Chinese Level 2 - Middle / High School

Overview

Chinese Level 2 is intended for middle and/or high school students who have completed a Chinese Level 1 course or who have demonstrated a Novice Mid level of proficiency. In this yearlong course, students communicate in Chinese using basic structures to speak, read, listen and write about their lives and school life, shopping, weather, travel and transportation. They continue to develop their communicative and cultural competence by interacting with others in Chinese, listening to and reading text in the target language and making oral and written presentations in Chinese. Students begin to show a greater level of accuracy when using basic language structures, and they are exposed to more complex features of Chinese. While the focus remains on communicating about their immediate world and daily activities they become aware of the differences in expression of time (e.g., present, future). Emphasis continues to be placed on use of Chinese in the classroom as well as on the use of authentic materials to learn about the language and its cultures. Although the focus of this course is on communication and intercultural competency, the units of study also support cross-curricular content, including the arts, health, science, language arts and social studies. As recommended by the American Association of Teachers of Foreign Language, it is expected that the teacher will use the target language at least 90% of the time for all class purposes.

Rationale

A world language provides learners the cultural knowledge and communicative skills to become globally competent and engage with the ever more flattening world. By developing proficiency in another language learners are able to explore communities beyond their own, interact with people from different cultures, and engage in common educational, career-oriented, and leisure activities with native speakers.

Scope and Sequence

Careful thought has been given to the order in which the units are presented. In this course, students refresh their understanding of oral and written communication before they go on to talk about school life, etc. Certain scaffolds have been created based on this order and schools should take care in moving units from their intended placement in the curriculum.

Alignment

The Chinese Level 2 course is aligned to the Michigan World Language Standards and Benchmarks and the National Standards for Language Learning.