WCCA
Westlake Chinese School offers different levels of Simplified Chinese classes (suitable for students whose parents have a Chinese native language background) and Chinese culture classes (suitable for students whose parents do not have a native Chinese language background, adopted Chinese children and those interested in Chinese culture and arts) and extra curriculum programs, such as Tai Chi, Martial Arts, Painting, Dancing, Badminton, Table Tennis, Yoga, etc. Both parents and students are welcome. For specific course teaching content and teaching materials, please refer to the relevant pages for details.
culture class I
Instructor: Ms. Zhao, Ruge
Target Student: Age 5 - 7 years old
Textbook: Easy Steps to Chinese for Kids 2a, 2b
Ms. Zhao graduated from Beijing Language and Culture University with a major in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language and obtained a master’s degree in TESL from Penn State University. She has three years of teaching experience at universities in China and the United States. Teacher Zhao is youthful and energetic, with a passion for teaching. She is willing to interact with children, allowing them to learn Chinese in a relaxed and joyful atmosphere.
Course Introduction
Curriculum and Learning goals:
1. Learn simple daily greetings and self-introduction.
2. Learn numbers.
3. Learn everyday nouns such as animals and food, as well as simple adjectives like 'big', 'small' and 'how many'
4. Introduce Chinese holiday culture according to the seasons, such as “Dragon Boat Festival” and “Mid-Autumn Festival”.
Cultural class two
Instructor: TBD
Target Student: Age 7 - 8 years old
Textbook: Easy Steps to Chinese for Kids 3a, 3b
Cultural class II
Instructor: Ms. Pang, Liqi
Target Student: Age 7 - 8 years old
Textbook: Easy Steps to Chinese for Kids 3a, 3b
In 2023, Ms. Pang obtained a master’s degree in Chinese teaching from CSU and will be teaching Chinese at a high school in Cleveland starting in 2024. Teacher Pang joined the West Lake Chinese School family in 2023 and enjoys the time spent in the classroom with each child. Learning through entertainment and having fun while learning. Ms. Pang is dedicated to helping each child experience the joy of learning Chinese, increasing their enthusiasm for studying the language, and feeling the happiness that comes with it. While building a strong foundation in Chinese, maintaining a positive and upward spirit. Teacher Pang's message: isn't learning a language a two-way journey? To learn out of love for Chinese, and to love Chinese through learning. Please enjoy your journey in the world of Chinese.
Course Introduction
Curriculum and Learning goals:
1. Learn everyday conversations derived from numbers: What day of the week is it today? What is the date? When is your birthday?
2. Learn to introduce family members: How many people are in my family, who are they? And where are they from?
3. Learn simple verb phrases: drawing, playing games, playing with toy trains. Based on this, we use questions and answers to form conversations.
4. Learn more vocabulary related to colors, stationery, school, etc. Use these words in sentence patterns to say 1-3 short sentences.
5. Learn Chinese character strokes and practice writing simple characters (日, 天, 土, 田, 大,小, 人, 口, 手).
6. Introduce more traditional Chinese festivals and culture, such as the Twelve Zodiac
Animals.
Cultural class III
Instructor: Ms. Zhang, Lijuan
Target Student: Age 8 - 10 years old
Textbook: Easy Steps to Chinese for Kids 4a, 4b
Teacher Zhang graduated from Cleveland State University with a Master of Education and holds an Ohio K-12 Chinese Teacher License. With nearly two decades of experience teaching Chinese in public schools in both the United States and China, Teacher Zhang has developed a deep understanding of diverse educational environments.
In teaching, Teacher Zhang emphasizes diverse methods, incorporating games, storytelling, and music to spark students’ interest and enhance their language skills and cultural understanding. Her teaching philosophy is “learning through fun,” believing that interactive and creative approaches can help students master Chinese in a relaxed and enjoyable environment. Teacher Zhang looks forward to exploring the charm of Chinese with everyone and welcomes you to join her class.
Course Introduction
Curriculum and Learning goals:
1. Expand more daily conversations based on the first four books. Students should be able to conduct basic daily communication. For example: What is your name? How old are you? What grade are you in? When is your birthday? How many people are in your family? Where do you live? What is your (or your family members') phone number? And so on.
