How to Learn Chinese Using Outcome-Based Learning Strategies
Article by Danny C. Miller
Planning to master Chinese? Good for you. It's not only a fascinating language, but also an exceptionally useful one. When adults learn Chinese, or just about any 2nd language for that matter, they typically learn in non-traditional ways. That is, they don't go back to high school or college and engage in regular classroom study. Instead, these people study on their own with books, use language learning software packages, take online courses, or, in some cases, hire a private tutor. With all of the abovementioned examples, there exists one thing in common, the lack of a certified educator utilizing proven teaching strategies. This means that, as the student, you carry 100% of the responsibility for your personal learning achievements. To help you accomplish this learning success, I am going to present to you what is referred to as outcome-based education, and I'm going to teach you tips on how to use it to learn Chinese quickly and easily.
Exactly what is Outcome-based Education?
In conventional education systems, the focus is on inputs, specifically, exactly what material the instructor is going to present to his or her students. In contrast, with outcome-based learning models, the focus is on the desired outcomes of a specific lesson or study course. Using outcome-based models, learners must reveal that they've learned the mandatory skills or subject material by means of application. That's a simple yet powerful statement. The main difference is this. With traditional instruction, you take a test showing that you, for example, are capable of doing long division by completing a few long division problems. With outcome based education, you "show your knowledge through application," which means that to receive a passing mark, you need to, for instance, determine the average precipitation rates for the last 20 years, which, needless to say, means that you must understand how to use long division.
Ways to Use Outcome-based Instruction to master Chinese Quickly
Outcome-based l! earning is effective, and you can use it to master Chinese quickly and easily. To show you how, I'm going to present you two learning goals, one that is typical of most language learners and another that is outcome based.
Typical goal: "In 1 week I will memorize 100 new "restaurant" vocabulary terms."
Outcome-based goal: By the end of this week I'll be in a position to enter an eating venue and use Chinese to ask specific questions concerning menu items, order the food I want, ask for the bill, and effectively complete a monetary transaction.
Can you see the powerful big difference between the two objectives? In the first one, one's goal is to merely memorize vocabulary terms. In the second one, your goal is to be in a position to achieve a purposeful, real-life goal. Naturally, to achieve this goal you will have to memorize a hundred new vocabulary words, and even more, but memorizing those words isn't your goal. Your objective is to gain the ability to effectively converse in a real-life situation.
Setting up Your Desired Outcomes
When creating outcomes, always focus, as stated above, not on inputs, such as what vocabulary words you are going to study, but on outcomes, or, exactly what real-life situations you are going to be able to communicate in using the Chinese Language. There are 1000s of scenarios in which human beings communicate. Below are some simple situations that you can use to begin with.
? Transportation? Meeting new people? Shopping? Getting directions? Discussing relatives? Expressing needs and wants? Expressing Opinions
Final Thoughts
Men and women studying second languages usually learn by themselves and bear the full responsibility of their learning success. To ensure your own success when taking on the Chinese language, make use of outcome-based learning models. If you do, you will learn easily and quickly and end up delighted with your ability to converse in Mandarin Chinese.
All the best with this and all of your future learning endea! vors.
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