Homework

Assignment for May 20, due 22 May Write a summary about the Last Emperor including his early days in the Forbidden City, his school days, his marriage, his life as the puppet emperor and the prisoner emperor. The essay should be at least 350 words long. Please also include 2-3 pictures.

Assignment for April 16, 18 and 22. Read the text "The First Emperor of China" and answer the following questions and make a poster based on the questions:

1. Why was Qin the most powerful compared with the other six states?

2. Please explain how Yingzheng become the emperor of State Qin and how old was he at that time?

3 Who became the prime minister after Qin Shihuang was crowned the emperor? How did he become the prime minister?

4. After Yingzheng became the emperor of Qin, he called himself Qin Shihuangdi. What did it literally mean?

5. Please describe the size of Qin empire.

6. Who became Qin Shihuang's advisor and what did he advise the emperor to do?

7. In which year did Qin Shihuang unify China? How did he achieve his ambition?

8. What was Qin Shihuang like? Please give an example to illustrate his character?

9. What were the emperor's biggest achievements? Please explain.

10. What damage did he do to the people?

11. Why did he order his people to build the Great Wall and the Terracotta soldiers?

12. What did Qin Shihuang do to achieve immortality and what were the consequences?

13. Who succeeded Qin Shihuang to become the next emperor of Qin? Under what circumstances did he become the emperor? How long did the rule the country?

14 How would you judge him as an emperor? (Please write a short paragraph about 80-100 words to express your opinion.)

Assignment for March 13, 15, 19 Project: Make a slide show using keynote. You should include answers to the following questions － please refer to the hand-outs (3 parts). You should include transitions between slides. You will work individually and you will present it in class on March 21 March:

1. When did China begin to grow tea? (Part 1)

2. Why do so many people drink tea in China? (Part 1)

3. When was Chinese tea exported to Japan, Korea, the Arabian Peninsular and Europe? (Part 1)

4. What are the four major tea producing areas in China? (Part 2)

5. Explain how tea is produced. (Part 2)

6. List the five categories of tea according to the different methods by which it is processed and the characteristics of the tea. (Part 2)

7. What qualities do you look for when selecting excellent tea? (Part 2)

8. What major types of tea sets are there in China? What are they made of? What are the advantages of using some of these different types of tea sets

to make tea? (Part 3)

9. What are the tips of making tea? (Part 3)

10. What are the nine steps of making tea? (Part 3)

11. What are other uses of tea other than a drink? (Part 3)

12. Find a type of Chinese tea and do some research on it including color, smell, taste, shape, place of production and benefits of drinking this type of tea.

13. Include relevant photos in your poster or slide show.

Assignment for Feb. 21, 25 and 27. Due on 27 Feb. Project: Make a poster - The Most Fascinating place in China.

Oral presentation will be conducted on 27 Feb.

You need to include the following:

1. Location and geographical features of the place.

2. A brief introduction of the history of the place and include the population in the place if known.

3. Please include major tourist attractions/famous places.

4. Please explain briefly the climate of the place.

5. Include famous or important food in the place.

6. Add cultural aspects of the place including festivals/special celebrations, language or dialects spoken in the area, local people or minority people’s life if applicable.

7. Add appropriate pictures of the place.

You will get a grade for the quality of the poster based on content and appearance.

You will also get a grade for presenting the poster in front of the class, which will be based on the following criteria: enthusiasm, eye contact, use of language (fluency), confidence and clarity.

Homework for Feb. 6th 1. Answer the following 3 questions: A. When do the Chinese people celebrate the Chinese New Year? B. What do they eat during Chinese New Year? (please include some special food) C. How do the Chinese celebrate the New Year? 2. Please write a summary of the Nian story? 3. Please find the twelve animal signs in order. 4. Please write down your animal sign and the characteristics of the people who have this animal sign. 5. Find out your parents and your siblings animal signs and write down their characters based on the signs.

