Language learning is dull and uninteresting, especially for children in their growth and development stages. This requires adding fresh and active elements to language learning to attract children’s attention. Singaporean children’s playful Chinese teaching can increase their interest in learning.
In the classroom, teachers are planners of communication training, directors of “Chinese language programs”, and organizers of game activities.
Real emotional communication between teachers and students can promote the formation and development of classroom communication training, allowing students to engage in enjoyable and informative Chinese language training in a natural and comfortable language environment.
In this Chinese language atmosphere, students will be very willing to respond to the questions raised by the teacher, which is conducive to the development of teaching activities.
In most classes, students’ Chinese proficiency is not very neat, and there are always some students in the class whose Chinese proficiency is higher than others. These people are the “little teachers” and “little translators” in the class, and they are good helpers for the teacher. When they help others, their Chinese proficiency is also improved.
Teachers should play these roles by grouping them into groups and selecting one student from each group to serve as the ‘little teacher’ to assist slightly weaker students. This can not only achieve the goal of promoting learning, but also alleviate the tension and shyness of slightly weaker students by practicing on a small scale, and each has its own benefits.
A formal teaching environment may make students feel nervous or constrained, especially for children from English speaking countries. They are relatively free to talk, walk, or eat freely in their own classrooms, but these are not allowed in China.
We can try to discuss daily topics such as weather and dates before class, creating a relaxed chat style teaching atmosphere. This can not only reduce the pressure brought by the formal classroom atmosphere, but also prevent students from getting distracted.
During the teaching process, it can help students maintain a good overall level of excitement.
Pictures and cards are both good tools for students to recognize characters. In the early stage of Singaporean children’s playful Chinese teaching, teachers can apply life pictures, animal pictures, plant pictures, etc. to classroom teaching. Colors and pictures can help students more effectively remember the Chinese characters next to the pictures. In the next stage, the format of card games can be changed.
I once tried a game called “Sharp eyes”, which divided students into two groups: A and B. The cards with new words were left in front of the students for one to two seconds, allowing them to quickly recognize the new words on the cards through instant memory. The fast group received a star as a reward, achieving good results. This method is also suitable for learning and training new sentence patterns.
Children often show a strong interest in role-playing in the classroom. Performing role plays using new words and sentence structures learned in the text to recreate certain scenes in the text or life is beneficial for cultivating children’s language communication skills.
For example, when learning the content of “payment”, I designed a scene of shopping in a store, where students were asked to use the newly learned words in this lesson to recreate the characters. The effect was surprisingly good.
The students not only used the words “change” and “package” learned in the text, but also used many words they had heard in daily life.
The repeated practice in Singaporean children’s playful Chinese teaching is the main way for children to learn and master a language. Practicing in games not only avoids students’ boredom, but also stimulates their interests. Games are generally divided into the following categories:
Card class
You can read some new word cards one by one for students to recognize, and after one or two rounds, draw a card from them and buckle it on the table for the third round of recognition, allowing students to quickly reflect on what word the missing card is. This game tests students’ memory ability and can also effectively concentrate their attention.
Action class
When playing the game of ‘antonymous actions’, students perform the opposite actions according to the instructions given by the teacher. When the teacher says’ big ‘, the students draw a smaller circle with their hands. When the teacher says’ cry’, the students must make a smile.
In the game of “matching numbers and taking seats”, the teacher prepares two sets of identical cards with words or phrases written on them, and sends one set to the students. The students hold their own cards and stand together. The teacher arranges the other set of cards in a disordered order, and the students find their rightful position according to the arranged order.
Performance category
One is to perform dialogues or content in the text to help students understand the content, and the other is to train students in verbal communication. These games can exercise students’ communication skills.
For example, simulating real-life scenarios such as shopping, visiting hospitals for medical treatment, and conducting interviews with journalists, these practice students’ language communication skills.
During the game, students can not only gain the satisfaction of “growth”, but also receive the benefits of improving their language organization, expression, and listening and speaking abilities.
Memory class
It can train students’ instantaneous memory ability and help transform short-term memory into long-term memory. Teachers can write multiple words on the blackboard and ask everyone to remember them in a short period of time.
Students are divided into two groups, each group selects a team member. The first group member faces everyone with their back to the blackboard, while the second group member erases one of the words.
The first group member turns to look at the blackboard, says the erased word, and makes a sentence using that word. The teacher will fill in the erased words and play the next round of the game.