快樂漢語，在雷克伍德圖書館啟航

Happy Chinese Sails from LakewoodPublic Library

美國小城雷克伍德（Lakewood），依偎在伊利湖邊，海鷗從天上掠過，湖邊綠樹倒映，小艇等待出航。這里民風淳樸，公園里家人攜愛犬散步，人行道上時有跑步健身的身影，人們微笑著互相問候。這里優美的自然環境、和諧的人文氣氛，吸引了眾多人士落戶于此。

雷克伍德圖書館主館坐落在小城的城中心，建立于1916年，至今有100余年的歷史，是俄亥俄州最好的圖書館之一，其文化底蘊和優質的服務吸引著社區居民。

我所在的克利夫蘭州立大學孔子學院，從2018年開始和雷克伍德圖書館合作，為社區小朋友提供有趣的漢語學習和文化體驗課程。快樂漢語，在雷克伍德圖書館啟航！作為一名漢語教師，我很榮幸，和社區的孩子們一起開啟首航之旅！

快樂航程的精心設計

接到教學任務時，我了解到的基本信息是這樣的：兒童班，15人左右，8次課，6次語言，2次文化。每周一次課，每次一小時。

為弱化“漢語太難”的認知，我精心設計了快樂目標和航程：讓孩子們在有限的時間里，輕松愉悅地體驗漢語，能運用一點簡單的句子進行交流;在輕松愉快的體驗中，減少漢語太難的焦慮感，建立對漢語學習的喜愛，樹立漢語學習的信心。

航行目標難度不能太大，所以語言教學的內容主要是簡單的自我介紹，問候、姓名、數字、年齡、禮貌用語、國籍等基本信息的表達和運用，還有一些簡單漢字的書寫，另外提供有趣的文化體驗活動：中國畫和剪紙。

上課前，了解到有15個6-10歲漢語零基礎孩子，將隨我一起首航。快樂漢語，快樂啟航，出發！

有趣的漢語漢字學習

第一次課，孩子們之間比較陌生。我們微笑著互相認識，在游戲和活動中破冰，大家用中文互相問候。

為了讓孩子們體驗漢語學習的樂趣，我在課堂中設計各種有趣的游戲和活動：唱歌、看短片、橡皮泥拼漢字、給漢字穿衣服、設置情景表演、用身體擺漢字、拋球、轉圈、跳房子等，孩子們在游戲參與中快樂地接觸漢語和漢字。

“一二三，爬上山;四五六，拍拍手;七八九，點點頭;十個手指頭，我的兩只手”，孩子們跟著節奏唱著數字歌，全身反應，連平時比較好動愛講話的雙胞胎兄弟魯克和麥克也能夠專注地參與呢！孩子們敬禮、握手唱《找朋友》，教室里歡聲笑語不斷。

有一次在語言對話中，孩子們創造情景表演，練習和運用學過的禮貌用語。分組時有個小男孩是單數，我建議他和我一組表演，結果孩子要求和旁聽的媽媽合作表演，于是媽媽也參與到學習中來，一起表演。看得出，孩子和媽媽都很享受這個過程。

數字學習，我把中國傳統的跳房子游戲引入到教學中，房子的格子分別用漢字和阿拉伯數字標注，孩子們分組練習跳房子，教師先示范，孩子們每個人都跳一次，邊跳邊拍手說數字;再變換方式：兩人一組，一個給數字指令，另一個跳到相應的數字框內，二人交換。在游戲的過程中，邊玩邊強化數字學習，逐漸習得。

漢字歷來被認為是漢語教學中的難點。對于初學階段的孩子，有的專家建議不學習漢字。我深思熟慮后，還是帶入少量的漢字，其目的不在于學習多少漢字，而在于逐步建立孩子的字感，改變漢字“太難”的印象。在漢字選取時，特別注意選取筆畫少、字形簡單、容易把握的漢字，孩子們通過用橡皮泥拼寫漢字、給漢字穿衣服、用身體擺漢字等方式感受漢字與英文字母的區別，體驗漢字書寫方式的奇妙之處。孩子們對身體擺漢字和給漢字穿衣服的活動更感興趣。特別是分組擺漢字，孩子們積極舉手參與，在游戲中理解基本漢字的意義，學會了“人”“大”和“天”三個漢字的區別，在玩中學習的過程更有智慧。

