, by identifying clues given through pictures, sounds

and words. A class discussion can help students pick parts of the clips

that are relevant to their own lives and the people around them.

Objectives of using Karaoke in French classes:

It places students in an active situation in front of images and sounds

The music and lyrics are kept in their original and authentic form

The intercultural value of songs is very high. They are authentic and

can make people from other cultures think and compare with their

own life;

Room should be left for students to give their own ideas and impres-

sions about what they heard and understood before a song is ana-

lysed.

For great examples of adequate music, lyrics and worksheets have a

look at [1]

As you know “Karaoke” is a Japanese word, which literally means empty

(“kara”) and orchestra (“oke”) which is “empty track”. Karaoke video

clips are a great classroom resource for Japanese learners, especially

The song can provide a resource for iCLT and language form.

The music exposes students to the musicality of the French language

Karaoke permits visual and oral input and encourages spontaneous

output simultaneously.

Songs tell stories and allow students to express emotions in French

Students learn to use their voice to express themselves in French

A song encourages co-operative approaches to learning a language.

The other day, during a school visit, I

came across the outstanding German

writing skills of one particular student

in Year 13.

Noticing the amazing level on which

she was able to express herself, I could not help but wonder if she had

lived in Germany. Asking her, she said, “No, but I would like to,“ and

went on to explain that she had become hooked on German because of

the German boy group “Tokio Hotel“.

The story of this girl shows what a powerful and sustainable tool music

can be in arousing or increasing learners‘ interest and motivation. Why

not give it a try, even though we, as teachers, know that it is impossible

to meet every student´s taste.

When using songs in the foreign language classroom teachers could con-

sider:

Songs should not be chosen for idiomatic or grammatical ends alone

but are a wonderful resource to appeal to the learners’ emotional side

– songs are not an exercise tool;

for beginners of Hiragana scripts, as the lyrics are displayed in changing

colour as the tune goes on.

The popular „new Japanese folk song “ ｢翼をください｣“ “tsubasa wo

kudasai” was released in 1971 and almost every Japanese can sing it

[2]. Nowadays Japanese pop music is named as “J-pop”, which often

comes with pop dances, so students might enjoy to dance to the tunes.

One of the popular singers now is:

キャリーパミュパミュ “kyari pamyu pamyu” [3].

Also popular are “ani-son”: songs for Japanese TV animations which nor-

mally are very upbeat. Tunes for Miyazaki Hayao’s film are also stu-

dents’ favourite, such as “Gake no ueno Ponyo” [4]. For younger learn-

ers use「童謡」”douyou” songs such as “Inu no Omawarisan” [5].

You can look up the weekly top 10 Japanese songs on: [6]. Lyrics can be

found at [7]. And you can now also download some dictation worksheets

for Japanese songs from the resource section of the Japanese Adviser‘s

page [8].

I would like to introduce an instrument that was

born in Spain long ago and that is widely used by

the famous university tunas in Spain and South

America: la bandurria.

The bandurria is a plectrum chordophone, similar

to the cittern and the mandolin, primarily used in

Spanish folk music. Its origin is not very clear,

though there are several theories.

Prior to the 18th century, the bandurria had with a round back, similar

or related to the mandore. It had become a flat-backed instrument by

the 18th century, with five double courses of strings, tuned in fourths.

The original bandurrias of the Medieval period had three strings. During

the Renaissance they gained a fourth string. During the Baroque period

the bandurria had 10 strings (5 pairs). The modern bandurria has 12

strings (6 pairs).

There are different variations of bandurrias: Philippine bandurria, used

in many Philippine folkloric songs, South American bandurrias, especially

from Peru and Bolivia. In Portugal they have the Portuguese guitarra

which bears a close resemblance to the bandurria and for many people

it is very hard to say which one is which.

La bandurria is still a very popular instrument, specially amongst

tunas. A tuna is a group of university students in traditional dress, see

picture below, who play guitar, bandurria, lute and tambourine, and

sing serenades. The tradition originated in Spain and Portugal in the

13th century. Tunas are very popular in these two countries, as well as

in many other Latin American coutries.

To get more information about the different parts to be found in a

bandurria, you can visit the following web page [9].

There are many great activities that could be done in Spanish class

since la tuna performances are always very colourful and the music they

play is very attractive. Students love watching tunas and learning their

songs.

Scholarship Programme to Salamanca, Spain

Fourteen New Zealand teachers of Spanish had the wonderful

opportunity to participate in a pilot scholarship programme at the

University of Salamanca in Spain.

The programme was jointly developed by the University of

Salamanca, the Ministry of Education of Spain and ILEP.

Participants were divided according to their language proficiency

level and attended 40 hours of Spanish Language and Culture

classes. The group also participated in guided visits to historical

parts of Salamanca and its University, and visited the towns of

Segovia, La Granja and Ciudad Rodrigo. Accommodation was

provided in private homes, a true immersion experience for the

teachers from New Zealand.

It was a very positive learning experience for all despite the

diversity of the group. Even the participants with the lowest level

of Spanish frequently reported on how motivated they were to

attempt new activities with their classes and how much more

confident they had become to use more Spanish themselves in

their classroom. The teachers said:

“Learning occurs when given the opportunity to learn from mistakes

in real contexts.”

“Students who have less confidence with the language are much

more likely to use the language when working in pairs or even small

groups. I was in classes that were challenging for me. Every time

the lesson included student pair/group work, rather than being

teacher –centred, my stress levels decreased and my participation

levels increased both substantively.”

