China

This CLP, awarded to Li Jing (2017-2018) supported Nasalle Grays River Valley School's Chinese Exhibition Show on February 24, 2018. The show was open to parents and community members and featured three parts. Students learning Mandarin at the school performed traditional Chinese dances, including a fan dance, ribbon dance, and lantern dance, all set to Chinese songs. The second part of the show had an exhibition of students’ work from the 4th and 5th grades, including students’ calligraphy, drawing, crafts and research about China.

TCLP 2015 alumna Zheng Meng was awarded a Critical Language Project grant in the amount of $2950 to conduct a TESL Professional Development Workshop at her home school in China. The full day workshop featured speakers from the Regional English Language Office (RELO) and two TCLP Alumni who shared best practices in student performance assessment and English teaching methodologies.

Ms. Qu Bingbing, along with fellow TCLP alumni Xing Yali, and Sun Qi organized a workshop with two English Language Fellows from the U.S. and shared advanced teaching methodologies and effective English teaching techniques to English teachers in Tangyuan, Huanan and Jiamusi, China. The highly successful workshop provided professional development for over 350 English teachers in Qu Bingbing's hometown. The participating teachers had the opportunity to learn about U.S. teaching methodologies, especially students-centered interactive classroom teaching.

Jia Lili (2015) was awarded a CLP grant to conduct a professional development program for teachers in Hebei Province in September 2016. Ms. Jia modeled the program after the professional development training sessions she attended through TCLP and her U.S. host school while teaching Mandarin at Walnut Elementary School in California. She conducted this project in collaboration with two other TCLP alumni: Chen Manman (2015) and Chen Jinyun (2013).

Chen Jinyun, a 2013 Chinese alum from Nanjing Foreign Language School Xianlin Campus, in Nanjing, China, received a CLP grant to organize TESL professional development for ESL teachers at her home school. The project included school community conferences, regional conferences and national conferences, faculty visits to other schools for English class observations, presentations at regional teaching events, teaching competitions, school-based training sessions, and international video conferences with Dracut High School (Ms. Chen’s host school). The project allowed Ms.

TCLP Chinese teacher Yao Xiaoning organized a three-part CLP for students at Correia Middle School. Part one was a visit to the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum to learn about Chinese history, appreciate some Chinese artwork and watch a calligraphy presentation. Part two was a May field trip to the Chinatown in Los Angeles, where students completed a scavenger hunt in a Chinese market, had lunch in a Chinese restaurant, and bought books in a bookstore using what they’ve learned from Chinese class. Part three was a Chinese Night activity.

TCLP Chinese teacher Li Fang was approved for a CLP grant to fund materials for a Spring Festival performance and a series of art workshops stretching from February into April 2011. The project, which was conducted by 80 Chinese students and 60 art students at Swain High School, presented a Spring Festival performance and six art workshops about traditional Chinese handicrafts to help teachers, students and parents in Swain County better understand Chinese culture.