Some foreign students in Chinese school to study Mandarin in Yunnan province may find it is difficult to remember the Chinese characters during the process of learning Chinese language. However, the characters are the foundation to learn the Chinese language well. Therefore, we should try to solve this problem by all means.
For the purpose of training students ability of recognizing the Chinese characters and making words as well as the capability of writing Chinese characters correctly when they learn Chinese in China, here is an interesting method can be a[[lied to the language teaching class. It is beneficial to train students become skilled in Chinese learning.
We first divide students into two groups, each with four members and one is chosen to write the words in each group. Then, the other six sit in a circle with the order of “ABABAB”. After given a set of cards with the learned characters, learners in Mandarin learning courses should pick the cards in turn and make words with the given characters. After finishing that, the chosen on students should write them down on the blackboard.
If the participants have more than tem cards on their hands, they can choose any five cards to put in the under of the given cards and continue to pick the cards to make words. The teachers in Chinese language school should stop them in the right time and record according to the words written on the blackboard. Teachers can form the rules to mark and deduct the marks.
What’s more, for those who go to language school to study in China, they must be familiar with the method of guessing words by explaining and describing. Here provide another approach to play this game. Two students are needed as a group and sit besides the table with the whole class around.
After given a cards with ten words, for instance, “北京、字典、电池、地图、中间、金牌、作家、女朋友、初恋、水品”, student A should remind student B to guess the words by the ways of explaining, illustrating or definition. Student A is not allowed to say the words directly. If the students who learn Mandarin fail to guess the words, they can skip them.
Two methods are available to process this game. One is that to limit two minutes to see which team can guess the most words. Another is to limit ten words to see which group can use the least time. For those who take Mandarin language courses in China, we should mainly choose the concrete words from easy to difficult for them to guess. This practice is helpful to improve their skill to explain or define the words briefly and rapidly with the language knowledge they have learned.
Besides the way of guessing by explaining, we can also demand students to guess by performance according to the given words when foreigners study Chinese. When compared with the former game, the only difference is that students should remind another student by his performance or expression without saying anything.
To stimulate the interest of students who come to study in China, we can limit the time to finish certain assignments. What’s more, the chosen words should be mainly the verbs and nouns that are easy to perform. Here are some referential words: “手枪、钥匙、电话、开车、吸烟、跑步、吃饭、喝水、游泳、刷牙、写字、跳舞、擦玻璃、洗衣服、打排球、弹钢琴”.
Teachers should prepare a copy of those words to check whether the students guess the words correctly. Some words can have some flexible answers when they learn Chinese language by this way. For examples, both “吸烟” and “抽烟” are right answers. “开车” and “开汽车” are also express the same meaning.
The game should be designed according to the vocabulary that students have mastered and it the same of the difficulty level. This method is beneficial to deepen the proficiency degree to words and the understanding of the body language.
All above three methods are differently practiced but all follow the same principle, that is, to practice the characters and words ability by reminding with given materials. This will improve their language skills as long as students practice more.