Lesson Plan

Date: 4th March 2024

Time Duration: 10minutes

Material: Red paper, markers.

Grade Level: entry level of Chinese language.

Teaching Objectives:

（1）Knowledge Objective: Students will understand the meaning and writing of the Chinese character "福" (Fu). （2）Skill Objective: Students will be able to write the Chinese character "福" (Fu). （3）Attitudinal Objective: Students will understand the significance of "福" (Fu) in Chinese culture.

Teaching Methods: Lecture-based teaching.

Lesson Plan:

（1）Introduction (2 minutes): Use the teacher’s attire to spark interest in Chinese New Year. Introduce the concept of the Spring Festival and lead into the topic of the character "福" (Fu).

（2）Development (3minutes): Explain the meaning of "福" (Fu) in Chinese culture. Demonstrate the structure and writing of the character "福" (Fu).

（3）Consolidation (4minutes): Conduct individual writing practice to reinforce learning.

（4）Conclusion (1minute): Summarize the key points in writing "福" (Fu) and its cultural significance by quiz.

Blackboard Design:

Draw the detailed layout with the character "福", its breakdown, and key points. Divide the character "福" (Fu) into its left and right components.

Teaching Reflection

Within ten minutes, I aimed to teach beginners of Chinese the meaning of the character "福" (fú) and how to write it.

I initially thought 10 minutes would suffice for students to learn both the meaning and the writing of "福," but in practice, I found that while most could remember its meaning, they were unable to write it on their own. For instance, the common issue was not writing "福" in the correct stroke order; some students could only write parts of "福" correctly, while others essentially 'drew' the character based on a sample, rather than 'writing' it, as they had not fully mastered the fundamental principles of Chinese character writing.

According to Stephen Krashen's Input Hypothesis, learners acquire language by understanding input slightly beyond their current level (i+1), highlighting the importance of meaningful comprehension without pressure for language acquisition. When the input is too challenging, surpassing the "+1" level and exceeding the learners' processing abilities, it can lead to reduced learning efficiency. Even though I had broken down the character "福," the elements to remember were too many, making the direct writing of "福" far beyond the students' current capability.Therefore, teachers need to select learning materials and set learning objectives that are suitable for the students' levels.

In subsequent teaching sessions, one should thoroughly explain the principles of writing Chinese characters first, practice with simpler characters like "一" (yī), "口" (kǒu), "田" (tián), then transition to characters slightly above their current level like "衣" (yī) and "富" (fù), before finally learning to write "福."