Homework for January 25 Finish reading the story - A Chinese folk tale: The story of Meng Jiangnu Write a summary of the story - you can type and print it out.

Semester Two - January 2013 Homework for 17 January, due on 21 January 2013 Read the text “Hand gestures” and answer the following questions:
 * 1) Why are hand gestures important in communicating with each other in China?
 * 2) What are the American and Chinese hand gestures of saying “come”?
 * 3) What are the hand gestures for numbers 1-10? (You can draw if you want.)
 * 4) What are the hand gestures for “I” in China and the USA?
 * 5) What do you do when you want people to stop pouring tea for you? What’s the story behind this gesture?

___ End of semester 1 assessment:

> 1) Title page with the name of the project and your name. > 2) The politician's year of birth/death > 3) His childhood > 4) His family background > 5) What did he do to the country including some major events? (For example Mao Zedong: Long March, Anti-Japanese War, Civil War, Establishing PRC, Korean War, A Hundred flowers Bloom, Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution) > 6) What were the difficulties he encountered in his political career? What were his achievements/influence in China/in the world? > 7) People's view of this politician including positive and negative comments. > 8) Your view - what do you think of this politician? > You may need to research for some of the information you need for the presentation. Each slide should not contain too much information, just the key information and you can elaborate during your oral presentation.
 * 1) Choose your keynote presentation about one of the Chinese politicians: Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai or Deng Xiaoping. Please use the information in the reading materials and in the video clips that you have watched. You should include the following:
 * 1) You will present the keynote presentation on Friday December 7th. The presentation should last no longer than 5 minutes.

Homework for 20 November

Please write a summary of one of the following historical events or write a summary that includes several events listed below. If you write the latter, you will get extra 5 points. 1. Dr. Sun Yat-sen and the resolution of 1911 孙中山和辛亥革命 2. The May 4th Movement 五四运动 3. The founding of the Communist Party of China ／ first round of KMT-CPC cooperation 中国共产党的成立 ／ 第一次国共合作 4. The Northern Expedition 北伐战争 5. The Nanchang Uprising 南昌起义 6. The Long March 长征 7. The September 18th Incident 九一八事变 8. The Xi'an incident 西an 9. The victory at Pingying Pass 10. The Nanjing Massacre 11. The Anti-Japanese War 12. The Chongqing Negotiations 13. The War of Liberation

Homework for 31 October

Please read the hand-out: History at a glance (please underline the important / historical events taking place in the history of China).

Classwork and homework for 19, 23, 25 October: Project - Make a slide show using keynote (please see details below). You will present it in class on Monday 29 October and below is the rubric on oral presentation.



Homework for 15 October 1. Read Part 3 of the hand-out on Tea and find the answers to the following questions of 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13 (you can underline or highlight the answers.) 2. Please bring all hand-outs on Tea (part 1, 2, 3) on Friday. You will start the project on Friday.

Project: Make a slide show using keynote. You should include answers to the following questions － please refer to the hand-outs (3 parts). You should include transitions between slides. You will work with one or two students and you will present it together in class. 1. When did China begin to grow tea? (Part 1) 2. Why do so many people drink tea in China? (Part 1) 3. When was Chinese tea exported to Japan, Korea, the Arabian Peninsular and Europe? (Part 1) 4. What are the four major tea producing areas in China? (Part 2) 5. Explain how tea is produced. (Part 2) 6. List the five categories of tea according to the different methods by which it is processed and the characteristics of the tea. (Part 2) 7. What qualities do you look for when selecting excellent tea? (Part 2) 8. What major types of tea sets are there in China? What are they made of? What are the advantages of using some of these different types of tea sets to make tea? (Part 3) 9. What are the tips of making tea? (Part 3) 10. What are the nine steps of making tea? (Part 3) 11. What are other uses of tea other than a drink? (Part 3) 12. Find a type of Chinese tea and do some research on it including color, smell, taste, shape, place of production and benefits of drinking this type of tea. 13. Include relevant photos in your poster or slide show.

