This was a challenging and productive program. Within these three weeks we had learned so much. The technology learning session (palmphone, toondoospaces, penpal, 一声通，一件通，一笔通。。。) from Zeng-laoshi and the logical thinking skills I learned from my peers helped me a lot. The first week of the program was designed like a tripod.
Have you ever been on the Hulk Ride at the Universal Studios? The three-week intensive STARTALK program at UVA was like the most epic roller coaster I could have ever experienced. It took me to the ultimate peak so I knew how much higher beyond my expectations I could achieve with my students, and it dropped me down to the bottom so I realized how much I needed to work on. The rigorous curriculum was designed to touch all the weak points that we, novice or experienced teachers, might have, and provide a direction for constructive and doable ways to improve.
I am so glad to have had this opportunity to attend the 2010 Virginia STARTALK Chinese Teacher Academy program at the University of Virginia. Throughout the three weeks' teacher training and student practicum, a lot of teaching theories, guidelines, and National Standards had been reviewed and consolidated. Immediately followed one week of intensive teachers' program was the students' practicum. I applied all of the learned theories and guidelines into the practicum section. The students' performance gave me the direct feedback I needed to cross-check the theories I learned.
The first week was tough for me since we had a lot of theory, reading, and reflection. The second week was tougher for me since I had to let go of what I have done in the past years in the classroom, and be ready to adopt and accept new best practices in my teaching. I was lucky since I had Tseng Laoshi, two great teachers, two teammates, and other kind classmates. They answered my questions when I asked, they offered help before I requested. With everyone’s help, my third time teaching was the best out of three.
The 3-week UVa STARTALK program was not just a highly productive and organized teacher-training program, I truly enjoyed interacting with all people there - each family member (including teachers, guest speakers, assistants, peers, and students) was so unique, sincere, talented, vivid, warm and supportive.
The most enjoyable and memorable experiences were as follows:
1. Dr. Tseng’s lectures, demo lessons, energy, comments and caring attitude;
2. Dr. Tseng’s family members’ active participation and support;
Before this training did I believe that, hypothetically, “one can teach novice students to speak Mandarin after just 20+ hours of instruction”? I did, but not without doubts. Now that the practicum is over; yes, I do believe it’s attainable and am not skeptical anymore. And the best part of the teacher training course was that I gained so much knowledge about teaching Mandarin in a class setting, and it met my highest expectations. This intensive 3- week program surpassed any other graduate courses I have had from all the past summers.
I enjoyed being a student again in the 2011 Virginia STARTALK Chinese Teacher Academy at the University of Virginia after finishing my third year of teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language at Fairview Elementary, Fairfax County. It has been really interesting going back to the academic world and I had such a different experience this time around after going through various STARTALK programs in the region in the past few years.
UVA STARTALK is a wonderful program. This summer Dr. Tseng, Ming Laoshi and Shi Laoshi did an amazing job helping me become a better Chinese teacher. I liked the teaching practicums because I made progress teaching and designing more interesting activities. But there are still things I need to improve, including:
Before I went to Virginia for the 2011Virginia STARTALK Chinese Teacher Academy, I thought that I was a good teacher because my principal and students told me so. However, during the training, I realized that I actually have a lot of room to improve and become a better teacher. The most important thing I learned in the program is that I need to implement research-supported best practices such as comprehensible input, target language (in other words, using Chinese to teach Chinese), authentic materials, authentic tasks, and communicative instruction.
I really appreciated having the opportunity to participate in this year’s three week UVA STARTALK program. This opportunity not only has encouraged and strengthened me to be an excellent Chinese language teacher but also has given me opportunities to make new friends. Meeting new friends and exchanging professional knowledge of teaching Chinese with others has brought all of the participants closer as a team and even as a big community. Professor Tseng encouraged us to be more open-minded and to create a great learning/sharing community from the very first day of the program.