豐富的中國文化體驗

快樂漢語課程時間雖短，但我希望能夠給孩子們融入更多的中國文化體驗和感知。我把毛筆字體驗、中國結的學習融入課程中，把中國畫、剪紙作為獨立的工作坊帶給孩子們。

在中國毛筆字學習體驗中，孩子們第一次接觸到筆、墨、紙、硯，學習握筆的姿勢，活動手腕，感受用筆的靈活度，蘸墨，掭筆，筆尖落到紙上，感受這軟軟的書寫工具，用自己的手讓漢字一橫一畫地呈現出來。

漢字書寫的順序：“人”“中”“國”“美”，根據難易程度逐一書寫，有的是學習過的漢字，復習一下即可，有的是漢語已經學過的詞語，漢字已經提前呈現過，有聯系地進一步學習。“美”字中的“大”已經學習過，但是對于上半部分，孩子不太熟悉，我就用兩支毛筆斜對著放在頭上，把自己變成機器人，幫助孩子理解，學習書寫時，原本擔心難度有點大，孩子們寫不了，結果發現，孩子們帶著新奇感，用孩子的理解和感知，以孩子的筆體，完成了“中國人…‘美國人”的書寫，大膽落筆，毫無畏難情緒。孩子們很有成就感，我也一樣。有個男孩萊利寫出了“中國美”，當我告訴他“中國美”的意思時，孩子笑了！

在快樂漢語課上，孩子們親手為自己或弟弟妹妹編制一條中國結手鏈，全程30分鐘。擔心時間緊、難度大，我提前做了分組，我、圖書館兒童項目負責人朱莉（JulieStrunk）女士、小助手秘密（我女兒）各負責一組，現場還調動家長一起參與，一步步地教授。在大家的共同合作下最終完成任務，大多數孩子都完成了手鏈的編制，偶有幾人推遲完成，孩子們拿著自己編制的手鏈，快樂之情溢于言表！

我們的中國畫體驗，選擇了可愛的小貓。孩子們跟隨著老師的節奏，體會墨色的濃淡，看到自己的毛筆下，簡單的圓、三角形、直線、弧線，慢慢組合成可愛的小貓咪，有個小女孩喜不自禁，看著自己的畫，做出了小貓表情和動作，超萌！小女孩卡亞繪畫很有天分，第一次畫中國畫，自如地畫出可愛的小貓，還添了很多愛心和小貓睡覺的地毯。我為每個孩子準備了一個藍色的卡紙背景，把自己的畫貼上就是一幅非常棒的作品。

剪紙工作坊恰好在母親節前后。我帶著孩子們欣賞了一些傳統的中國剪紙作品，設計了有中國特色的剪紙祝福卡，展示了我剪的媽媽圖案，教授孩子們運用對稱和基本的剪紙技巧剪出字母“I love U，MOM”（我愛你，媽媽）。孩子們帶著對媽媽的濃濃愛意，剪出愛心，剪出每一個字母，還有我準備的中英文祝福，孩子們表示迫不及待地要把自己的剪紙賀卡送給媽媽！

快樂的時光總是過得太快，每次活動結束，都會有幾個孩子戀戀不舍。

愉快的團隊協作

快樂漢語學習過程中，孩子們通過愉快的團隊協作，建立了良好的人際關系，在學習中獲得友誼。

在語言訓練的互動活動中，因為有彼此的協作、支持和鼓勵，孩子們樂在其中。練習對話，我設計了兩個小游戲：大圈小圈轉轉轉、拋球游戲。根據學生的漢語層次將學生分為兩組，分別圍成內外兩個圈（小圈和大圈），通過順時針和逆時針轉圈確定自己的合作伙伴，兩人進行對話練習，孩子們不斷地變換新朋友練習對話，避免枯燥練習。拋球游戲也是在規則變換中交換對話練習者，讓語言練習多一點趣味。對于表現好或者有進步的小朋友，團隊從不吝嗇自己的表揚和掌聲。

