STARTALK 2009 - Programs in TX
Consortium of Texas Chinese Language Institutes (student)
STARTALK Ice Breaking Program
The Texas Startalk Ice Breaking Chinese Student Summer Programs aims to raise the awareness of and stimulate the interest in learning Chinese language and culture among middle and high school students. The theme of the student programs is "Your Space, My Space." Through the material and instruction, students use the Chinese language to explore their own space and compare with the spaces of young Chinese people in the spheres of lifestyles, personal preferences, family structure, school activities, and so forth. Students learn, through exploration and comparison, that the individual spaces of young people reflect cultural and social uniqueness as well as a similar exciting energy, free spirit, and wild creativity, whether they are in Beijing, Taipei, or Houston. Most of the student programs last three or four weeks, as enrichment programs for the summer schools, four hours per week, Monday through Friday. All of the programs, from June to July, include daily one-hour cultural sessions. Students will have hands-on cultural experience practicing the lion dance, playing Chinese yoyo, writing calligraphy, and making arts and crafts.
Consortium of Texas Chinese Language Institutes (teacher)
STARTALK Ice Breaking Program
The theme of the Texas STARTALK Chinese Teacher Program is "Word to World." The goal is to lead the trainees to move beyond word/grammar teaching to focusing on real-world communication in a language classroom. Participants will understand that the ultimate goal in foreign language teaching and assessment is to create contexts and provide opportunities for students to use the language to engage in meaningful communication in real-world situations. The Texas STARTALK Teacher Program offers 90 hours of instruction centering on topics of national standards, performance-based approaches and assessment, second language acquisition, teaching Chinese as a second language, technology for language teaching, curriculum development, and daily lesson plan design. Our program includes four university instructors from Rice University, the University of Houston, the University of Texas at San Antonio, and two high school teachers from Chicago and New Jersey. The program also arranges teaching practicums during the summer in June and July. The Teacher Program starts in April and ends in May.
Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD (student)
STARTALK Gateway to Asia
The Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District, in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex in Texas, is proud to host the STARTALK Gateway to Asia, an intensive three-week language academy open to rising 7th graders in the district as well as students from surrounding public and private schools. Students enrolled in either Hindi or Mandarin Chinese will be given an opportunity to explore both the language and the cultures of South Asia and East Asia. The program is limited to 100 students— 50 for each language, 25 in each classroom—so that the class sizes remain small and the quality of the program is maintained. The academy runs from June 11-June 26, 2009, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. During the academy, daily conversational exercises will allow students to practice their vocabulary. Student portfolios will include self-assessments, completed work and projects, and summative assessments. Field trips to the Crow Museum of Asian Art and other centers of learning are planned to enhance the learning experiences of our students.