2.Students should be able to introduce their interests and hobbies and describe daily life using subject-verb-object short sentences. For example: I get up at seven o'clock, I go to school at eight o'clock, I take the school bus to school, I have fried noodles for lunch.
3. This set of books adds 80-100 new vocabulary words. There are some everyday vocabularies such as weather, directions, etc.
4. Learn to use verbs to construct complete sentences, ask questions, or accurately answer questions. For example: Do you like physical education class? I do not like to eat strawberries. Can I play games? Can you ride a bicycle? They are playing with sand in
the park.
5. Learn simple radicals and grasp their meanings. (氵, 口, 犭, 辶, 艹, 广, 扌)
Cultural class IV
Instructor: Ms. Deng, Xiaojing
Target Student: Age 10 - 13 years old
Textbook: Easy Steps to Chinese 2
Teacher Deng Xiaojing graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law. She later moved to the United States with her husband. In 2016, when her child entered West Lake Chinese School, he, being a child raised in an English-speaking environment, steadfastly refused to learn Chinese, and his grades were quite poor for a while. However, after timely communication with his Chinese teacher, Xu Yaokun, and providing appropriate guidance at home, his grades improved rapidly. More importantly, he began to enjoy learning Chinese and fell in love with traditional Chinese culture. In 2018, under Teacher Xu's recommendation, I joined the teacher team at West Lake Chinese School! Through eight years of experience in Chinese teaching, Teacher Deng has realized that maintaining children's interest in learning Chinese is crucial, as is keeping communication with parents about their children's progress in learning Chinese. Teacher Deng sends a message: Children born in the United States have very few opportunities to be exposed to Chinese. I hope to work together with families to create more opportunities for children to engage with Chinese language and traditional Chinese culture.
许瑶坤
Course Introduction
Curriculum and Learning goals:
1. This book contains around 500 vocabulary words, including some intermediate-level nouns and verbs, as well as more function words. The book will systematically teach the grammar for constructing sentences. Students not only need to understand the meanings of the vocabulary but also be able to use the grammar to create short dialogues and long sentences. For example: It is... (I went to China last year.) can... and can... (We can play games together, and we can also go watch a movie.) It is bigger than... (My bedroom is
bigger than my brother's.)
2. Use the vocabulary and sentences learned in topics related to daily life. For example, introductions about the weather, descriptions of seasons, discussions about personal hobbies, the hobbies of family members, and descriptions of physical conditions, etc.
3. Learn intermediate-level radicals and characters (酉, 舟, 弓, 斤, 户, 鱼, 虫, 门).
4. Achieve the goal of consolidating vocabulary and applying it flexibly through listening exercises and conversation practice.
Culture Class V
Instructor: Xu, Yaokun
Target Student: Age 12 - 15 years old
Textbook: Easy Steps to Chinese 3
In July 2001, Xv, Yaokun graduated from Guangdong Second Normal University (formerly known as Guangdong Institute of Education) majoring in English education. Master degree in May 2018, graduated from Cleveland State University, majoring in accounting/tax law. Since 2012, she has served as a cultural class teacher at Westlake Chinese School, with 10 years of teaching experience in the United States (2022). Before coming to the United States in 2001, she worked as an intern at Dongfanghong Middle School in China for half a year.
Course Introduction
Curriculum and Learning goals:
1. This book contains around 660 vocabulary words. The vocabulary, grammar, and conversational themes are balanced in difficulty. Vocabulary that appears at the beginner level will reappear in different situational exercises to reinforce learning outcomes.
2. This book comprehensively raises the requirements for listening, speaking, reading, and writing, needing better coordination with exercise books, diverse practices, rich reading materials, and introductions to Chinese history and culture to replicate, rehearse, and solidify the content in the textbook.
3. Learn to use long sentences and complete sentences on various topics. Introducing personality: Friends can help you when you are in trouble. Introducing school life: After school every day, I have extracurricular activities. Before dinner, I do homework for an hour.
4. Learn dialogues in various situations and themes: dialogues about learning Chinese, dialogues about extracurricular activities, dialogues about eating habits, dialogues for asking directions, etc.
Substitute Teacher
