In order to master the Chinese language better, students should practice more after they learn the language points in class. However, language learning itself is a boring process. Therefore, teachers, inChinese language schools should take the responsibility to hold more interesting activities to increase student’s interest to study the language and improve their language skills.
Students can not only acquire Chinese language skills in the class but also gain language knowledge in the class. Holding a news conference is a beneficial way for foreigners to study Chinese in China. Teachers should ask each student to prepare a piece of news they are interested in. The contents can be politics, economy, culture, society, and so on. The news resource can be the newspaper, television, radio, and so on.
The students are supposed to make their efforts to get it well-prepared. Except for remembering the contents of the news, they should also think about how to answer the questions that could be asked. In class, one student will be called to the platform to publish the news. This student can act as the spokesman of the government or the enterprise. For the purpose of helping students learn to speak Chinese, the other students who act as reporters should ask the spokesman questions about the news.
This method of answering the questions raised by journalists is effective for teachers to teach Mandarin Chinese to those students of the intermediate and advanced levels. This method can not only mobilize students’ initiative but also make the classroom atmosphere active. During the process of listening, teachers can record the good sentences and the sentences with mistakes for proper explanation and encouragement. This is also a comprehensive approach to improving students’ language skills.
Besides, trading negotiation is also an effective way to train students’ oral Chinese language. Students who learn Mandarin in language class will be divided into two groups to do an economic cooperation or trade negotiation. The contents can be chosen according to the student’s interest. For instance, Party A purchases the equipment produced by Party B.
In this game, the identity of the members on both sides should be assured before. In addition, students should reach a uniform idea about the core problems like price, quality and compensation, and so on. In the negotiation, students in Mandarin learning courses should try their best to use some specialized words as follows: 信贷、合同、条款、价格、付款条件、担保、保险、承包、招标、代理、运输、许可证、法人代表、赔偿、利润……
In order to make sure everyone can learn the Chinese language better, all of them should be assured to have a chance to speak. Each group should choose one leader who is able to organize and control the negotiation. One point that teachers should pay attention to is that this game should be played after students have learned some relevant specialized vocabulary. Teachers should guide them if students fail to say something.
For the purpose of training students to be familiar with the knowledge, they have learned, the game named “Simon’s order” is an interesting one for foreigners to learn Mandarin Chinese. The orders are given by teachers. If the orders begin with “西蒙说”, for instance, “西蒙说,把你的左手举起来”, students should do as the orders say. Otherwise, students should do nothing.
During the process of playing games, teachers should give orders rapidly and unexpectedly. It would be better if it is possible to ask certain students to be the one who gives the order. It will gain their interest to study Mandarin Chinese but they should prepare it fully in advance for a better result.
Last but not least, students can perform as they are walking on the street and then get lost. Then, they should ask a series of questions to the people in the street who are acting by other students. learning Mandarin Chinese by this approach, students can learn more about the frequently used daily expressions. Therefore, it is a practical way to train learners in an oral language school.
The games of holding a news conference, economy and trade negotiation, Simon’s order as well as asking ways are introduced above. Teachers can use them more in classroom teaching because they are all effective.