Victorian Essential Learning StandardsLOTE Unit Plans

The Dragon of China

Level 5 (Pathway 2): Chinese, Interpersonal Development, Thinking, Communication,

Contents

Introduction......................................................................................................................2Learning focus.................................................................................................................3Victorian Essential Learning Standards........................................................................4Teaching and learning activities....................................................................................6

Activity 1: My Dragon in Colours....................................................................................6Activity 2: The Composition of My Dragon.....................................................................7Activity 3: The Dragon Family........................................................................................7Activity 4: I Know How to Write......................................................................................8Activity 5: Tales of the Nine Dragon Wall.......................................................................8

Assessment .....................................................................................................................9Unit resources................................................................................................................12

Books...........................................................................................................................12Software.......................................................................................................................12Websites......................................................................................................................12Teacher materials........................................................................................................13Student materials.........................................................................................................13

Colour in - A.............................................................................................................14Colour in - B.............................................................................................................15Colour in – C............................................................................................................16I Know How To Write...............................................................................................17

Published by the Department of EducationMarch 2007© State of Victoria 2007

IntroductionIn The Dragon of China unit of work, students explore the most important Chinese mythical legend as well as the cultural aspects associated with it. Students use individual and cooperative learning tasks to complete an in-depth study on the language related to specific knowledge, the core communication skills of listening, reading and viewing, speaking and writing in Chinese to obtain cross-cultural and intercultural understandings that are all defined as the key elements of communicative competence.

Students work individually as well as cooperatively in teams to develop, analyse and implement: group tactics; presentation skills using various presentation forms for a range of purposes and audiences; and thinking skills of reflection, evaluation and metacognition.

This unit provides opportunities for students to demonstrate achievement against the standards in Chinese (LOTE), Interpersonal Development, Communication and Thinking.

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Learning focus

This unit addresses learning focus statements from all three strands at Level 5

Physical, Personal and Social Learning

Interpersonal Development – students will: work in teams to complete tasks of various kinds and with members from diverse

backgrounds gain experience in a variety of different roles consider strategies to improve the effectiveness of the team.

Discipline-based Learning

LOTE (Chinese – Pathway 2) – students will: communicate in Chinese on a series of topics in relation to tasks defined learn about the cultural diversities in related topics and their influence on Australian

life and culture express views and values in relation to simple scenarios of the topics learnt using

one or multiple language skills in LOTE.

Interdisciplinary Learning

Communication – students will be able: to identify the key messages and structure ideas logically and coherently to experiment with a range of presentation forms to present information, ideas and opinions for a variety of purposes and to a range of

audiences to develop criteria in groups for evaluation purposes.

Thinking – students will be able to reflect on their learning, seeking to refine existing ideas and beliefs to make and justify changes to their thinking and are aware of others’ different

perceptions to develop capacity to identify, monitor, modify and evaluate thinking skills and

strategies.

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Victorian Essential Learning Standards

The Dragon of China can be used to assess a range of Victorian Essential Learning Standards.

The table below is an example of how this unit might be used to assess some Level 5 standards.

Strand Domain Dimension Key elements of standards

Physical,Personal andSocial Learning

InterpersonalDevelopment

Working in teams

Students:...accept responsibility as a team member…...share resources and information and explore the ideas of others…...work cooperatively to achieve a shared purpose within a realistic time frame……reflect on individual and the team outcomes and improve on own and the team’s performance.

Discipline-based Learning

LOTE (pathway 2)

Communicating in a LOTE

...express simple information on defined topics using correct pronunciation and tone…...respond to verbal and non-verbal clues with appropriate gestures and body language…...comprehend personal or factual information on familiar topics when listening and discriminate sound effectively……understand the main points in short, familiar and modified texts, using support, such as pinyin for new vocabulary, with appropriate pronunciation, tone and phrasing when reading aloud……use appropriate conventions when writing characters, phrases and simple sentences.

Intercultural knowledge and language awareness

...understand that cultural diversity exists and they vary within/between countries and over time……participate in activities in real communication contexts……select, interprets and presents knowledge about the language, its speakers, countries……express own views and values in relation to simple scenarios or propositions……learn why there are differences between languages and how these are related……demonstrates understanding of the relationships between speakers of Chinese.

4

Interdisciplinary Learning

Communication Presentation ...understand the relationship between form, content and mode ……use the appropriate communication conventions, forms and language to meet the needs of the context, purpose and audience……provide and use constructive feedback to develop effective communication skills.

Thinking Reasoning, Processing & Inquiry

…use a range of question types……locate information from varied sources……explain the purpose of a range of thinking tools……use thinking tools in appropriate contexts.

Reflection, Evaluation & Metacognition

…use appropriate strategies of reasoning and analysis to evaluate evidence and consider their own and others’ points of view……modify and evaluate their thinking strategies.

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Teaching and learning activities

Refer to Unit resources (see page 10) for materials required throughout the unit and other student and teacher support materials.

