Language EnhancementOctober 26, 2012

1. Warm-up: the Word Game – 5 mins.

2. Pronunciation – 10 mins.

3. Stories and History – 30 mins.

Break

4. Video Discussion: 2008 US Election – Obama Ad “One Voice” – 35 mins.

5. Homework assignment – 5 minutes

The Word Game

How many Chinese characters/words do you know?

How many English words do you know?

Groups of 2 or 3 people:

1 sheet of paper

Pen or pencil

The Word Game

The Challenge, Part I:

write down the name of as many colours as you can think of in 1 minute.

The Word Game

The Challenge, Part II:

write down as many synonyms (同义字 ) for “Big” as you can in 1 minute.

(No dictionaries allowed!)

The Word Game

The Challenge, Part III:

write down as many synonyms (同义字 ) for “Small” as you can in 1 minute.

(No dictionaries allowed!)

Review: w and v

w v

went vent

wine vine

grow grove

mooing moving

Review: Jazz Chant

His English is wonderful.

He speaks very well.

His accent is perfect.

You really can’t tell

that he isn’t a native of the U.S.A.

There’s only one problem:

he has nothing to say.

“e” and “i” Pronunciation

Long vowels

fēēt “bi” 鼻bīke “bai” 白

Short vowels

pĕn no pinyin equal

sĭt no pinyin equal

whēēlwhīle wĭll wĕllbēēt bīte bĭt bĕt

rid red wrist restlid led knit netpin pen fill felllift left bliss bless

Tongue Twister

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

A peck of pickled peppers, Peter Piper picked.

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,

Then where are the peck of pickled peppers that Peter Piper picked?

Stories and History

What is the importance or significance of stories to communities and countries?

“To be a person is to have a story. Without my story, I have no identity. I do not know who I am, or what I am about. If you have no story, how do you know where you’re going? And if you’re going somewhere, how will you know when you get there?”

William J. Bausch, Storytelling: Imagination and Faith

Freedom fighters?

This army fought for a new government and country. They were considered rebels by the existing government.

They were forced to retreat and suffered greatly from cold and hunger. Many died in this retreat.

But only a few years later, this army was victorious and helped form a new country.

What would be the purpose of telling this story?What kind of influence would this story have on you when facing challenges?

Exercise: Telling a Story

In groups of 2 or 3 people:

• If you were telling the story of where China is today, what 5 events or people would you choose?

• List and briefly describe the 5 events (in English)

Break

Video Discussion:

Video: “Yes We Can” (Will.i.am)All of the words in the song come from a speech given by Obama.

Try to identify the events or people in the song that make up parts of the American story/history (the underlined phrases and names).

• The founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation

• Slaves and abolitionists, trail toward freedom• Immigrants• Pioneers who pushed westward• Workers who organized• Women, ballots• President, moon, new frontier• King, Mountaintop, Promised Land• One nation, from sea to shining sea

Video Vocabulary and Phrases

The founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation

Declaration of Independence (1776) (独立宣言 )

Slaves and abolitionists, trail toward freedom

The “Underground Railroad” – a system of “safe” houses where escaped slaves could hide and then travel to the northern (non-slave) states or to Canada

Immigrants

Statue of Liberty (自由神像 ) and Ellis Island:

First place of entry for European immigrants

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breath free…”

“ 送给我，你受穷受累的人们，你那拥挤着渴望呼

…” 吸自由的大众Poem by Emma Lazarus, on the base of the Statue of Liberty

Pioneers who pushed westward

Western expansion (1800-1900), conflicts with Indians

Workers who organized

Women, ballots

Formation of trade unions (工会 ) = “organized labour”, “organized workers”, 19th and 20th century

Voting rights = “suffrage” (参政权 ), women’s suffrage (1920)

President, moon, new frontier

President John F. Kennedy (1960-63)1962: Land on the moon by the end of the decade1969: moon landing

King, Mountaintop, Promised Land

Martin Luther King, Civil Rights Movement, 1950s-1960s

King, Mountaintop, Promised Land

Moses摩西 leads the Jewish people out of slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land (Canaan 迦南 )

One nation, from sea to shining sea

Motto: “E pluribus unum” (Latin) =

“Out of many, one”

American Pledge of Allegiance: 效忠誓词

“…one Nation under God…”

One nation, from sea to shining sea

America the Beautiful (Words by Katharine Lee Bates, Melody by Samuel Ward)

O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!

Homework for October 26, 2012

Choose a Chinese idiom, and, in your own words, explain what it means in English. Use a maximum of 200 words.

You will hand this in on November 2, 2012.