Unlock with PatreonThe Problem with CI
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Request for Chinese Videos
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7 thoughts on “Request for Chinese Videos”
Sean, I love this. I think Chinese teachers (especially those from a traditional Chinese educational background) benefit from seeing and hearing, not just reading about, CI. It’s so different. But it’s also great to experience oneself in a language you don’t know, so Sean might want to suggest a video or two like that — maybe Michele Whaley’s first day of Russian video? She does some explaining of what she’s doing. (I could find that link if needed.)
I have a blog post with video clips of about 14-15 Chinese teachers doing various styles of CI teaching, including people not easily found on video (like Linda Li).
http://tprsforchinese.blogspot.com/2015/11/chinese-teachers-on-video-how-does.html
Hey Diane! I’ve browsed and viewed many of those videos on your blog before. Thanks for reminding me of them. It’s a great list! And your point about experiencing oneself in a language you don’t know is salient. I just also want to send a clear message to Mr. Shen, and maybe the 10 other Chinese teachers in my network (!), to see that this can be done in Chinese too.
That is awesome, Sean. Thank you for helping those teachers. If they have questions, there are ways to follow up with those of us in videos. I put an upper level video clip for mine, but I have total beginners (my parents!) in video, too, on YouTube.
I really believe that without CI, only a few extremely motivated non-heritage students will feel successful with Chinese. Even those are unlikely to develop fluency without the amount of CI it requires. The rest will be left feeling like they’ll never memorize enough.
Diane said:
…even those are unlikely to develop fluency without the amount of CI it requires….
And those very few can’t really be said to develop flucncy, right? Just a kind of stunted and stilted version of it. I remember reading something Krashen said about that, how the only way to get to authentic fluency, or as close as we can if not born in that country, is CI and more CI and then a ton more beyond that.
Yes indeed! Plenty of CI, and plenty more after that.
I have had a few (like 4-5 total) students who had that kind of stunted ‘fluency’ from textbook-based courses that were lighter on CI. (I’m thinking of my own students from the first 4 years teaching, then others at my new school when I moved.) They were working from memorized language, and very English-influenced. They could say some things slowly, but couldn’t understand well what they heard in conversation-like settings.
But all the more with Chinese. There are almost no ways to estimate meaning without really having understanding. (I mean no cognates, and then characters — except for Koreans who grow up with some exposure to characters, and Japanese who also use characters in their language.) All the issues with comprehensibility are heightened with Chinese for English speakers.
Diane do you think that in terms of long term fluency outcomes for those four kids who were working from memorized language that their future speech was actually negatively affected by what they did in high school before they got to you? Do you think it may have been better if they had never taken Chinese because the memorized speech ended up hurting them instead of helping?
I understand what you’re saying. 2 of the students were my own, pre-CI. They got some shift into CI mainly their 4th year with me.
I’m going to say no, it isn’t digging them into a hole in terms of long term acquisition, unless it drove the person away from the language entirely. (And it will do that to people!) Or, the other potential disaster, the student believes that’s what will make them fluent, and refuses to go with the flow of CI when the opportunity comes.