Classwork/Homework for 27 September 2012, due after the October break: A. Please search the internet and find the answers to the following: 1. When is the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrated in China? 2. What do Chinese people do during the festival? 3. Please find one legend associated with the festival. B. Continue to read the novel "Chinese Cinderella and the secrete dragon society". C. We took a few photos during our class today. Students enjoyed tea with moon-cakes. Four students were absent (Jamie, Bella, Ryan and Faiq).

Classwork/homework for 21 September 2012 1. Read the text: China - the homeland of tea. Then answer 8 questions based on the text. 2. Read: Knowledge about Tea (part 2), and understand the following - where is tea grown in China - how is tea produced - the categories of tea - how to select excellent tea. 3. Homework: When you come to class on Tuesday 25 September, please bring one moon cake and a little of Chinese tea if you have it at home.

Classwork for 19 September 2012

Read a chapter in the book "Common knowledge about Chinese culture" and write a summary.

Homework for 17 September 2012 Continue to read the novel "Chinese Cinderella and the secrete dragon society"

Project: Make a poster - The Most Fascinating place in China (You can work individually or in pairs). Oral presentation will be conducted on Monday 17 September. Start planning for the project - Poster - The most fascinating place in China You need to include the following: 1. Location and geographical features of the place 2. A brief introduction of the history of the place and include the population in the place if known 3. Please include major tourist attractions/famous places 4. Please explain briefly the climate of the place 5. Include famous or important food in the place 6. Add cultural aspects of the place including festivals/special celebrations, language or dialects spoken in the area, local people or minority people’s life if applicable. 7. Add appropriate pictures of the place You will get a grade for the quality of the poster based on content and appearance. You will also get a grade for presenting the poster in front of the class, which will be based on the following criteria: enthusiasm, eye contact, use of language (fluency), confidence and clarity.

Homework for 30 August 2012 (due on 3 September) Please read the hand-out "Education", then write down on your notebook the similarities and differences between Chinese and Western education.

Homework for August 21, 2012 Questions about Gestures: 1. Why are hand gestures important in communicating with each other in China?

2. What are the American and Chinese hand gestures of saying "come"?

3. What are hand gestures for "I" in China and in the US?

4. What do you do when you want people to stop pouring tea for you? What's the story behind this gesture?

___ End of semester assessment on Wednesday 6 June: Please see the attachment below for details.



Homework for this Friday 25 May: Read the whole text about Zheng He - "Admiral of the Treasure Fleets" (either the paper text or the pdf file) Start planning for your end of semester assessment - Keynote presentation. ESOL students can choose one of the following 5 topics: - Confucius - The First emperor -The only Empress in China (Wu Zetian) - The Last Emperor (Puyi) - Zheng He Non ESOL students could either choose Zheng He or one of the topics that you like (it could be a historical person or a historical event in Chinese history).

Assignment: Sea-explorer Zheng He (please read the text below and answer questions)

1. What was China like in the early Ming Dynasty? 2. Why did Emperor Chengzu send Zheng He on 7 voyages on diplomatic missions? 3. When and where was Zheng He born? What ethnic group did Zheng He belong to? 4. What was special about Zheng He's family background? 5. How old was Zheng He when he was captured by the Ming army? What happened to him later? 6. Why was Zheng He chosen as the commander-in-chief? 7. Describe the scale of his first fleet. it contained 8. What kind of things were the ships loaded with? 9. What goods did he want to exchange with? 10. What did they use to navigate the sea? 11. What were the most distant places that Zheng He had travelled to? 12. Why do we say that Zheng He’s voyages made great contributions to the world ‘s navigational history?