有一個平常比較靦腆的小姑娘，在活動中得到大家的肯定和鼓勵，參與時表現出比平常更多的自信，參與活動也更積極了。小男孩林頓善于學習、觀察和思考，和人交流有時會臉紅，我的課為每個孩子提供更多的交流和表現的機會，感覺林頓也慢慢地不那么拘謹，可以比較放開地聊天了。

語言和文化活動，我也鼓勵自己的孩子和朋友家的中國孩子參加，中國小朋友和美國小朋友互動，讓美國孩子感受真實語言環境下的漢語交流;也有中國小朋友和美國小朋友通過在文化活動中的協作與互動中國和美國的孩子成了朋友，互相鼓勵，互相學習，共同進步。

文化活動的團隊協作多采取小組活動，組內合作，互相交流學習，互相幫助，最終團隊共同完成文化體驗活動，取得比較理想的效果。

“身教勝于言傳”，這一門課程開展過程中，學生也能感受到中國老師之間。圖書館老師和中國老師之間的協作，共同支撐和促進學生的有效漢語學習。

圖書館兒童項目負責人朱莉是一位認真、敬業且謙遜的女士，她一直陪伴著這個項目的開展，從最初材料的準備，到課堂的協助管理、課程的有效開展，她在課堂跟我配合，也和孩子們一起積極地參與到學習中。我們課后了解學生及家長的意見，討論課程，不斷提高。課程結束后，朱莉已經能用漢語進行簡單的交流了。圖書館工作人員妮卡（Nicka）女士也參與到工作坊中，我們合作非常愉快，共同配合和分組指導相結合，讓每一個孩子都能得到更好的幫助和支持。在與她合作中，我也學習到如何在剪紙課上用簡單明了風趣的語言讓孩子了解到剪刀使用規則，以保證安全。

圖書館的工作人員一見到我，就夸贊課程的成功和受歡迎。我很好奇他們沒有進入我的課堂，怎么會知道課堂的情況呢？他們說，我們能感受到課堂的快樂氣氛，我們能從孩子和家長的臉上知道答案！我才意識到，原來這個團隊還有更多給力的支持者，作為兒童項目的工作團隊，大家也都在用實際行動給予我有力的支持！

我的同事郭宇飛老師多次到圖書館支持和協助我教學。在語言的教學訓練、活動的準備和開展、課堂組織、拍照宣傳等方面給予了很大的幫助，并對課堂教學質量的提高和改善提出了寶貴的意見和建議;我們孔子學院的中方院長張旭紅老師也深入我的課堂，了解課堂教學情況，和學生、學生家長、圖書館進行溝通，了解學生的情況和需求，給學生的課堂活動進行了圖片記錄，為課程更好的教學效果提出寶貴的意見。

課程準備過程中，我們孔子學院的耿璐老師也參與了課程設置和安排，課程結束后有時也和老師們討論課程的得失，為保證課程的質量共同努力。

正因為這個有力的團隊共同合作，雷克伍德圖書館這次快樂漢語課程才能進展如此順利，孩子們才會有如此快樂的漢語學習體驗，感謝團隊每一位老師的真心付出！

一轉眼，我們已經航行到本次首航的終點，孩子們快樂地體驗漢語，可以用漢語進行簡單的交流了，可以書寫和認讀簡單漢字了，收獲了漢語課上不少小獎品和鼓勵！在用漢語進行交流時，在自己制作的手鏈、卡片里，在自己寫的毛筆字、畫的中國畫中，收獲了老師、同學、家人的夸贊，很有成就感！同時也樹立了自己對漢語和漢文化學習的自信心！在和老師、朋友的合作中，孩子們也收獲了友誼！朋友之間的距離拉近了，老師與學生之間的距離拉近了，中國從地圖上抽象的概念，通過有趣的中國人和有趣的活動，變得生動了！孩子們離開航船時，大家彼此己不再陌生。

Lakewood， a small city in theUnited States， nestles by theLake E rie where seagulls flit acrossthe sky; the lake reflects trees; andboats wait for sailing. The peoplehere are simple and honest. Thereare families walking their dogs inthe park and figures running andexercising on the sidewalk. Peoplegreet each other with smiles. Thebeautiful natural environment andharmonious humanistic atmospherehave attracted many people to settledown here.