“Information gaps and outcomes are valuable. e.g. Giving directions

to someone is much more motivating to a partner when the final

destination is a surprise, otherwise it becomes more of an exercise

to practise the language simply for the sake of it.”

“Excursions were useful in many ways. It is important to learn

about what are important aspects of the culture of a country whose

language you are learning and teaching and all the visits and

excursions were greatly appreciated.”

Reflections on TPDL

Gordon Gallop has been teaching French and Spanish at

Baradene College for three years. This year he has added

Samoan to his teaching and learning ‘repertoire’. There is now

a class of 16 girls learning Samoan.

In 2012 Gordon took part in the Ministry of Education funded

Teacher Professional Development Languages programme. TPDL

was a wake-up call for Gordon and made him change and

improve his teaching practice dramatically. Firstly, TPDL made

him increase TL (target language) use. Even though he knew

about the importance of providing ‘comprehensible input +1’,

once he started using only TL, he was surprised to see how

much his students understood. Gordon realised that he had had

a preconceived idea that the students would not be able to

understand and that he would have to revert to English. Gordon

had also thought that it would be very difficult for him to speak

only in TL, and on the first day he ended up with a headache.

However now that he has strategies for how he can use TL all of

the time, he can do it easily.

In addition, Gordon was impressed by how much his students

‘picked up’ from so much exposure to the TL. Gordon found that

his students were “much more engaged in using TL themselves

for meaningful communication than they have been in previous

years, now that they are doing communicative tasks, and even

though they might be making some mistakes, the quality and

quantity of their TL has improved”.

Gordon found the pedagogy component of TPDL “a superb course”

which made him motivated about planning in general, and

specifically about planning tasks which are purposeful, meaningful

and motivating for students.

Gordon also expressed strong appreciation of the In-School

Support component of TPDL. “It’s great because through the

observations you can see your own progress and that of your

students. The progress standards help you to focus on what to do

next and it’s exciting to see your students (even beginning

learners) using multi-clause sentences and taking ownership of

their learning.”

Finally Gordon found that he is focussing more on meaningful

communication and that he draws students’ attention to

grammatical points incidentally and as students need to know this

for communication. He has found this approach has motivated

his students to speak more.

Advisory Support

National Advisers for Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish provide lan-guage specific support and can also offer advice about foreign language assistants and scholarship and immersion opportunities for each language.

National Coordinators for Learning Languages, Secondary Student Achievement Con-tract, focus on effective implementation of the New Zealand Curriculum and the NCEA realigned achievement standards as well as the development of literacy and language practices.

Northern & Central Regions please contact: Dee Edwards.

Southern & Central South Regions please contact: Jo Guthrie

NZALT The New Zealand Association of Language Teachers offers a nationwide net-work to support language teachers, including regional meetings, professional devel-opment, awards, newsletters, conferences and advocacy on key issues.

Professional Development Opportunities

TPDL (Teacher Professional Development Languages) is a Ministry of Education funded programme aimed at developing teacher language proficiency and second lan-guage teaching capabilities in order to improve student language learning out-comes. TPDL is available to beginners as well as language experts.

ILEP (International Languages Exchanges and Pathways) supports schools and teachers to implement the Learning Languages curriculum area, particularly at Years 7 and 8.

Language Immersion Awards are provided by the Ministry of Education for teachers of languages to undertake immersion experiences overseas. Further details are available at the AFS website.

Don't forget! Check out the Learning Languages Website for regular updates and more information.

ILEP Language Teacher Conference "Meeting the challenge: On-going professional development for languages teaching and learning in New Zealand" Get in quick and register here.

ShortFilmFest 2013 If you’re learning German and want to use your language creatively, make a short film (3-5 minutes maximum) with a creative interpretation of the topic „Beziehungen“. Read more here.

Networking Meeting with German National Adviser Heike Papenthin 7 August, 14 August, 21 August, 28 August Pick one date, or come to all sessions. More info here.

Learn how to dance while you practice your Spanish! Workshops for teachers of Spanish on 7 and 13 August, 2013 taught by a Span-ish professional dancer, organised by ILEP/Ministry of Education in collabora-tion with the Ministry of Education of Spain. More info here.

After school workshop: How to use Furoshiki! Learn how to use furoshiki for several items and will be able to demonstrate it to your students for International Language Week. More info here.

Date: Session 2 Thursday, 1 Aug 2013, Time: 16.30-17.30, Venue: ILEP meeting room E4 at Epsom, Gate 3, 74 Epsom Ave. (UOA Epsom Campus)

Chinese Calligraphy and Brush painting workshops in Auckland, on 15 and 22 August. More info here.

Student camp in Beijing, China – December 2013 The Office of Chinese Language Council-International (Hanban) is offering a great opportunity for New Zealand students of Chinese to attend a 14-day long camp in China in December 2013. For further information, please contact Yu Wang on 09 6238899 ext. 48613 or chinese@ilep.ac.nz

Target language role in TCFL classroom Chinese Workshop on 14 September in Christchurch: reflecting learning experi-ence and returning to the leaner’s seat. Read more here.

Upcoming Chinese immersion Camp for teachers of Chinese in AKL on 28/9-4/10. More information to follow soon, check ILEP.ac.nz for updates.

Coming Up ... Key Contacts and Links