Assignment: Read the text "The last emperor" that was given to you during the class. You need to write a summary of the last emperor Puyi based on the text you have read and the movie we are currently watching in class. You need to write at least 200 words, which should include Puyi's childhood, his school days, his marriage and how he became the puppet emperor under Japanese control and later a prisoner emperor under the communists' control. We will finish watching the movie after the China trips and the assignment is due on Thursday 17 May. Below is an e-copy of the text "The last emperor".



You will have a quiz about Wu Zetian on Friday 20 April 2012. Please bring the text "The only female emperor in China".

Please read the following text about the Tang Empress Wu Zetian:



Please bring some snack or drinks on Wednesday 28 March. We will have a class party.

Assignment due after the spring break (10 April) Read the text "The First Emperor of China" and answer the following questions: 1. Why was Qin the most powerful compared with the other six states? 2. Please explain how Yingzheng become the emperor of State Qin and how old was he at that time? 3 Who became the prime minister after Qin Shihuang was crowned the emperor? How did he become the prime minister? 4. After Yingzheng became the emperor of Qin, he called himself Qin Shihuangdi. What did it literally mean? 5. Please describe the size of Qin empire. 6. Who became Qin Shihuang's advisor and what did he advise the emperor to do? 7. In which year did Qin Shihuang unify China? How did he achieve his ambition? 8. What was Qin Shihuang like? Please give an example to illustrate his character? 9. What were the emperor's biggest achievements? Please explain. 10. What damage did he do to the people? 11. Why did he order his people to build the Great Wall and the Terracotta soldiers? 12. What did Qin Shihuang do to achieve immortality and what were the consequences? 13. Who succeeded Qin Shihuang to become the next emperor of Qin? Under what circumstances did he become the emperor? How long did the rule the country? 14 How would you judge him as an emperor? (Please write a short paragraph about 80-100 words to express your opinion.)

Assignment due by Tuesday March 20 1. Find a Confucius quote that you really like and copy it on your notebook. 2. Bring the book "Common knowledge about Chinese culture" if you have it at home.

Assignment due on Monday 12 March A. Read the hand-out about Confucius - The Great Sage and answer the following questions: 1. When and where was Confucius born? What was his life like after his dad died? 2. What kind of education did Confucius receive? What job did he get at the age of 19? 3. What did Confucius do after his mother died? 4. What was Confucius's great achievement at the age of 30? What were some of his reforms toward education at that time? 5. In Confucius's opinion, what was the purpose of education? List one of Confucius' sayings. 6. Describe the Spring and Autumn period that Confucius was living in at the time and how the Hundred Schools of Thought came into being. 7. List the four major philosophies at that time and their characteristics. 8. Why did Confucius consider himself a failure during his final years of life? 9. Was Confucianism a religion? Why or why not? 10. What were the five primary human virtues that Confucius believed in? 11. How do you understand Confucius's view of "Sons should obey their fathers, and wives should follow the lead of their husbands". Does this still influence Chinese culture nowadays? 12. Why was Confucius's philosophy considered as innovative in many ways? 13. When did Confucianism suffer a major setback? And how? 14. Was the examination system at that time inspired by Confucian ideas of governance? 15. Which Asian cultures were also influenced by Confucianism? 16. How did Confucianism continue to define the fundamental values and shape the thought of Chinese people all around the world?

Assignment: China in General You will make a keynote presentation on Monday 27 Feb. You will get two grades - one for the content and one for the presentation. Content: Make sure all the questions are answered, pictures are included (on average 1 picture per 2 slides) and bibliography is included. Presentation: Fluency, eye contact, voice (loud and clear). Please make sure your presentation will be 5-6 minutes long

Group 1: William's group Group 2: Doris' group Group 3: Hanne's group Group 4: Emily's group Group 5: Omer's group Group 6: Zin's group Group 7: Ashley's group Group 8: Valentine's group

