Research And Curriculum Design For Theme-based Chinese Language Teaching At American Public Elementary Schools

The background of this thesis is American public elementary schools. More andmore public elementary schools start teaching Chinese as a foreign language in theUnited States in recent years. Scholars and educators in the U.S. have been putting a lotof efforts in promoting K-12foreign language courses with outcomes such as theclarification of three different teaching modes (FLEX, FLES and Immersion), and “5C”standards. American’s Chinese teaching is different from China’s with its uniquefeatures in aspects of curriculum, textbooks, and students’ learning characteristics, etc.The thesis gives audience a basic concept of the running of American public elementaryschools’ Chinese curriculum.The thesis focuses on theme-based teaching approach. Based on the author’steaching experience at Cardinal Elementary, the thesis clarifies definition,characteristics, advantages and teaching outcome of the theme-based Chinese languageteaching. Furthermore, the procedure for designing theme-based Chinese curriculum isgiven out with an example of “TIME” as the theme. The thesis aims to offerenlightenment for newly Chinese teachers, and to help promoting American elementaryschools’ Chinese education.