June+6,+2011

Jade Jiang Clayton

I am very impressed by the instructor regarding her teaching style and good organization. And also she is good at designing the activities which are associated with the teaching contents. I am grateful for this opportunity to meet the teachers from the variety of background. Everybody is easy going and enthusiastic learners. I already enjoy it very much. Good to hear that this is a great first day for you.

REFLECTIONS FOR JUNE 6, 2011 Louisa Yu- I am so happy to have this opportunity to learn from other teachers. Today I have learned many news ideas for teaching different topics throught the Hand Web Activity. But I wonder what kind of five questions I will ask for different level and different grade students. May I do " me bag" activity with middle school and high school students? what will I change with Ms. Chau "Me bag" for Grade 2 students? Thank you for Ms Chau's great presentation! The "Me Bag" I first used for my 2nd grade students. Since I used it in the first week of school. Actually this was an informal assessment for my students. While they presented their "Me Bag" during the "Show and Tell" (分享时间) time，I got to know their "speaking" level.

Shaohua Chen - Many thanks to GVA for offering Startalk training for 3 consecutive years. Thank you Ms. Chau for your wonderful instructions. I enjoyed " hand web activity" as an ice breaker activity, the "me bag" idea for show and tell as a presentational mode, and the jig-saw activity as an overall review for ACTFL 5C standards. I am looking forward to more standard/content driven activities for the rest of training. Continue hoping you gain something from the program.

Wei Han Firstly, many thanks to Ms Chau for sharing her first-hand teaching experience and valuable knowledge with us. Secondly, all the activities today are both productive and interesting. I like the hand web in the morning, which is a good way to break ice on the first day of the orientation. Also, the group presentations about ACTFL 5C standard make the abstract theories a lot easier to remember and understand. I am so happy to have the opportunity to attend startalk program and it is really helpful and beneficial. I totally agree with you. Theory is a bit difficult to digest especially I have to present all within one hour of the time.

Xiaohong Zhang-What I have learned today is before you teach your students, you need to have end in mind: what do you expect your students are able to do after your teaching. And then design a best way to help students to achieve the desired goal. Five standards:communication, culture, connection, comparison and community are incorporated into the teaching. We'll learn the Backward Design on 3rd day.

Fanghong Yu

It was good to go over ACTFL standard (5Cs) and I like the Jig-Saw activities.

It was good to know some basic knowledge about immersion Chinese teaching. eg. teachers avoid using English by rephrasing the students words. You will see a video of the immersion lesson demon on 3rd day. Completely no English at all.

Yinsan (Isabel) Hsu I really like the hand web activity. I think this can be used both as an ice breaking activity and a communicative activity. Althought, nothing new was introduced today at the class; it's definetely a nice overview. Thank you very much Professor Wang. I hope you'll learn something new in the following days ;o)

Ning Wei I really like the way we introduced ourselves. I believe all of us learned a lot from each other and this will be a good activity for my students as well. As a high school teacher, I think it is very valuable to share and learn from other Chinese teachers. Thank you! Thank you too!

Yongxin Cao I am so happy to start my Star Talk Training in my school, GVA today. I really felt that I reviewed many knowledges about ACTFL standards which I have learned in UCLA last year just before I came to denver to put every theory into teaching practice. After one year teaching experice, I think it is quite important to go over the theory and reflect what I did correct in the past days, and on what area I need to improve. I hope that I can learn as much as possible at this training. Knowing Standard is very important for every teachers.

Gu Xitao This is the 1st day of our startalk training. We introduced ourselves in a special way which I think I can supply to my class. And we talked about 5C which I 1st learned in UCLA during the orientation. We did the group work, and I learned from the other members. But I'm wondering if the teacher can slow down a little bit. Thank you. Thank you for your feedback. I appreciate you let me know.

