China Diaries

China is such an amazing place.  I have been traveling there since the early 80s and have taken over 12 schools tours there, 10 of which I organised. Taking tours overseas is probably one of the best activities you can do with your students.

The benefits for students are huge with language immersion happening as soon you land in the country.  No matter what the language level is, students benefit from listening and reading authentic language.  Although students may not understand everything of what they hear or read, they still get the important and passive exposure to the language.  Picking up bits and pieces will encourage them to engage and hopefully improve on their language.

It is probably at this elementary stage that technology can benefit students.  Smartphones that can scan the language or even apps with OCR functions will help.  Google's new translator app will help in speaking situations.  Teachers need to set boundaries for these types of apps as students could easily become too reliant on them.  More on translators in another post.

Back to travel and its benefits for your students.  Link or sister schools also add in another layer to language learning and travel. Pre and post travel activities that focus on language exchange between the students help engage students in their language learning and also to get real language exchange. This can be done by organising penfriend exchanges and Skype or Google Hangout.  I combined penpal and Skype to develop an engaging and productive language unit.

China is a land of contrasts, that cliche has been mentioned many times and not only by myself.  Modern next to tradition in every facet of Chinese society can be seen everywhere.  Its an amazing place.