Lakewood Public Library islocated in the city center. Establishedin 1916， it has a history of morethan 100 years. As one of the bestlibraries in Ohio， its cultural heritageand superior service appeal to theresidents in the community.

The Confucius Institute atCleveland State University （CSU），where I work， has been cooperatingwith Lakewood Public Library since2018 to provide interesting Chineselanguage learning and culturalexperience courses for children inthe community. Happy Chinese setssail from Lakewood Public LibrarylAs a Chinese language teacher， I amhonored to embark on my first voyagewith the children herel

Elaborate Design of HappyVoyage

When I received the teachingassignment， the basic information Ilearned was as follows： courses forkids， around 15 students， 8 classes，6 classes for language， 2 classes forculture. Classes are held once a weekfor one hour each time.

In order to weaken theperception and impression that\"Chinese is too difficult\"， I elaboratelydesigned the goal and the courseof Happy Chinese： let childrenexperience Chinese language atease and happily in limited time;enable them to communicate withsimple sentences; ease the anxiety ofChinese language being too difficultthrough a relaxed and pleasantexperience; cultivate love for andbuild up confidence in Chineselanguage learning.

The goal of the voyage cannot betoo difficult. Therefore， the contentof language teaching mainly includessimple self-introduction， expressionsand usages of basic informationsuch as greetings， name， number，age， polite phrases， nationality， etc.，and writing of some easy Chinesecharacters， in addition to providinginteresting cultural experienceactivities： Chinese painting and papercutting.

Before class， I learned that therewere 15 children aged 6 t0 10 whonever learned Chinese before andthey would start their first voyagewith me. Happy Chinese， happysailing， Let's go！

Interesting Learning of Chinese Characters

In the first class， the children were strange to eachother. Then we met each other with smiles and broke theice in games and activities. Everyone greeted one other inChinese.

In order to let the kids have fun of learning Chineselanguage， I designed all kinds of interesting games andactivities in class： singing， watching short videos， spellingChinese characters with plasticine， dressing Chinesecharacters， setting up scene performance， making Chinesecharacters with the body， throwing balls， spinning，hopscotch， etc. The children were happily exposed toChinese language and Chinese characters through thesegames.

“One， two， three， climb up the mountain; four， five，six， clap your hands; seven， eight， nine， nod your heads;ten fingers， my two hands”， the children sang the song ofnumbers to the thythm， with their whole body react to thesong. Even the more active and talkative twin brothersLuke and Mike were able to participate intently. The kidssaluted， shook hands and sang “Looking for Friends”. Theclassroom was filled with laughte r.

Once in language conversation， the children createdscenes to perform， to practice and use learned polite phrases. There was one little boy left in grouping. I suggested him performing with me， but he asked to perform with his mother who was sitting in on the class. As a result， the mother also participated in the study and performed together. It can be seen that both the kid and his mother enjoyed the process very much.

As for number learning， I introduced the traditional Chinese hopscotch game into teaching by marking the grid of the house with Chinese characters and Arabic numerals respectively. The children practiced hopscotch in groups after the demonstration of the teacher. Each kid played once， clapping their hands and saying the number while jumping to the corresponding grid. Then we changed to two people in a group. One gave the number instruction， and the other jumped to the corresponding grid of numb e r， then they switch. In the game， children played while strengthening thelearning of numbers gradually.

Chinese characters have always been a difficult partin Chinese teaching. For children as beginners， someexperts suggest not to learn Chinese characters. Aftercare ful consideration， I still brought in a small numb erof Chinese characters. The purpose was not to learn acertain number of Chinese characters， but to graduallybuild up children's understanding of characters andchange the impression that Chinese characters are\"too difficult\". When selecting Chinese characters，preference would be given to Chinese characters withfewer strokes， simpler character patterns that wouldbe easily mastered. Children can feel the differencebetween Chinese characters and English letters byspelling Chinese characters with plasticine， by dressingChinese characters and making Chinese characters withtheir bodies， and thus experience the magic of writingChinese characters. Children were more interested inmaking Chinese characters with bodies and dressingChinese characters. In particular， when making Chinesecharacters in groups， children actively raised their handsto participate. Through the games， they understoodthe meaning of basic Chinese characters， learned thedifference between the three Chinese characters of \"Ren\"（People）， “Da” （Big） and “Tian” （Sky）， and also gainedmore wisdom！