Assignment: Prepare a keynote presentation including the following information: 1. Size of China in term of area. (5%) 2. Length of land border and sea border. (5%) 3. Names of countries that share borders with China. (14%) 4. Number of provinces. List the provinces that you have been to. (5%) 5. Names of the 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities and two special zones. (10%) 6. The two important rivers and some basic facts. (10%) 7. The highest mountain peak in the world with its name, height, location and other information that you would like to include. (8%) 8. China’s mountainous topography and climatic features. (10%) 9. Some information about the Chinese language (history, official language and dialects). (10%) 10. Choose one ethnic minority group and talk about their culture, language (dialect), customs, food, festivals, population, where they are living in China and other information that you may wish to include. (15%) 11. Any additional information about China: customs, holidays, food etc. (8%)



Assignment due by 15th Feb. Project: Shanghai in the Past, Present and Future Please make a poster featuring Shanghai in the past, present and future. You should include the following content and relevant photos (about 3-6). You should also include a title for the poster, your name and bibliography. The poster should look well organized and colorful.

Shanghai in the Past (Please refer to the hand-out " A brief history of Shanghai". You must include the following information and other relevant info.)
 * 1) Fishing village (in Ming Dynasties)
 * 2) What happened in Shanghai after the opium war?
 * 3) What happened after People’s republic of china was founded?

Shanghai in the Present (What is Shanghai like in your view? You should include the following information and other relevant info.)
 * 1) Industrial, business and financial city.
 * 2) Population - Over-populated city, with a floating population of about 2 million (foreigners, migrant workers ....)
 * 3) The development of Pudong
 * 4) Economy is booming, standard of living has improved (housing, clothes, vehicles, transportation-metro)

Shanghai in the Future (What will Shanghai look like in the future? What changes will take place in the future?)
 * 1) The tallest building in China.
 * 2) Disneyland

Homework due by 1 Feb. Please read the text "Family" in your hand-out and write your thoughts and comments in your notebook. You should write at least 120 words if you are not in ESOL class. You should write about 80 and 90 words if you are in ESOL intermediate or advanced class.

Please remember to bring your ID card for the class on Wednesday 11 January.

Classwork and Assignment due on December 9, 2011 Please make a keynote presentation based on one of the 4 following figures discussed in our class. Please refer to the questions listed in previous assignments: 1. Confucius 2. The first emperor 3. The only female emperor 4. Zheng He - the Ming Dynasty Sea Explorer

Questions about Zheng He The following questions will help you do your assignment about Zheng He: 1. What was China like in the early Ming Dynasty? 2. Why did Emperor Chengzu send Zheng He on 7 voyages on diplomatic missions? 3. When and where was Zheng He born? What ethnic group did Zheng He belong to? 4. What was special about Zheng He's family background? 5. How old was Zheng He when he was captured by the Ming army? What happened to him later? 6. Why was Zheng He chosen as the commander-in-chief? 7. Describe the scale of his first fleet. it contained 8. What kind of things were the ships loaded with? 9. What goods did he want to exchange with? 10. What did they use to navigate the sea? 11. What were the most distant places that Zheng He had travelled to? 12. Why do we say that Zheng He’s voyages made great contributions to the world ‘s navigational history?

Classwork and homework due on Monday 28 Nov. 2011 Please read the text "China's Only Female Emperor" and fill in the blanks with appropriate words from the text. The worksheet is attached below.



Classwork and homework for 8 November Please answers the following questions based on the text "The first emperor of China". 1. Why was Qin the most powerful compared with the other six states? 2. Please explain how Yingzheng become the emperor of State Qin and how old was he at that time? 3 Who became the prime minister after Qin Shi Huang was crowned the emperor? How did he become the prime minister? 4. After Yingzheng became the emperor of Qin, he called himself Qin Shihuangdi. What did it literally mean? 5. Please describe the size of Qin empire. 6. Who became Qin Shi Huang's advisor and what did he advise the emperor to do? 7. In which year did Qin Shi Huang unify China? How did he achieve his ambition? 8. What was Qin Shi Huang like? Please give an example to illustrate his character? 9. What were the emperor's biggest achievements? Please explain. 10. What damage did he do to the people? 11. Why did he order his people to build the Great Wall and the Terracotta soldiers? 12. What did Qin Shihuang do to achieve immortality and what were the consequences? 13. Who succeeded Qin Shihuang to become the next emperor of Qin? Under what circumstances did he become the emperor? How long did the rule the country? 14 How would you judge him as an emperor?

