Monthly Letter July, 2011

Dear parents and students,

Thank you very much for your solicitude. My surgery is successful, and my backbone is recovered well. Now I can walk without the crutches. I am able to teach you in this school year. It's good news to both you and me. The attachment-1 is the Academic Calendar of School Year 2011-2012. August 29 (Monday) is the first day of school for class 600. August 30 (Tuesday) is the first day for class 700. August 31 ( Wednesday ) is the first day for class 800. September 1 ( Thursday ) is the first day for class 400. September 2 ( Friday ) is the first day for class 500. All classes start from 6:00-7:30. I am so sorry that I am unable to teach class 100, 200, and 300 now, because I am not as energetic as before. As for class 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, I need your help to advertise my class to your classmates, especially those who want to take AP test.

As you know, my class is AP-oriented, because nowadays AP has become more important in applying for the good departments in good universities. The best time to take AP Chinese is in 9th grade ( you have to take AP chemistry and AP calculus in 10th grade, and AP Physics in 11th grade). I will use Integrated Chinese, 3rd Edition to teach you in this school year. This book by far is the most used Chinese textbook in US colleges and high schools. Therefore, it is the most important book that AP commitee will take into consideration for annual AP test. This book has 4 levels. I will teach level 1 for class 500, level 2 for class 600, level 3 for class 700 and 800 in this year. I think the students who have real level 3 Chinese can get 5 in AP test. In future, I will teach level 4 for class 800 together with the AP mock tests.

In my opinion, these are the pros of this book:
1. Clear Learning objectives (see attachments-06252011)
Learning objectives for every lesson help students to focus their study and envision what they will have accomplished at the end of the lesson. The self-reflective questions help students analyze similarities and differences between their native language and culture and Chinese language and culture.
2. Clear Explanations of Language Notes, Grammar Points, Words and Phrases
In the text, words and expressions with corresponding language notes are clearly marked and explained. Take " T恤衫 " as an example, it says: T恤衫is a portmanteau word formed by combining the sounds and meanings of the Cantonese transliteration of the English " T-shirt". T恤 is pronounced "tiseot" in Cantonese and the mandarin morpheme "衫" means "shirt". Modern Chinese is based on the speech of Beijing, and various dialects make contributions to the vocabulary.
3. Interactive Language Practice
There is no mechanical drills on sentence patterns. Instead, it has interactive language practice based on simulated real-life situations. The workbook is excellent (see attachments-06082011). The exercises are not only closely aligned with the learning objectives in each lesson but also cover the three modes of communications: interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational. Thus, the exercises have 4 parts: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. So, the students have to do the speaking parts through phone call with their partners. However, the amount for homework is big. It takes couple of hours to finish.

At the same time, it has the cons:
1. The grammar explanation sometimes is overly technical
2. No typing, the teaching method is not as computerized as IQ Chinese
3. Makes for a difficult one year course, because we have only 1.5 hour class/week. However, college students have 5 hour class/week.
I will make up these weak points in my teaching. So, We will continue to learn " Growing up with Chinese", "Happy China", and videos about culture topics.

I will give you CDs, and ask you to print out the text and workbook of each lesson before the class. The audios are used for listening comprehension. IQ Chinese lessons are used for typing practice and reading comprehension. Class 500 will learn lesson 1-5 in IQ Chinese, and then lesson 6-10 in Integrated Chinese. Class 400 still learn IQ Chinese.

As you know, Math is the foundation of science. We have to realize that our math level not only lags behind the Asian countries but also the east coast. The good business school, the school of engineering, and the medical school all need SATII Math/ACT and AP Calculus scores. If you want apply for EE and Computer Science in UC Berkely, you have to get 5 in AP Physics with Calculus, which is the most hard AP test, and you have to take in 11th grade. Therefore, as we count down, we have to take algebra I in 6th grade; take geometry with proof in 7th grade; take algebra II in 8th grade; take trigonometry and analytic geometry in 9th grade; take calculus in 10th grade, and at last take physics with c in 11th grade. I know that it's impossible to take all these classes in our school system. So we have to look for the resources out of the school. Professor Chen is the most experienced math teacher in bay area. Please carefully read all the pages in this link, and you would get lots of valuable information:

http://www.olympiainstitute.net/#Page_4

If you really want to keep Professor Chen to teach here, please pass on this info to your classmates and ask them to email me. Then I will talk to him. This time I don't want him to "buy my face", but want him to be touched by your enthusiasm for math and physics.

Thanks for your time,

Teacher Mei