Thank you Ms.Chau! All the activitites you practiced with us today will be very helpful to me and my students in the new school year. Hand drawing for ice breaking; Powerpoint of My School; Parents Survey to learn more of your students; Me Bag; Show and Tell, Selling the coupons. Thank you for designing these activites in very details, and sharing with us. Olivia Yu I hope you continue learning a lot from the rest of the week. Knowing your students is the first step for successful teaching.

I-Chi Wang Thank you to Ms. Chau for sharing her teaching experience with us. The "Hand Web" team building activity was a great idea to introduce yourself to the group. I enjoyed all of the teachers presenting useful examples related to 5C. It was really helpful to make the ACTFL standards practical. I'm glade to hear that the activity we did for the ACTFL is helpful to you.

TracyPeng- It's great to have the opportunity to learn from Ms. Chau and other teachers. I really like the way we introduce each other (the Hand Web Activity). What I have learned today are the ACTFL 5C Standards and 3 Communicative Modes, which put me in reviewing and assessing each class I have taught. The Jig-saw activity is very help and gives us a good example to put the foreign language standard into practive. Thanks! Thank you too!

Yewei Jiang I believe that the activity "Hand Web" is very useful for the first day of the new school year. 5C reminded me that a good lesson should comprise of all 5 C's as possible, and one of the 5C "communication" --- "interpersonal, interpretive, presentational" left me a deep impression. Thank you, Ms. Chau We lived in the 21 century. The way students learn language has been changed. A communicative way approach is the main focus.

Chunyan Wang

Thank you to Ms.Chau, I have learned a lot today! I like the " Hand Web' way to introduce each other,it is a very good way to break ice on the first day. ACTFL 5C Standards and the 3 Communicative ways are very helpful and useful to me, I enjoyed all of the teachers presentation. It is good to know that you learned a lot. I hope you continue learning a lot from the program.

Mo Geng I am so glad that I have the opportunity to join this wonderful Startalk Mandarian program. I very like our group project, because during the group activities we can easily and deep understand “5C”. I believe every teacher all are great resources for exchanging and gather useful opinions to create lesson plan. So I have a suggestion, that we can create some lesson plans together during the training time, I believe that will benefit for everybody. Thank you, Ms. Esther Chau. I like your materials, which you gave us during the class. They are very useful. Yes, doing is better than hearing or watching. I learned a lot from all teachers too. You will focus on planning lesson afterward especially in the 2nd week. My part of the training is focus on theory and application. I'll show you more later on.

Shuo Chen I'm so excited to join this program. During the "Hand Web Activity", everyteacher share their own interesting experiences. And I learned the interconnected 5C standards after the group discussion. The Professer also told us a lot of details that we need to pay attention to in class. Thank you Ms. Chau! Thank you everyteacher! It is very hard to pay attention in the afternoon with the hot weather. I came from San Francisco Bay Area, I used to the cold weather there. It is a bit overwhelmed to me in the afternoon actually. I know everyone work so hard to concentrate. Thank you too!

Shelley Xiao 6/6/2011 What a great first day! I enjoyed and loved everything Ms. Chau introduced to us. From getting to know each other by “drawing our own hand” to present who we are, our expectations for the class, experiences, strengths etc. to the group activities about 5 Cs. The PowerPoint is so useful. I have learned more than what I expected from today! Thank GVA for providing such wonderful learning opportunity for us. Thank you Ms Chau for such eye opening first day!!! I learned a lot from all teachers too. Thank you too. I learned a lot from every teachers as well.

Ruihong Wu ( Angel ) It was awesome! It was just the first day, but I already fell in love with this wonderful Startalk summer trainning program in GVA. I like the first round Hand Web Activity to let all the teachers and classmates to know each other more. It is the important part for a teacher to start the first lesson about introduction. And all the activities in our class made me believe that the well designed way will be really help to attract students attention. Glade to know that you like the "Hand Web". Thank you too.

Norman Kao

I was very impressed with the presenter, Ms. Zhou’s detailed explanation of all the big ideas and also very happy to learn how she did the intro with hand cutouts, excellent indeed! Glad to hear that you feel the activity is helpful.