Homework for 2 November and due on 8 November Write a summary about Confucius based on the movie you have watched and the reading materials covered in our class. Native speakers should write at least 100 words while ESOL beginners can write about 3-4 sentences.

Classwork and homework for 19 October 2011 A. Read the hand-out about Confucius - The Great Sage and write a summary of Confucius based on the following questions: 1. When and where was Confucius born? What was his life like after his dad died? 2. What kind of education did Confucius receive? What job did he get at the age of 19? 3. What did Confucius do after his mother died? 4. What was Confucius's great achievement at the age of 30? What were some of his reforms toward education at that time? 5. In Confucius's opinion, what was the purpose of education? List one of Confucius' sayings. 6. Describe the Spring and Autumn period that Confucius was living in at the time and how the Hundred Schools of Thought came into being. 7. List the four major philosophies at that time and their characteristics. 8. Why did Confucius consider himself a failure during his final years of life? 9. Was Confucianism a religion? Why or why not? 10. What were the five primary human virtues that Confucius believed in? 11. How do you understand Confucius's view of "Sons should obey their fathers, and wives should follow the lead of their husbands". Does this still influence Chinese culture nowadays? 12. Why was Confucius's philosophy considered as innovative in many ways? 13. When did Confucianism suffer a major setback? And how? 14. Was the examination system at that time inspired by Confucian ideas of governance? 15. Which Asian cultures were also influenced by Confucianism? 16. How did Confucianism continue to define the fundamental values and shape the thought of Chinese people all around the world?

Classwork for 17 October 2011 Please read the attachment and discuss in groups.

Homework for 20-27 September, due by 11 October.

A. Read the work-sheet about China's topography and climate changes (please see the pdf file below) B. Prepare a keynote presentation including the following information: 1. Size of China in term of area. (5%) 2. Length of land border and sea border. (5%) 3. Names of countries that share borders with China. (14%) 4. Number of provinces. List the provinces that you have been to. (5%) 5. Names of the 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities and two special zones. (10%) 6. The two important rivers and some basic facts. (10%) 7. The highest mountain peak in the world with its name, height, location and other information that you would like to include. (8%) 8. China’s mountainous topography and climatic features. (10%) 9. Some information about the Chinese language (history, official language and dialects). (10%) 10. Choose one ethnic minority group and talk about their culture, language (dialect), customs, food, festivals, population, where they are living in China and other information that you may wish to include. (15%) 11. Any additional information about China: customs, holidays, food etc. (8%)



Homework due on 20 September 2011 Read one article in the book "Common Knowledge about Chinese Culture" and write a summary in your notebook.

Homework due on 16 September 2011 (Day 4) 1. Finish the keynote presentation " Shanghai in the past, present and future" (only two students need to work on this, the rest have all completed it) 2. Read one article in the book "Common Knowledge about Chinese Culture" and write a summary. 3. Read one chapter in the novel "Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society".

Project due by 14 September 2011 (Day 2) Project: Shanghai in the Past, Present and Future Please make a keynote presentation and try to include the following information:

Shanghai Past
 * 1) Fishing village (in Ming Dynasties)
 * 2) What happened in Shanghai after the opium war?
 * 3) What happened after People’s republic of china was founded?

Shanghai Present


 * 1) Industrial, business and financial city.
 * 2) Over-populated city, with a floating population of about 2 million
 * 3) Pudong
 * 4) Economy is booming, standard of living has improved (housing, clothes, vehicles, transportation-metro)

Shanghai Future
 * 1) The tallest building in China.
 * 2) Disneyland