Curriculum

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What will your curriculum look like? Exchange project at Tomales High School. Image: momboleum/flickr.com.

The task of creating a curriculum--especially for a new program--can be challenging. A good way to start curriculum development is to examine curriculum documents that are used by other Chinese programs, particularly if they have been around a while and are successful. We recommend you contact some of these programs and schools to request curiculum documents and to solicit advice as you plan a scope and sequence for learning.

Curriculum documents from existing Chinese programs were most likely written for the particularities of the local setting and will appear in a variety of formats and contain varying kinds of information. Schools or districts should ask the following questions as they assess whether borrowed curriculum documents are appropriate models for the new Chinese langauge program:

• Is the curriculum standards based?
• What is the goal of the curriculum? Is it the same as your goals?
• Are there proficiency and performance targets for each year of instruction?
• Is culture infused throughout the document?
• Are the performance expectations of the curriculum realistic given available time?
• Does the curriculum contain assessment recommendations?
• Are there suggested resources or materials?
• How long has the curriculum been in use and what evidence is there that the curriculum is effective and appropriate?

Here is a listing of known curricula from around the country:

Pre K-AP Curriculum at Chicago Public Schools. For more information, please contact the Confucius Institute in Chicago, at 773-534-0021 or by e-mail at confucius@cps.k12.il.us.

K-16 Curriculum at Portland Public Schools Chinese Flagship Program. Click here.

K-12 Curriculum at Glastonbury Public Schools. For contact information, click here.

K-12 Curriculum at Springfield Public Schools. Click here for more detail.

K-4 Curriculum: the Ohio Department of Education is developing a K-4 content enriched curriculum funded by the Foreign Language Assistance Program. The curriculum will be piloted in 2008-2009 school year, and expects to be completed for release during the 2009-2010 school year. For details please contact the project staff Ryan Wertz at ryan.wertz@ode.state.oh.us.

K-5 Curriculum （FLES) develped by Cenoter for Applied Linguistics and National Foreign Language Resource Center at Iowa State University. Click here.

High School Curriculum from the Ohio State University's Chinese Flagship Program. Click here.

K-12 Curriculum at Fairfax County Public Schoos. Click here.

K-12 Curriculum at Montgomery County Public Schools. Click here.

Immersion Curriculum at Montgomery County Public Schools. Click here.

K-4 content-enriched Chinese curriculum in Ohio. Click here.

Report on Chinese Language Programs curriculum development project from the Minnesota Department of Education. Click here.

Do you know of other models? Or have advice for new programs? Please use the comment board below.