* In English we just say ‘play’ a sport, but in Chinese you need to choose the right verb out of打Dǎ (hit) and 踢Tī (kick) depending on whether it is a sport or game that mostly uses your hands or mostly uses your feet.
**In Chinese, 疼(téng) and 痛(tòng) can both mean hurt or pain and they are interchangeable in many circumstances. If in doubt, 痛(tòng) is usually a better choice as it is more commonly used for hurt or pain, whereas 疼(téng) has more specific grammatical usage.
Teaching and Learning Activities
Resources
Students become familiar with body words by following along with the songs and language clips about body parts (singing, memorising, taking notes, doing the actions etc.)
Teacher led clip by ‘Learn Chinese with Emma’ (2m35s): Learn ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes’ in Mandarin Chinese Learn Chinese With Emma https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL36splAPvk
Teacher led clip by ‘Learn Chinese with Emma’ (4m33s) Learn Body Parts in Mandarin Chinese! Head, eyes, nose, mouth, shoulders, etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45VUN9ql7qI
‘Clap your hands’ song about body parts and movements in Chinese (3min):Pai Pai Shǒu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msfgB4590cc
Extra vocabulary describing body type, eye colour and hair colour: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primarylanguages/mandarin/all_about_me/what_do_i_look_like
Students draw a figure and label the body parts (this can be used later for injury and illness).
Using the Quizlet flashcards and associated games will allow students to expand their vocabulary further.
Quizlet cards and games for body parts (19 items): https://quizlet.com/61301842/body-parts-in-mandarin-chinese-flash-cards
Play: ‘Simon Says西蒙说 Xīméng shuō’ (also known as老师说 Lǎoshī shuo = teacher says). You can use this game to revise or reinforce vocabulary related to body parts, actions and even classroom instructions. How to play: Students follow your instructions to do certain actions (in this case, by identifying certain body parts). Each command must be prefaced with '老师说'. Students who respond incorrectly or perform the action when '老师说' has not been said sit down. The last student standing is the winner. Tip: To make the game more challenging, you can do the actions along with the students, but deliberately make mistakes in order to trick students and make the game finish quicker. Another strategy is to repeat the same commands very quickly. When students go out, it is important to keep them occupied. While sitting down they may continue to play the game, perhaps deliberately doing the wrong action to confuse the other students. When students are familiar with the game, they could even take on the role of '老师 '.
Chinese Language Games: Simon Says西蒙说 Xīméng shuō www.lls.edu.au/teacherspace/professionallearning/16
Watch the Scootle lesson ‘Chinese with Mike’ where the teacher introduces language for talking about sports. Ask students to highlight and take notes on a couple of sentences they might use to make a speech in a future unit when they need to have lots of sentences to say about themselves.
Scootle lesson (Teacher led clip with additional PDF link) about sports (8min) (S6421): http://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/S6421/index.html
Clip (4min): ‘Being Chinese - Sports Day’ (S6448) www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/S6448/index.html
Visiting the BBC website will allow students to hear more key vocabulary and build more phrases from the component ingredients.
Vocabulary and sentences (written, with audio files) on sports and pass times: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primarylanguages/mandarin/things_to_do
Talk with students about transliterations of sport types (e.g. 高尔夫球Gāoěrfūqiú and some of the interesting literal translations. For instance, 网球 wǎngqiú literally means ‘net-ball’ but refers to the game we call tennis. 羽毛球Yǔmáoqiú means ‘feather hair ball’ and refers to badminton.
As a class or individually, students could try the Sporcle game connecting literal meanings to English translations.
Sporcle quiz connecting literal meanings of Chinese sports terms to proper English translations (type answers in): http://www.sporcle.com/games/jefs/literal_chinese_sports
Listen to and then sing along with the song I am sick 我生病 (wǒ shēng bìng) By Groovi Pauli. Try a game of ‘I’m sicker than you!’ How to play: students form pairs and say different sickness sentences until one partner or the other cannot say one without repeating one from the conversation. Tip: Students should not be able to see their notes or see hints on the whiteboard during the main play of this game (perhaps other than a warm-up round). Physical dramatizations or actions showing the type sickness is encouraged (as long as students don’t get too carried away). Winners could play against winners from other teams while others help to keep track and keep score.
Song (2min): I am sick 我生病 (wǒ shēng bìng) By Groovi Pauli & Friends https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbjORxWE8Lg
Students watch ‘Survival Mandarin’, to hear and record more sentences that could be used to communicate injury or illness in order to expand their repertoire.
Vocabulary & sentence video by a teacher (8min 30s): Going to the Doctor - Survival Mandarin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk6_HJlE1ys
Students make a ‘handy hint card’ that a person visiting a Chinese doctor could refer to for useful vocabulary and sentences about injury and illness. They use the figure they have drawn earlier for body parts and add the vocabulary and sentences where they are most relevant.
Explore the training module section of the following Language Learning Space challenges for more online activities or use the whole challenge as an advanced option.
