Chinese - Beginning I (Chinese I)

All-Gender Course; Full-year course
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Chinese – Beginning I is designed for students with little or no experience in learning Chinese. Students develop the basic language skills in a cultural context by understanding and responding to structured social conversations. Starting with the introduction of the Chinese language system including Pinyin, tones, radicals, and characters, this course focuses on students' production of simple sentences and brief paragraphs related to the topics of greeting, sharing personal information and preferences, introducing others, making plans, and discussing school life. The corresponding cultural knowledge is introduced at appropriate intervals to enrich students' understanding of Chinese culture. Care is taken to create an authentic learning experience in reading, writing, speaking, and listening in the online environment. Students improve their overall language proficiency through weekly interactions with their teacher and classmates, in addition to using a variety of internet resources and audio and video materials. Engaging activities include playing games, performing songs and tongue twisters, writing stories, collaborating on projects, taking virtual field trips, and acting out roles in movies. This course aligns with Cheng and Tsui’s Integrated Chinese Level I, lessons zero through six. By the end of Chinese - Beginning I, students will be able to handle the basic functions with structured grammatical patterns in daily communication and gain a solid foundation for future learning. 
WHAT STUDENTS SAY

“My teacher Ms. Teng is very nice and polite. She is always there to help me if I need it and explains the words in a very understanding way. She is an amazing teacher.”

"I’ve been very connected to my teacher in case of a problem and she is always there to give me feedback."

"Ms. Shen is an amazing, kind, and helpful teacher who I look up to a lot.​"

WHAT STUDENTS DO
Learning is an active process at One Schoolhouse. Students design, create and apply. And, they engage with classmates and connect with their teachers through discussions, video conferences, and projects. Specifically, in this class students will:
  • Set goals that drive their learning. Students reflect regularly on their growth, and meet on video chat with their online teacher to review progress towards their goals.
  • Have choice in how they learn new content and practice new skills. Students are given agency to determine the best ways for them to learn.
  • Apply what they are learning to the real world. Learning is meaningful and connects to concepts outside the classroom.
  • Practice constructive engagement in a diverse and changing world. Students interact with classmates from across the country and around the world.
  • Gain academic maturity. Online learning takes greater discipline and independence than a traditional face-to-face classroom. Teachers support students to build this skill.
MEET A TEACHER FOR THIS COURSE
SIGNATURE ACTIVITIES
Examples of signature activities and projects for this course are:
  • Through discussion and presentation, student will use basic language skills to communicate with others and understand Chinese culture.
  • Learning Chinese language and culture through authentic resource, such as movie, song, social media, news etc.
  • Demonstrate learning through projects, discussion and comparison.​
​OUR RESEARCH-BASED APPROACH TO TEACHING LANGUAGES ONLINE
​One Schoolhouse designs competency-based courses with the student-teacher relationship as the cornerstone of our personalized pedagogy.  While students excel in our language AP courses, for many years we did not offer full sequence language courses because there was little research to support the efficacy of online language learning at the early levels.  The research shows that fewer than 1% of Americans are proficient in the language they studied in traditional classrooms. Not wanting this outcome for One Schoolhouse students, our goal is to inspire deep learning so we strive to ensure that the online learning experience increases the effectiveness of second language acquisition. In recent years, we have honed our approaches to delivering the four language competencies – reading, writing, listening, and speaking – in the online space, and have therefore endeavored to build out our Chinese, French, and Latin sequences.  The limitations of other online language programs are mitigated by the centrality of the student-teacher relationship, including interactive sessions where students speak, listen, and translate with their peers and teacher, at One Schoolhouse.  J.C. Narcy-Combes’s research on second language learning online shows that, “meaningful interaction will trigger learning processes,” which we know to be true anecdotally, and that, with intentional design, students can be taught to learn language effectively online.  Carrier et. al. have more recently shown that educational technologies and online learning are rapidly transforming second language acquisition, and that intentional practice can create a highly effective digital experience.  Because One Schoolhouse students have pathway options where they can practice in the target language at their own pace, get feedback from their teacher, interact with peers from around the country, and demonstrate their mastery through both traditional assessments and creative projects, students have the full complement of research-based learning activities in their online courses that you would expect to find in any independent school language program.  Additionally, our language teachers have advanced degrees from American universities, are trained in both their language and the best pedagogical practices for delivering language online, teach in independent schools around the US, and are AP readers.  
COURSE APPROVAL
This course is approved by the NCAA. 

One Schoolhouse is fully accredited with the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges through December 1, 2025; we are an approved online publisher for the University of California. 
May Shen
​Languages Teacher
BA Southwest Jiatong University
MA University of Texas at Dallas