“Journey to the West” Drama Club

-An effort to integrate drama into Chinese learning

Peng ZengProgram Director

China Institute -Startalk Summer Language Academy

CI@CI/NYU DCLT Workshop March 9, 2012

What is Startalk? STARTALK is a program commissioned by the National

Security Language Initiative (NSLI). STARTALK’s mission is to increase the number of

Americans learning, speaking, and teaching critical need foreign languages by offering students (K–16) and teachers of these languages creative and engaging summer experiences that strive to exemplify best practices in language education and in language teacher development.

China Institute & StartalkSixth year – began in summer 2007Targets 30 New York metro-area high school

students in two proficiency levelsSix-week immersion programFocuses on oral communication, reading

and writing, and Chinese culture through studio art classes and local field trips.

Program Theme: Journey to the West Drama Club

2010 & 2011, for both beginner and intermediate level

An integration of arts into language learning• Art class – costumes, props, backdrops

making• Kong Fu class – Peking opera • Final presentation – theater play, puppet

show, rap battles, comic strips, song, and interpretive dance

Journey to the West

Week 1: Characters

Week 2: Time Period

Week 3: Geography

Week 4: People of China

Week 5: Silk Road

AppearancePersonality

Seasons

Clothing

Dynasties

Lunar Calendar

How to Tell Time

Transportation in JTWChinese Cities

Route of JTW

Weather

Food in JTWMinority

Groups

Festivals & Traditions

Apparel & Shopping

Characteristics of the Route

Landscapes and

Scenery

Encounters

Instructional Activities

Missing Person Telephone Activity

Powerpoint on Characters

Summative Assessment:“Would You Come With Me?” Week 2 assessment – evaluated students’

understanding of the characters. Students would be randomly assigned a

character. They will need to write down personality, physical appearance, clothing, and other characteristics of their character.

Then, students would have to verbally interact with peers to find the four members of the Journey of the West characters.

Summative Assessment:Create Your Own Journey to the West! Students were

asked to create a five day personal Journey to the West.

They were asked to include weather, geography, date and time. Also asked to create a monster’s physical attributes, weapons and personality.

Lessons learned Challenges in the past StarTalk programs• Teachers lack experience and knowledge in

drama• Students lack interest in playwright and

theater play• Administrators found it difficult to manage

both language learning and drama production simultaneously

Improvements in 2012 StarTalk program

StarTalk Program Contact:

Peng Zeng 曾朋 Assistant Director, Children and Youth Program

Email: pzeng@chinainstitute.org Phone: 212-744-8181 ext. 138