*属, shǔ, can sometimes simply mean ‘belong’ but it doesn’t need extra words or context to mean ‘belong to or be symbolized by a certain zodiac’ because it is such a common question to ask people, particularly around Chinese New Year but also any time you’re getting to know someone and chatting with them about who they are.
** To list a/some pet(s), you need the number and measure word. Different pets have different measure words (and some have options) but a good one to use if in doubt is zhī只. You can find out a bit more here: http://www.learnchineseeveryday.com/2012/06/16/chinese-measure-words-iii-for-animals
Teaching and Learning Activities
Resources
Discuss the Western zodiac and then establish students’ prior knowledge of Chinese New Year and the Chinese Zodiac. If they don’t surface, provide basic facts (or get them to research all the following and discuss their findings) such as, that there are 12 animals which rotate through a cycle as the animal of the year. Ask students what animals they think might be included. Help the students to list all twelve animals and ask students what their traits might be. Explain to students that some of these associations might be the same between Chinese and Western beliefs, while others might be more surprising. Different resources or websites might vary in their descriptions of Zodiac traits a little bit too, though there are definitely common themes.
Ask whether students believe that people would actually exhibit the traits of their Zodiac animal or if it is more ‘just for fun’. Talk about the benefits of discussing the Zodiac in Chinese culture, essentially 1) fortune telling activities (some people take them seriously, particularly for match-making) and 2) a clever way to find out someone’s age.
Song and explanation (4m17s): Chinese New Year 新年 (xīn nián) by Groovi Pauli & Friends https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k12wN9vQsAA
(Please be aware that some YouTube videos contain advertising at or near the beginning that may need to be skipped or closed.)
Other activities and print resources for Chinese New Year and the current Animal Zodiac can be accessed at https://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/classroom-resources/list
(You may wish to revisit some of the resources from Topic Y5T1a for more information on Chinese New Year).
Show the Yoyo clip explaining how asking for someone’s Chinese Zodiac can help you determine someone’s age fairly accurately.
Video clip by Yoyo Chinese explaining how the Zodiac can help you calculate someone’s age (2min 22s): What's your Chinese zodiac sign? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1S9zaathI8
Practice the phrase with the students for asking someone’s Zodiac (this is listed above and also introduced in the aforementioned Yoyo Chinese clip). Students can work out their own Chinese zodiac animal using the recommended webpage (which also includes a summary of supposed traits).
Students go around the room asking one another about their Zodiacs (in Chinese), perhaps taking a tally as they go (in spoken Chinese and recorded in Chinese numbers) which could be checked by the teacher taking a big group tally at the end of the activity.
Written introduction for kids to the Chinese Zodiac including a calculator to work out what animal they are and a picture story book of the legend with turning pages: http://mandarinforme.com/downloadable-resources/chinese-zodiac
Simple, animated, informative clip about some of the basic traits of the animals (2m 40s): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxh347n7DvQ&index=37&list=PLCFDD3F76245D00A9
Students play Quizlet and Sporcle games on the Chinese Zodiac.
Quizlet cards and associated games on animals of the Chinese Zodiac: https://quizlet.com/71440397/chinese-zodiac-flash-cards
Sporcle timed quiz: Can you match the pinyin, character, and English translation for each year of the Chinese Zodiac? www.sporcle.com/games/amazingjosh/shuniuhutu
Students use the links recommended previously (and any others they source) to find out about the myth of how the zodiac animals were originally selected.
Students create a poster or digital presentation telling the story (authentically, imaginatively or loosely) of the Animal Zodiac, including at least one cartoon with some Chinese Language (most likely a cartoon of one person asking another what Zodiac year they were born in as per the first item in the vocab list above). Students could use translation websites, Google searches or information from their previous lessons to include extra phrases or sections in the target language.
Students spend time memorising some key animal words of their own selection and experiment with the vocabulary for talking about having pets. The ‘Growing up with Chinese’ episode about pets outlines this. There is a link on the video page to a transcript of the dialogue should students wish to read it slowly and break it down.
Conversation about pets is also an opportunity to use ‘I like…’ and ‘I don’t like…’ from Topic Y5T2b.
Growing up with Chinese Lesson 19 Talking about pets (14m 47s): http://english.cntv.cn/program/learnchinese/20101109/102700.shtml
BBC written information about having pets: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primarylanguages/mandarin/families/pets
Extension material (written) for talking about and describing pets: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primarylanguages/mandarin/families/describing_pets
Students play online games to identify pets.
Noun identification memory game about pets: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primarylanguages/mandarin/families/games/pets
Play ‘Fish’. Play this game to boost vocabulary and memory. How to play: In each group, the cards are shuffled. Seven cards are dealt out to each player, face down. The remaining cards are placed face down in a pile in the middle of the table. Players look at their cards and place any matching pairs down on the table. The first player asks the person on his/her left for a specific card, asking, for example, '你有猫吗？'. The second player answers '有' or '没有' depending on whether or not they have the card. If they have the card, the second player must hand it over and player 1 places the pair down on the table. The game continues until one player has no more cards left, or until there are no more cards in the 'fish' pile. The player with the most pairs at the end of the game wins.
Chinese Language Games: Fish www.lls.edu.au/teacherspace/professionallearning/16
Materials required: Sets of small flashcards photocopied four times, enough for groups of three or four students. It is preferable to photocopy each set in a different colour to avoid sets getting mixed up. (These cards could also be used in the game 'Memory'. It would be possible for students to construct these cards themselves as part of a learning activity.)
As a bonus or extension area, students could watch the ‘Where do the animals live? 动物住哪里？Dòng wù zhù nǎ lǐ?’ song by Groovi Pauli and learn the phrases about where you find certain kinds of animals and don’t find others (zoo/farm/home). This will also reinforce/introduce a collection of animal names.
Song (2min): ‘Where do the animals live?’ 动物住哪里？ (dòng wù zhù nǎ lǐ) by Groovi Pauli & Friends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_5EjAWsCCE
Explain to students that some animals have unusual names when they are translated literally part by part, for example the word for owl is a ‘猫头鹰 ‘, literally ‘cat head eagle’. Those who want to find out more could complete the Sporcle activity ‘Can you name the animals, given their names literally translated from Chinese?’ by looking at the literal translations, guessing the proper English answers and researching where necessary. Discourage the students from pressing the ‘Give Up’ button when it eventually appears.
Can you name the animals, given their names literally translated from Chinese? www.sporcle.com/games/jefs/literal_chinese_animals
Computer savvy students or teachers could also download the Languages Online ‘Comprehension Task Maker’ to make an activity about either the Chinese Zodiac or animals in our lives, perhaps using one of the songs for content inspiration.
Comprehension Task Maker can be downloaded at www.education.vic.gov.au/languagesonline/games/comprehension/index.htm
