Teaching World Languages Online: Featuring Online Mandarin Chinese

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Teaching World Languages Online
Featuring Online Mandarin Chinese

• Jamey Fitzpatrick
• President and CEO, Michigan Virtual University
• Dongping Zheng
• Assistant Professor, MSU Confucius Institute,
  College of Education
• Internationalizing Michigan Education
• March 6, 2007

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Need for Online Foreign Language Learning

• Increasing needs for foreign language education
• Paucity of foreign language teachers
• Lack of foreign language learning materials and
  authentic language use opportunities

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Pedagogical Potentials of Online Foreign
Language Learning
Extend language education from dead language
teaching in a short period of time to live
language learning for a lifetime

• One instructor teaches in a classroom from a
  textbook? billions of learners learn from each
  other and from unlimited resources
• Shift the focus from language teaching to
  language learning
• Expand learning resources from teachers to
  distributed resources and talents among ordinary
  people
• Extend classroom learning in a limited period to
  language learning and use for a lifetime
• Teach and study language as an
• object/content ?learn language to
• use/live

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Current Foreign Language Education Model

• Self-study of multimedia e-textbook
• Limited opportunities for interaction
• Limited opportunities for language use
• Learning language as an object/content rather
  than learning language to use/live

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Online Teaching and Learning Model Via MVHS

• Concept
• Communication before writing Pinyin before
  Characters (sample1, sample2)
• Language use from the get-go Embedment of culture
  into language instruction
• Nurturing life-long language learners

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Nurturing life-long language learners

• teach didactically
• Teach learning strategies explicitly
• Scaffold students to become problem solvers
  rather telling students the answers
• Coach students to become a community of learner
• Trust students to create their own knowledge
  Facilitate students in making use of online
  resources

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Online Teaching and Learning Model Via MVHS

• Tools
• Chengo Chinese
• TeamSpeak and PictureTalk (Synchronous
  interaction with instructor)
• BlackBoard interactions
• Unlimited online resources (please see the
  attached word file)

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Chengo Chinese

• Self-study e-text book

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TeamSpeak and PictureTalk

• Presentation tool serves as a chalk board

• Audio tool one to many

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Black Board

• Managing students
• Discussion Board a tool for nurturing community
  of learners

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Thank You! Xiexie! ??!
www.confucius.msu.edu http//mivhs.org/