Chinese L7: Context elaborations
Students are expected to begin to engage in sustained interactions and produce increasingly extended texts, in which they explore the views of others, develop and share personal perspectives and justify, support or challenge ideas and opinions in different situations. Students are expected to begin responding critically to more extended and varied text types on familiar matters.
Context elaborations are examples for teacher guidance only. They should not be used as assessment tools.
Example 1: Informal discussion between friends
小华 — 我上一所男校 ，我觉得男校真无聊！
Mary — 真的吗？你为什么不喜欢你的学校？
小华 — 在中国 ，我们没有男校或者女校 ，所以我觉得不习惯。还有 ，在我的学校 ， 我们每天上体育课。放学以后 ，还要参加球队。累死了！
Mary — 是吗？我上一所女校。我觉得我的学校非常有意思 ，因为我们可以做很多活动 ，包括体育活动和音乐活动。
小华 — 我爸妈要我每天做完功课以后 ，还要看两个小时的书。所以我现在都没有时间上网和我在中国的朋友聊天。
Mary — Um … 没关系。周末你可以好好休息。
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Context and text type
Xiaohua is an international student from China. He is conversing with his Kiwi friend Mary about the differences between schools in China and New Zealand.
Text type
Conversational exchange, informal. Interactive.
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Examples showing how the student is:
Communicating information, ideas and opinions through increasingly extended and varied texts
In this interchange, the friends compare values in relation to schooling in the two countries, for example, parental attitudes towards schoolwork. Xiaohua makes comments from a Chinese student’s point of view:
- 在中国 ，我们没有男校或者女校 ，所以我觉得不习惯。还有 ，在我的学校 ，我们每天上体育。放学以后 ，还要参加球队。累死了！
Mary responds, giving her personal perspective.
The question, 你为什么不喜欢你的学校？invites Xiaohua to explain why he doesn’t like school here, and to contrast his current and past situations.
Mary helps to keep the conversation going by explaining her preferences:
- 我的学校很有意思 ，因为我可以做很多活动 ，包括 …
It is important to remember that this is a spoken interaction. Therefore, spoken features such as pronunciation, intonation, rhythm patterns, delivery speed, audibility, stress patterns and tones have a bearing on the overall effectiveness of the communication and must also be taken into consideration.
Beginning to explore the views of others
Mary uses the questions 是吗？真的吗？为什么？to ask for further information and explanation from Xiaohua.
Beginning to develop and share personal perspectives
Use of 我觉得我的学校非常有意思 to develop and share opinions and perspectives.
Beginning to justify own ideas and opinions
Mary uses the sentence pattern 因为 … 所以 … to give a reason or explanation and likely outcome.
Beginning to support or challenge the ideas and opinions of others
Mary uses 嗯 … 没关系 to show understanding, closely followed by 周末你可以好好休息 to offer advice.
Beginning to engage in sustained interactions and produce extended texts
Mary uses 还有/ 还要 / 包括 to introduce further actions or information.
Note that Mary says “Um” before starting to respond in Chinese, showing that she is being challenged here as an intercultural speaker of Chinese. In this context, the 'um' gives away her identity as a speaker of English.
Interpreting ways in which the target language is organised in different texts and for different purposes
The use of colloquialisms such as 没关系 and fillers such as 嗯 and 是吗？shows that the interaction is informal.
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Opportunities for developing intercultural communicative competence
Explore aspects of school systems in China and New Zealand, for example, 在中国 ，我们没有男校或者女校 ，所以我觉得不习惯, to find similarities and differences in organisation, practices, and values.
Compare and contrast parental expectations in relation to schoolwork in China and New Zealand.
我爸妈要我每天做完功课以后 ，还要看两个小时的书。
Explore the use of colloquialisms and fillers in Chinese in informal conversations to help sustain interaction. Make comparisons and connections with how conversations are sustained in own language(s).
Last updated March 4, 2013
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