2019-2020 Middle School Scope and Sequence

Chinese, Level 1
6th to 8th grade

The middle School Chinese 1 curriculum is aimed at helping students learn the skills to
be able to fluently and easily express themselves. To facilitate this, teacher and students will
start with learning the basic topics related to their personal identification, later on engaging in
picture/video talk, creating stories by using high-frequency words and phrases. This interactive
and input-based approach will help to achieve micro fluency and creates a comprehensible,
personalized, and contextualized language-learning environment. To allow students to show
what they know in different ways, they will be involved in games, presentations, worksheet
practice, and video productions. Students will start to read and type in simplified Chinese
characters and they will set the foundation upon which to build vocabulary by focusing on a
variety of daily life themes such as personal identification, meal taking, house and home, family
life, education, community, leisure, and shopping. Students will also analyze and compare
cultural practices, products, festivals, and perspectives of China and the United States. At the
completion of this course, Students will achieve proficiency levels of Novice-Mid as defined by
the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

In addition to the above-mentioned language skills, the program also offers opportunities for
students to do the following:
● Penpal - Communicate on a personal level with students from China through letters
or emails.
● ​Interview native Chinese speakers, successful Chinese learners or professionals.
● ​Go to Chinatown on a field trip, visit the Museum of Chinese American, eat in a
restaurant and visit various shops.
● Go to China in the 8th grade.
● Experience Cultural Activities such as writing calligraphy, making dumplings, doing
traditional paper cutting art, and participating in the Chinese New Year assembly.
Essential knowledge and Skill Expectations adapted from World-Readiness Standards for
Learning Languages
Communication.
● ​Master common vocabulary terms and phrases in both Pinyin and Chinese
characters. Engage in oral and written exchange of learned material to provide and
obtain information. (interpersonal)
 ● ​Demonstrate the understanding of simple, clearly spoken, and written language such
as simple stories, high-frequency commands, and brief instructions when dealing
with familiar topics. (interpretive)
● ​Create simple stories and present information using familiar words, phrases, and
sentences to listeners and readers. (presentational)
Cultures.
● ​Demonstrate an understanding of the practices (what people do) and how they are
related to the perspectives (how people perceive things) of the Chinese culture.
● Demonstrate an understanding of the products (what people create) and how they
are related to the perspectives (how people perceive things) of the Chinese culture.
Connections.
● ​By learning the Chinese language and culture, students use resources and
technology to obtain, reinforce or expand knowledge of other subject areas.
Comparisons
● ​Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of
English and Chinese.
● Demonstrate an understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of
Chinese culture, student’s own culture and other cultures around the world.
● ​Demonstrate an understanding of the influence of one language and culture on
another.
Communities
● ​Use the Chinese language both within and beyond the school setting through
activities such as participating in Chinatown field trips, interviews, cultural events and
using technology to communicate.

Proficiency Definitions and Goals

6th grade:
Novice Low 1
The student has the ability to successfully complete performance tasks using concepts
and vocabulary with one-word answers, short memorized phrases or sentences (name, age,
number, family members, date, nationality, where one lives, preferences for food, etc.).
For example, Q: What would you like to eat? A: A hamburger. Q: How many people are there in
your family? A: 5. They are dad, mom, big sister, younger brother and me.
7th grade:
Novice Low 2
The student has the ability to successfully making descriptions and complete
performance tasks using concepts and vocabulary with memorized phrases or sentences
(colors, clothes, time, transportations, appearance, buy and sell, etc.).
For example Q: How did you come to school today? A: I took a train to school. Q: What would
you like to buy? A: I would like to buy some fruits.

8th grade:
Novice Low-mid
The student has the ability to successfully complete performance tasks using concepts
and vocabulary combining and recombining learned words, phrases, and sentences (time,
classes, food, invitation, professions, ordering at a restaurant, going shopping, weather,
seasons, descriptive adjectives, expressing the state of beings, etc.).
For example Q: What do you like to do after school? A: I like to play basketball with my friends.