Rich Chinese Cultural Experience

Short as the Happy Chinese course might be， Ihoped to integrate more Chinese cultural experienceand perceptions into the course for the children. I haveincorporated into the curriculum the experience ofChinese calligraphy and the learning of Chinese knots.Chinese painting and paper cutting were brought to thechildren as independent workshops

In the experience of learning Chinese calligraphy，children were exposed to the ink brush， ink， paper andink stone for the first time. They learned how to hold anink brush and move their wrist. They felt the flexibilityof using the ink brush by diffe rent routines. Theyexperienced how this soft writing tool presented theChinese characters with one stroke after another in theirhands.

The order of writing Chinese characters： \"Ren\"（People）， \"Zhong\" （Middle）， \"Guo\" （Country） and \"Mei\"（Beauty） were written one by one according to theircomplexities. Some were Chinese characters that theyhad already learned， so we just reviewed them. Somewere previously presented in words that have beentaught， so we further studied in a related way. Forinstance， they have learned the character \"Da\" thatappeared in the character “Mei” before， but remainedunfamiliar with the top first half of “Mei”. Therefore， Iput two ink brushes diagonally on my head to mimic arobot， so as to help them understand. When teachinghandwriting， I was worried that it would be too difficult towrite. It turned out that the kids， with a sense of novelty，completed the writing of “Zhongguoren” （Chinese people）and “Meiguoren” （American people） with children'scomprehension and perception and handwriting style.They put pen to paper boldly without fear of difficulties.The children felt a sense of accomplishment， and so didI. A boy named Riley wrote “Zhongguomei” （Chinesebeauty） . When I told him wh at \"Chinese beauty\" meant，the boylaughed！

In the Happy Chinese class， the children were askedto make a Chinese knot bracelet for themselves or theirsiblings within 30 minutes. Worried about the tightschedule and the difficulty， I divided the class into groupsin advance. I， Ms. Julie Strunk， Manager of Children's andYouth Services at the Lakewood Public Library， and mylittle assistant （my daughter） were each responsible forone group. Parents were also joined us. With a step-by-step guide， the task was finally accomplished throughcooperation. Most of the kids finished the knitting of thebracelet， while several of them took longer. Holding theDIY bracelets， their joy was beyond wordsl

Our Chinese painting workshop chose the lovelykitten. The kids followed the teacher to experience theshades of ink. Seeing those simple circles， triangles，straight lines and arcs gradually combining to form alovely kitten with the ink brush， a little girl couldn't helpbut look at her painting cheerfully， and made a kittenface. It was super adorablel The little girl Kaya had agift for painting. For her first Chinese painting， shedrew a cute kitten freely and added a lot of hearts and acarpet for the kitten to sleep on. I have also prepared ablue background cardboard for each child to put theirpaintings on， then a great work of art came into being.

Just around the Mother's Day， I showed the childrensome traditional Chinese paper-cutting artwo rks，designed paper-cutting greeting cards with Chinesecharacteristics， presented my own cut-out of the imageof my mom， and taught them to use symmetrical andbasic paper-cutting techniques to cut out letters， \"I love U，MOM\". The children， with their deep love for their mom，cut out hearts， every letter and the Chinese and Englishgreetings I prepared. They said they couldn't wait to sendtheir DIY paper-cutting greeting cards to their mother！

Happy hours always flies fast. There were alwaysseveral children who were reluctant to part with eachactivity.

Happy Teamwork

In the Happy Chinese class， children built up goodrelationship through happy teamwork and formed afriendship in studying.

In the interactive activities of language training， thechildren really enjoyed themselves due to each other'scooperation， support and encouragement. To practicedialogues， I inve nted two little games： spinning in largecircles and small circles， and ball throwing. In terms ofChinese language level， the students were divided intotwo groups spinning in an inside and an outside circle（a small circle and a large circle） respectively， with thelarge circle spinning clockwise and small circle spinningcounterclockwise to identify one's partner for dialoguepractice. The children constantly changed a new friend topractice and thus avoid boredom. The ball throwing gamewas also an exchange of dialogue partners with changingrules to make language practice more interesting. Forchildren who did well or made progress， the team neversaved on its praise and applause.