Teachers should also be mindful that assessment practices are always an inseparable part of teaching and learning (PoLT: Principle 5). Teachers should at all times attempt at engaging students in the assessment process (assessment as) and inform their own teaching using the assessment results (assessment for). Please refer to Teaching and learning resources and PoLT for details.

Interpersonal skills and thinking skills are both an integral part of this unit of work. Students may discuss and learn about the work of these skills (see Teaching and learning resource) in separate arrangements prior and during the course of this unit. Opportunities should be allowed for students to apply these skills in the completion of tasks chosen as well as to be assessed for reporting.

For the non-topic-specific linguistic elements (vocabulary and grammar) appropriate to this unit, teachers may refer to the web page of the Victoria Curriculum and Assessment Authority for details of CSFII (http://csf.vcaa.vic.edu.au/home.htm). Teachers should be mindful about the differences between CSFII and VELS levels. For the topic-specific linguistic elements, my personal recommendations are enlisted in all the activities below.

Activity 1: My Dragon in Colours

Revise vocabulary of colours in Chinese.

Students develop a survey sheet in groups of two to find out about the colours their classmates like or dislike.

They then ask around and fill the survey sheet up with information obtained. The conversation must be in simple Chinese. They rank and rate the choices of their classmates and report their findings to the class.

Teacher may discuss the cultural implications of colours and the different colour preferences of the Chinese people.

Students will then be provided with sufficient copies of the dragon graphics (page 12 - 15) to colour in. They are encouraged to be as creative as possible in their colour selections.

Upon completion of the colouring-in activity, students label their dragons with descriptive words that best define the characters of their dragons revealed in their colour combinations.

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Activity 2: The Composition of My DragonFor teacher reference: ‘By the Han Dynasty, the dragon's appearance is described as having the trunk of a snake; the scales of a carp; the tail of a whale; the antlers of a stag; the face of a camel; the talons of an eagle; the ears of a bull; the feet of a tiger and the eyes of a lobster.’ (WIKIPEDIA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_dragon#The_dragon_as_mythical_creature)

Revise/learn vocabulary of animals in Chinese, in particular, snake, carp, whale, stag, eagles, bull, tiger and lobster. Students are to make a chart showing the name of animals in Chinese in alphabetical order.

Revise/learn the vocabulary of animal bodies in Chinese, including trunk, scale, tail, antler, face, talon, ear, feet and eyes.

Using the graphic organiser WEB, students learn about the composition of a Chinese dragon in groups of two and later create a poster to illustrate their understandings.

Students use a Venn diagram to list (in Chinese) the differences and similiarties between a Chinese dragon and a western dragon.

Students in groups of three create their own dragon puppet following the instructions on the web page of Increadibal@rtDepartment: (http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/Files/dragon.htm)

Activity 3: The Dragon Family

Work in groups of two, students research the nine sons of the Chinese dragon in terms of their images, characters and personalities.

In groups, students create a family tree for Chinese dragons.

Revise language knowledge to tell/write dates in Chinese and create a calendar using the image of the dragon and his sons (with introductions in Chinese). To make it a calendar of 12 months, students may choose 3 different images of parent dragons.

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Activity 4: I Know How to Write

This activity is designed with a focus on the learning of the structure and various fonts of Chinese characters. The section Cracking the Code of the Learning Federation Project is a very handy resource. Teacher may direct students to log onto the website of Learning Federation prior to attending Activity 4 and try the Learning Federation activities of:

Stroke Dig (to learn about stroke types and their use within each and every character)

Font Cubes (students learn that the same character may be written in a different style – font and the character look slightly different in different fonts)

Code Breaker (the general rule of character writing)

Teachers will enlarge the character (page 15) to fill up an A4 paper. Trace the outline of the character on to another piece of paper. Students write the character ‘dragon’ in as many different fonts as they may find along the border of the traced characters.

Students may also complete this work using ink-brushes. If that is the case, they may be introduced to the four treasures in the study of Chinese calligraphy.

For information of various character scripts, you may log on to the web page of WIKIPEDIA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_script).

Students to work as a whole class to develop a rubric to assess the quality of the completed character work/art piece.

Students in small groups may also discuss the different writing systems of English and Chinese using a Venn diagram.

Activity 5: Tales of the Nine Dragon Wall

Students research on the Internet (e.g. use Google search) to find information and related tales of the Nine Dragon Wall

Prepare a PowerPoint slide show (visual, audio and animation if possible) on the research findings (the tales). They should use Chinese language (oral or written) wherever possible.

Students should also engage in developing an assessment rubric for this project.

Some computer training may be necessary prior to the assignment of this project to students.

