The Application Of The Teaching Through Games Method In Teaching Chinese Characters To Foreign Primary Students

With the increasing elevation of China’s international status, the building ofworld-class metropolises has attracted a large number of foreigners who and whosechildren need to learn Chinese. This demand has presented an area of interest forresearchers in terms of teaching and learning methodology. In the area of teachingChinese as a foreign language (TCFL), the teaching of Chinese characters (TCC) hasbeen recognized as a key component and has drawn increasing attention from Chineselanguage educators both in and outside China. However, most research at present focuseson adult learners. Research on primary school students in international schools is verylimited and cannot meet the needs of the growing number of educators and learners.The theme of this thesis is the application of the Teaching Through Games (TTG)method in teaching Chinese characters to foreign primary students. The research subjectsare the primary children from British International School of Shanghai (BISS).This paper first identifies the main issues in TCC to this age group through researchon Chinese characters as well as cognitive processes in language acquisition. In thecontext of these issues, game activities are introduced to the primary class. The TeachingThrough Games method is then developed using the basic characteristics in designing thegames, and through surveys and interviews with students and the primary Chineseteachers of BISS. It is further fine-tuned using the best prototype of all game activities.Combined with existing research on TCC to foreign adult learners, as well asresearch results on the psychological and behavioural characteristics of children inlearning Chinese characters, this paper, making full use of the advantages of the author’sexperience in international schools, aims to make foreign primary students stay interestedin learning Chinese characters by using the games teaching method, thus to achievebetter teaching and learning outcomes. Furthermore, this study helps widen the scope ofresearch in teaching Chinese characters to foreign learners.