PowerPoint and Multimedia in the
Foreign Language Classroom
Presenter: Yi-Chen (Jenny) He
Chinese Instructor, West Los Angeles College
Outline of thie presentation
The pros and cons of using PowerPoint
A demonstration of applying PowerPoint into
a language classroom
Conclusion
What is PowerPoint
A business presentation tool
In education, a visual aid, a knowledge
delivery system
The good things about using
PowerPoint……
You look professional
You look more prepared
Your lesson is more structured and organized
You won’t forget your lesson plan
You can always use your slides again in the
future
You’ll never need to turn your back in class
From students’ perspectives
They love it!
Enhance note-taking skills
Slides can be used for their study guides
Increased self-efficacy beliefs
Pictures, sounds, movies, graphics, etc
Positive learning attitudes and motivation
What you should be aware of
Limited flexibility in class
Less classroom engagement
Loss of teaching creativity
Always have your backup plan in case your
equipment breaks down
Map; ditu; 地圖; 地图
Huntington Library
The new Chinese garden
Photos
dim sum; 點心;点心
Shāomài; 燒賣;烧卖
Small steamed dumplings with pork inside a
thin wheat flour wrapper. Usually topped off
with crab roe and mushroom.
Boba tea
bubble tea; pearl tea
珍珠奶茶; 波霸奶茶
a tea beverage
containing gelatinous
tapioca pearls
Usually in milk tea
Milk tea: black tea with
milk, cream, or
condensed milk
Chinese dress: qípáo (旗袍)
 body-hugging one-piece Chinese
dress for women
 The modern 旗袍 is a version of
the Manchurians who ruled
China in the 17-19th century
(Qing Dynasty).
 They are also commonly seen in
beauty contests, along with swim
suits.
 Women in video games are often
in 旗袍, so cosplay showgirls
may wear a 旗袍 in show times.
Xī Shī; 西施
 one of the Four Beauties of
ancient China
 It was said that when she
did her laundry by the river,
fish would be so amazed by
her beauty that they would
forget to swim and sink.
(chén yú luò yàn; 沉魚落雁)
 She was actually a spy!!
Terra Cotta Warriors
 bīngmǎ yǒng 兵馬俑
 soldier and horse funerary
statues
 Qín Shĭ Huáng Dì
 the First Emperor of China
 City: Xī'ān
 Their purpose was to help
rule another empire with
Shĭ Huáng Dì in the
afterlife
bīngmǎ yǒng 兵馬俑
 The remains of the
craftsmen working in the
tomb have also been found
within its confines, and it is
believed they were sealed
inside alive to prevent them
from divulging information
about the tombs.
 It was also said as a legend
that the Terracotta Warriors
were real soldiers, buried
with Emperor Qín so that
they can guard him in the
next life.
 Movie clip
What do you observe from this photo?
What do you observe from this photo?
What does “Y” mean? Why do Asian people
like to do “Y” when they take photos?
I used to do that, too!
I used to do that, too!
Chinese vampires
 Jiāngshī;殭屍
 Movie
 The movie was made in
early 80’s, Hong-Kong
style.
 Comedy
 “What are the
characteristics of 殭屍?”
 “What should they be afraid
of?”
 movie
Jiāngshī;殭屍
Just like the western vampires, 殭屍 bite
people.
People who are bitten by 殭屍, the become
part of them as well.
What they want is not human blood. Instead,
they want life essence (气/氣qì) from their
victims.
When you see a 殭屍, you can…
Temporarily stop breathing
They can be put to sleep by putting a piece of
yellow paper with a spell written on it on their
foreheads
Spread glutinous rice on them
Fire
Bagua mirror
More about 殭屍
They are dressed in imperial Qing Dynasty
clothes, their arms permanently outstretched
Their origin: Xiangxi, a mountain city in
China.
A very unusual way to transport dead bodies.
Cultural note
a threshold
a piece of wood
approximately 15 cm
(6 in) high,
be installed along the
width of the door at the
bottom to prevent a 殭
屍from entering the
household
What is this?
What does this mean?
Don’t see, don’t hear, don’t speak?
What does this mean?
What are they doing?
Confucius; 孔子; Kŏng zĭ
The great Chinese
philosopher
“see no evil, hear no
evil, speak no evil”
“非禮勿視, 非禮物聽,
非禮勿言”
Look not at what is
contrary to propriety;
listen not to what is
contrary to propriety;
speak not what is
contrary to propriety
Movie: Confucius
Initials (consonants)
zh, ch, sh, r
zh: turn up the tip of the tongue against the hard plate;
unaspirated, similar to “j”, judge
ch: aspirated, similar to “ch”
sh: similar to “sh”
r: vibration, similar to “z”, tongue; unaspirated,
between [r] and [z]
z, c, s, VS. zh, ch, sh
Practice
Pronunciation chart
Chapter 1
Self-introduction (p.2)
Handout
Practice 1.2.1
1.2.2 knowing your classmates
Find a classmate who has the same interest
with you, and then do 1.2.3 activity
In-class writing practice A
3.3 The three methods to create
characters
(p.30)
Pictographic method
Associative method
Semantic-phonetic method
Chapter 9, part 2
Reading 2 (p.114)
Translation activity
9.5.2 project 1 (p.123)
Chinese only activity
If I hear you speak English, you get warnings.
For the next class
Your homework
Quiz for the next week:
Self-introduction in pinyin
Chinese numerals in pinyin
Midterm practice
 Lesson 1 to Lesson 5
 Oral exam
Jinye Si (p.16)
One tongue twister (your choice)
Dialogue from L1 – L5 (chosen 1
randomly)
Country; guó
Can; huì
Review
May I ask… is your father a teacher?
Yes. He is a teacher. My mom is also a
teacher.
Is your teacher Chinese?
My Chinese is not good.
My mom and dad are both Americans.
May I ask… What is your nationality?
No, I’m not Chinese. I’m American.
Review_L5 vocabulary
Europe
Newspaper
What
Chinese
(language)
Asia
World
America
Who
Canada
To be at
or in
Classmate
The Great China
Wall
The
United
Sates
map
The
Yangtze
River
How
friend
Look;
read;
watch
Australia
Review
Activity (4 people in one group)
Each person will get a card. You need to find out
what it means and how to read it.
Group work. You can help your group members.
You need to pronounce every word correctly. You
will be asked to come to the front and read it to the
whole class.
The other groups will try to translate it in English.
The fastest one can win points for your own group.
Points: correct pronunciation, correct translation
Self-introduction
A movie clip
She used 4 different languages to introduce
herself: English, Japanese, Korean, and
Chinese.
I believe you can introduce yourself in
Chinese better than she did!!!!
After the movie, please introduce yourself in
Chinese.
Self-introduction
The movie
What can you talk about in your selfintroduction?
Name, age, where you live, your interest,
languages you can speak, occupation (school
you go to), phone number, what you like/
don’t like, etc
Final thoughs
The use of PowerPoint does not necessarily
increase students’ achievement. After all, it’s
the “content” and “knowledge” on the slides
are the most important.
However, it does enhance students’ learning
attitudes and motivation