There was a little shy girl who got everyone's approvaland encouragement in the activity. She showed moreconfidence and motivation in later activities than usual.The little boy Linton was good at learning， observing andthinking. He sometimes blushed when talking to others.My class provided more opportunities for each child tocommunicate and perform. I felt that Linton became lessreserved and could chat more freely.

As for language and cultural activities， I alsoencouraged children of myself and my friends toparticipate. With interaction between Chinese andAmerican children， American kids were able toexperience the Chinese communication in real languageenvironment. There were also cooperation and interactionbetween Chinese and American children in culturalactivities where kids from China and the United Statesmade friends， encouraged each other， learned from eachothe r， and made progress togethe r.

Teamwork in cultural activities usually took theform of group work. Through cooperation within groupswhere children exchanged and learned from each otherand helped each other， the team ultimately completedactivities of cultural experience together and achievedrelatively ideal results.

“Teaching through actions is better than words”.Throughout the course， students could also feel thecollaborations between Chinese teachers， and betweenteachers at Lakewood Public Library and Chinese teachersto jointly support and promote the effective learning ofChinese language.

Julie， Manager of Children's and Youth Services atthe Lakewood Public Library， is an earnest， dedicated andhumble lady. She has been accompanying throughoutthe program， from the preparation of materials at thebeginning to the assistance and management of theclassroom and the effective carrying out of the course. Shecooperated with me in the classroom and actively joinedthe kids in learning. After class， we listened to the opinionsof students and parents， discussing the curriculum whilekeep improving it. At the end of the class， Julie was ableto communicate simply in Chinese. Nicka， another staffmember at the library， also participated in the workshop.We had a good time working together by coordination andgroup guidance， so that every child could get better helpand support. In cooperation with her， I also learned how touse simple， yet clear and funny language in paper-cuttingclass to let children know the rules for using scissors toensure safety.

The staff of the library praised the success andpopularity of the course the moment they saw me. I wascurious how they knew the situationof the class without entering myclass. They said that they couldtell the happy atmosphere in theclassroom from the faces of childrenand parents. Only then did I realizethat this team had much morepowerful supporters. As a team forchildren's project， everyone on theteam was giving me strong supportwith actions！

My colleague， Guo Yufei，had come to the library manytimes to support and assist me inteaching. She gave great help inlanguage teaching and training，the preparation and carrying outof activities， the organization of theclassroom， photo shoot， publicity，and so on. She also put forwardvaluable opinions and suggestionsto improve the quality of classroomteaching. Zhang Xuhong， ChineseDirector of the Confucius Instituteat Cleveland State University， alsowent deep into my class to learnabout the classroom teaching andcommunicated with students， theirparents and the library to understandthe situation and needs of students.She also recorded the classroomactivities with pictures， and offeredprecious advice for better teachingeffect of the course.

During the course preparation，Geng Lu， a teacher at ConfuciusInstitute， discussed the setup andarrangement of the course together.At the end of the course， shesometimes discussed the gain andloss of the course with teachers tomake concerted efforts to ensure itsquality.

It was because of the cooperationof this powerful team that theHappy Chinese course at LakewoodPublic Library was carried out sosmoothly， and that the children hadsuch a happy experience of learningChinese language. Thank everyteacher of the team for their efforts！

In the blink of an eye， wehave sailed to the end of thismaiden voyage. As the childrenhad experienced Chinese happily，they were able to have simplecommunication in Chinese， andto write and read simple Chinesecharacters， winning many smallprizes and encouragement inChinese class！ When communicatingin Chinese， when making DIYbracelets and cards， and whenlearning Chinese calligraphy andChinese painting， they have receivedpraise from teachers， classmatesand families， which was a greatsense of fulfillment！ Meanwhile， theyalso built up confidence in learningChinese language and Chineseculture！ In the cooperation withteachers and friends， the childrenalso gained friendship！ As friendsgot closer， teachers and students gotcloser as well. The image of China，previously an abstract concept onthe map， had become vivid thanksto interesting Chinese people andfunny activities！ When the childrenleft the boat of this voyage， we wereno longer strangers to each other.