How to Teach Writing in Chinese Immersion Classrooms?
As Mandarin Chinese immersion schools are getting increasingly popular worldwide, Chinese teachers are seeking more research-based, teacher-created resources. While encouraging daily conversation in Mandarin may not be too challenging, helping students begin writing Chinese characters and forming sentences can be a different story!
Here are some great resources for Chinese teachers to help students develop strong writing skills. We've used them in our Chinese immersion classrooms, and our little learners have shown great progress with these tools!
Writing Process Posters
Start your students with routines! No matter the age group, creating a consistent flow for writing is key.
This set of Writing Process posters provides the perfect visual support for your writing bulletin board, outlining each step of the writing journey: brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. These 5 writing process can be applied to any type or genre of Chinese writing. Introduce these 5 steps at the beginning of the year, so you can easily refer back to them when giving feedback on their writing pieces.
The writing posters are available in Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese.
2. Writing Papers (田字格 Tian Zi Ge)
Always give your students paper choices, especially your young learners.
Providing students with paper choices is a fantastic way to differentiate and encourage young writers to feel less overwhelmed and more independent! Start by teaching them how to select the "just-right" writing paper. Some may need boxes with lines to help them center each Chinese character, while more advanced writers might prefer using lined paper for sentence writing. Giving students the freedom to choose their writing paper helps them feel empowered and excited to write their stories in Chinese!
Click here to purchase the set of writing papers at multiple levels.
3. Picture Dictionary in Chinese
The Chinese picture dictionary is an essential tool for helping Chinese language learners expand their vocabulary and become more independent writers. Organized by themes, this word bank makes it easy for students to find the words they need if they're unsure how to write them in Chinese. As you introduce new vocabulary, simply add more pages to students' folders using sheet protectors, ensuring they have a growing reference tool at their fingertips!
The picture dictionaries are available in Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese.
4. Sentence Starters/Paragraph Structure
Providing students with sentence starters can greatly enhance their Chinese writing skills by offering a clear paragraph structure. In the fall writing activities above, your Chinese learners can trace the sentence starters and choose words from a word bank to fill in the blanks.
This method enables young learners to practice constructing sentences in Chinese without feeling overwhelmed. It is especially beneficial for lower grade kids and beginners who are just starting to learn Chinese characters, as it offers the support for them to write a Chinese paragraph independently.
5. Practice Makes Perfect.
My first grader was reading a story she wrote about how she celebrated Halloween.
Most importantly, your students need LOTS of practice! We recommend starting with personal narratives—stories about their own lives. Personal narrative writing is a great entry point for language learners because it encourages them to share their experiences, making the writing process more relatable and engaging.
You can start with a shared writing activity based on something the class did together. This allows you to model how to tell a story with sequence words and feeling words, guiding students on how to add more details to their Chinese writing pieces. In addition, personal narratives can be tied to different holidays and themes, making it a versatile, seasonal activity.