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Assessment

The Victorian Essential Learning Standards supports a combination of assessment practices: assessment of learning (summative) assessment for learning (formative) assessment as learning (ongoing)

Domains/Dimensions Assessment Focus(Outline specific

knowledge, skills and behaviours that each

assessment task will focus on)

Assessment Tasks(A: Activity)

LOTE communication in Chinese

intercultural knowledge and language awareness

Ability to: express simple information

on defined topics using correct pronunciation and tone

respond to verbal and non-verbal clues with appropriate gestures and body language

comprehend personal or factual information on familiar topics when listening and discriminate sound effectively

understand the main points in short, familiar and modified texts, using support, such as pinyin for new vocabulary, with appropriate pronunciation, tone and phrasing when reading aloud

use appropriate conventions when write characters, phrases and simple sentences

understand that cultural diversity exists and they vary within/between countries and over time

participate in activities in real communication contexts

select, interprets an presents knowledge about the language, its speakers, countries

express own views and values in relation to simple scenarios or propositions

learn why there are differences between languages and how these are

A1, A5

A1, A5

A1, A5

A1, A2, A3, A5

A1, A2, A3, A4, A5

A1, A2

A1

A1, A2, A3, A4, A5

A1, A4, A5

A4

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related

Interpersonal Learning working in teams

Ability to: accept responsibility as a

team member share resources and

information and explore the ideas of others

work cooperatively to achieve a shared purpose within a realistic timeframe

reflect on individual and the team outcomes and improve own and the team’s performance.

A1, A2, A3, A4, A5

A1, A2, A3, A4, A5

A1, A2, A3, A4, A5

A4, A5

Thinking Process reasoning, processing &

inquiry

reflection, evaluation & metacognition

Ability to use a range of question

types… locate information from

varied sources explain the purpose of a

range of thinking tools use thinking tools in

appropriate contexts use appropriate strategies of

reasoning and analysis to evaluate evidence and consider their own and other’s point of view

modify and evaluate their thinking strategies

A1, A2 A1, A2, A3, A4, A5

A2, A4

A2, A4

A1, A2, A3, A4, A5

not covered

Communication presentation

Ability to understand the relationship

between form, content and mode

use the appropriate communication conventions, forms and language to meet the needs of the context, purpose and audience

provide and use constructive feedback to develop effective communication skills

A1, A2, A3, A4, A5

A1, A2, A3, A4, A5

not covered

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Key Features/Evidence

At this chosen level, students are in year 7 and 8. Their progress should match the related progression points 4 to 5 at the end of each semester. If a student’s performance matches a progression point either higher or lower than the designated progression point, this student in particular is either performing above or below the level required.

Below the Level At the Level Above the Levelrefer to progression points below 4 of the related domains

refer to progression points 4 to 5 of the related domains

refer to progression points 4.5 and above of the related domains

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Unit resources

Books

The Book of the DragonAllen, Judy, and Jeanne Griffiths, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1979.

Dragon Gods and Spirits from Chinese MythologySanders, Tao Liu, New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1980.

SoftwareMicrosoft WordMicrosoft PowerPoint

WebsitesAt the time of publication the URLs (website addresses) cited were checked for accuracy and the appropriateness of content. However, due to the transient nature of material placed on the Internet, the continuing accuracy cannot be verified. Teachers are strongly advised to prepare their ownindices of sites that are suitable and applicable to this unit of work, and to check these addressesprior to allowing student access.

Dragons in Ancient Chinahttp://www.chinapage.com/dragon1.html

WIKIPEDIA – Chinese dragonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_dragon

Chinese Dragonshttp://www.crystalinks.com/chinadragons.html

Chinese Dragonshttp://www.lair2000.net/Chinese_Dragons/Chinese_Dragons.html#table

WIKIPEDIA – Regualr script (Chinese Character Fonts)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_script

Melbourne Museumhttp:/melbourne.museum.vic.gov.au

Victorian Essential Learning StandardFor information regarding Level 6 standardshttp://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au

Principles of Learning and Teachinghttp://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/pedagogy/plt/index.htm

VCAA CSFII http://csf.vcaa.vic.edu.au/home.htm

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The Learning Federationhttp://www.thelearningfederation.edu.au/tlf2/

Teacher materials

Teaching and learning resourceThis document provides information about teaching and learning strategies referred to in the unit. It is available at http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/support/teaching.html

Assessment resourceThis document provides information about assessment strategies referred to in the unit. It is available at http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/support/assessment_resource.html

Student materialsColour In - A (page 12)

Colour In - B (page 13)

Colour In - C (page 14)

I know how to write (page 15, 16)

Using the student materialsThe student and teacher support materials provided are designed to assist teachers in guiding the learning process. These are available to download and modify.

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Colour in - A

14

Colour in - B

15

Colour in – C

16

I Know How To Write

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Oracle BoneScript

Inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty (16th – 11th century BCE)

Bronze WareScript

Inscriptions on ancient bronze objects.

Lesser SealScript

The style of calligraphy adopted in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BCE).

Clerical Script

The official script of the Han Dynasty (207 BCE – 220 CE).

The RegularScript

The script existed in 265 CE and is still in use today. It is regular with a tight structure and fluent strokes.

Cursive Script

The short hand style of the Chinese characters. All strokes in a word are connected, making a word one single (complicated) stroke.

The RunningScript

Characters appear less angular and rounder.

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Simplified

Simplified character forms are created by diminishing the number of strokes and simplifying the forms of a sizeable proportion of Traditional Chinese characters.

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