I am so happy to start my Star Talk Training in my school, GVA today. I really felt that I reviewed many knowledges about ACTFL standards which I have learned in UCLA last year just before I came to denver to put every theory into teaching practice. After one year teaching experice, I think it is quite important to go over the theory and reflect what I did correct in the past days, and on what area I need to improve. I hope that I can learn as much as possible at this training. I believed you will continue growing while you teach. Aligned standard with every lesson we teach is very important.

Today we've started our startalk. We reviewed the 5C which I learned during the orientation in UCLA. And we have talked about ACTFL standards. I think I learned a lot from the teacher. One problem is I wonder if the teacher can slow done a little bit. Thank you for letting me know. I'll slow down tomorrow. Please don't be hesitated to raise your hand and let me know immediately.

Tracy Peng-

I am so happy that I have the opportunity to join this program. I really like the way we introduce each other (Hand Web Activity). What I have learned today are the ACTFL 5C Standards and the 3 Communicative ways, which put me in reviewsing and assessing each class I have taught. Immersion program is really one of the most powerful ways to teach a foreign language. I am expecting to learn more about it... The first day usually has a lot unexpected thing happened. I put the theories in the first 2 days, I hope you'll continue learning afterward.

Bella( Wei Yang)

I am so glad that we had a wonderful experience on the first day of the Startalk Mandarian program. I like meeting so many new friends and learning a lot from the class. Although I've already been an immersion teacher for almost one year, I am still so happy that we learnt the ACTFL 5C Standards and the 3 Communicative ways in a systematic way in today's class. I am sorry that I cannot attend tomorrow's course, although I've got the permission from GVA. Thanks for our great teacher Esther and GVA. I am thrilled to come back on Wednesday! 2nd day is about 2nd language acquisition and Proficiency guideline, I hope you get a hand-out so your training won't be interrupted.

Ying Li

I am so glad to have the opportunity toattend the Professional Development Teacher Program. The first day I already learned a lot at .I like the” hand web activity” very much. This is a new ideal; I think it can be extended to other connection activities. I also like the class rule and signs; I hope we will learn more in future classes. You'll continue learning afterward.

Belinda--What I have learned today is the 5Cs. Actually I already knew this concept before, but I like the group activity that how you use them in your class. This is a good review for me and after learning them again, I understand them much better than before. Glad to hear that!

Sherry Chao

today I am so exciting and glad had a wonderful experience of teaching training. I have never had that kind training in my life. there are 30 participants in the class, each participant had very good experience of teaching except me. I feel that i am a new born child, i will learn everything step by step in future classes in the 3 weeks. the first day i leared "hand web activity". its very interest to know each other. the 5C let me know the standards for foreign language learning. thank Mrs. Chau share her experience to us. thanks the GVA give me the opportunity to join this great program. It is so good to hear your reflection. I learned a lot from all teachers too.

Shan Lou

I am very glad to join the Startalk program today. It is like a big family, I meet many new friends and learn a lot of good ideas too. There are thousands of great ideas of teaching jumping out of my mind right now. For example, give every student a small bag and give them some class coins when they try to talk in Chinese or they are outstanding in class. This is a great way to excite the interest of students. There are no bad students, only bad teachers. I must work hard on my training class to help myself become a great teacher J

I'm so glad to hear what you share here about "no bad students" that is exactly what I'm going to present about the classroom management in 4th day.

Jubie Ahn

Today is the first day for the Startalk. It's definitely an exciting experience for me to have this particular training. I enjoyed very much for the contents taught especially for the team building activity which used the hand web to introduce yourself and exchange the personal teaching experience. Also, I now know what are the 5 Cs as well as the 3 communication models. In the meantime, I absolutely will use the "ME BAG" to know about my students at the first day of school in this coming Fall. What an awesome training!! Yes, knowing your students is the first step to successful teaching.