DLI means to use the target language as the medium of instruction, instead of teaching the language only. Even though acquiring the language is still one of the learning objectives, teachers do not strictly focus on teaching grammar, pronunciation and practising drills. Instead, teachers extensively use Chinese to teach, to conduct activities and to communicate, so that students learn the language unconsciously. Just like how kids learn their first languages. In the US, this kind of instruction method has been categorized as a special teaching program, called the Dual Language Immersion program. This program is well-established, with French, German, Spanish and Portuguese as the first four programs. In around 2006, some school districts have started the Chinese Immersion Program (CIP).
The Mandarin Matrix’ DLI Proficiency Builders series is a complete curriculum that was co-developed with school districts and professional teachers. It is specially designed for Dual Language Immersion programs. The materials is available in print and on the Mandarin Matrix Online Classroom, levels ranging from foundation (0 starter) to intermediate 4 level (Pre-AP). Here are some highlights:
The DLI Proficiency Builders come in story format and was designed based on concepts of TPRS. In the lower levels, each unit has 3 stories with the same set of key words repeatedly used in different combination/vocab across the stories. The background of the 3 stories are based on students’ family, school and playtime. Students are able to get a sense of the language naturally through reading about context in different settings.
The pedagogy of teaching through the form of story aligns with the concept of immersion teaching using Chinese as the medium, rather than the teaching purpose. It also allows children to establish the foundation of Language Art Skills from an early age. For example, each of our stories starts with a beginning, it then gradually builds up, with a climax or a problem to solve, eventually a small surprise at the end. By applying the typical concept of “Story Mountain” in our content, we are bringing students from our Foundation level (= 0 beginners) to not only immerse with the language, but also immerse with language arts.
Below is a live demo of a Chinese immersion class in the second grade of elementary school. The teacher used Mandarin Matrix’ DLI Proficiency Builders.
Thanks to Teacher Yang for his wonderful demonstration!
The most important thing is that children should learn the language with fun. A story is worth a thousand words. Watching them enjoying learning and reading is also the joy of a Chinese teachers.
The DLI Proficiency Builders are designed with the “spiral pedagogy”, which means key words are highly repeated or reused, and are also expanded to wider and higher ranges. In this pedagogy, we follow the “I+1 principle” or “Comprehensible input” in order to make sure that students can fulfill all the requirements before going to the next steps.
Under the design of highly repetitive words, students can gradually improve their Chinese proficiency. Think about this, traditional textbooks introduce more than a dozen new words in each lesson, but how many percentage can students memorise? The Mandarin Matrix DLI Proficiency Builders focus on very few new words in each unit at the lower levels. Even more, we use three stories to introduce the same keywords in each unit. We really make sure students acquire 100% or even 120% at the novice levels, then we bring students up to higher levels.
At 14’20 in the below video, you can see that once students got their new books, they simply just can’t wait to see if they can read them.
At the intermediate and higher levels, students expand their knowledge really fast because Chinese itself is a language of compound words. Also, our materials have changed from “character-based” to “word-based” learning at these levels. Moreover, the materials are expanding in non-fiction style. In Intermediate 3 and 4 levels, there are multiple authentic short texts in addition to a story. These short texts include different text types such as emails, blog posts, posters, etc., The stories and short texts both focus on the same set of keywords, again, aiming to increase the frequency.
Intermediate 3 and 4 also highly align to the six themes of AP: contemporary life, personal and public identity, family and community, global challenges, science and technology, beauty and aesthetics.
At Foundation level, each unit has three stories, which are called “Teacher Read”; “We Read” – for everyone to read together in class; “Student Reads” – the last one in the unit that students should be able to read completely by themselves. There are other communication vocabulary in “Teacher Reads” and “We Read” books, but key words students should learn are presented in red fonts.
“Big Books” is also available i this level. They are in larger size, allowing teachers to make different seating arrangements in class and to read to students.
At Intermediate 3 and 4 levels, as mentioned above, we not only have stories but also introduced many different text types. We have also expanded and covered AP themes and SDGs. Great for middle school+ students to conduct higher level discussions and develop more advanced languages.
Each and every unit in this Proficiency Builder series includes detailed teacher’s guide, highlighting teaching points, key grammar concepts, oral focus, teaching objectives, effective evaluation suggestions and related readings, which help teachers to formulate each reading lesson’s plan.
Each unit also has worksheets that can be easily printed. Some of these worksheets are created by senior teachers of the American Star Talk Program, and some are created by AP teachers. They can save a lot of time for teachers. Print them immediately for students to practise basic stroke writing, reading comprehension, etc. . In the elementary worksheets, all the exercises are matched with interesting and easy-to-understand pictures, allowing students to practice and strengthen skills while making direct associations with pictures.
The curriculum isn’t only available in printed version, but also on the online learning platform of Mandarin Matrix! As long as a student or teacher subscribe to the platform, s/he can browse purchased books anytime, anywhere within the subscription period. This account can be purchased by school at one go, or by individuals. Both Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese are available.
The Mandarin Matrix Online Classroom not only has books on it, but also plenty of online exercises including listening, speaking, reading, and writing. There is no need to stack a pile of books and print out notes anymore! Everything is on the Mandarin Matrix Online Classroom!
Interested in checking out the materials and online platform? Just
Fill out the form and claim a free trial account!
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