Ms. Joanne Graves (Mandarin)
My name is Joanne Graves (Hou Laoshi). Students call me Miss Hou. This is my second year teaching at Saint Sebastian School and my 7th year teaching at Westside Chinese School. I also teach private students. My specialty is teaching non native speakers. I learn a lot from my experiences at class. It is very rewarding to see that students are improving every day.
My goal in class is to keep, cultivate and enhance students' interest, increasing their knowledge and building a solid foundation in speaking, listening, reading and writing Chinese as a foreign language.
I am originally from Shanghai, China. I graduated from the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade. I majored in Economy but English is my learning tool. Since I started teaching in Westside Chinese School, I have been attending teacher’s professional training twice a year. In 2010, I got a certificate of curriculum design from Star Talk in Loyola University. This year, I got a certificate from Star Talk 2014 in SCCCS for common core teaching for the 21st century. Last year, I gave a speech in SCCCS about teaching Chinese to non native students.
Besides teaching Mandarin in class, I also teach my students about Chinese culture through the practice of origami, Chinese song, movies, Chinese Holidays, calligraphy, poetry, cooking... Last year, I invited our Saint Sebastian students and parents to join the Westside Chinese School's Memorial day camping trip to Jackson Flats. We joined their community and participated in activities with other Chinese learners. We also held a Chinese New Year celebration parade at Saint Sebastian School and all students had great time.
In my leisure time I love practicing Yoga. I enjoy swimming, hiking, biking, camping, running and playing volleyball. I also enjoy playing with children in class. I am looking forward to have a great school year. Please feel free to email me at jgraves@saintsebastianschool.com
My goal in class is to keep, cultivate and enhance students' interest, increasing their knowledge and building a solid foundation in speaking, listening, reading and writing Chinese as a foreign language.
I am originally from Shanghai, China. I graduated from the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade. I majored in Economy but English is my learning tool. Since I started teaching in Westside Chinese School, I have been attending teacher’s professional training twice a year. In 2010, I got a certificate of curriculum design from Star Talk in Loyola University. This year, I got a certificate from Star Talk 2014 in SCCCS for common core teaching for the 21st century. Last year, I gave a speech in SCCCS about teaching Chinese to non native students.
Besides teaching Mandarin in class, I also teach my students about Chinese culture through the practice of origami, Chinese song, movies, Chinese Holidays, calligraphy, poetry, cooking... Last year, I invited our Saint Sebastian students and parents to join the Westside Chinese School's Memorial day camping trip to Jackson Flats. We joined their community and participated in activities with other Chinese learners. We also held a Chinese New Year celebration parade at Saint Sebastian School and all students had great time.
In my leisure time I love practicing Yoga. I enjoy swimming, hiking, biking, camping, running and playing volleyball. I also enjoy playing with children in class. I am looking forward to have a great school year. Please feel free to email me at jgraves@saintsebastianschool.com
Welcome! Saint Sebastian school to the 2014-2015 school year.
Mandarin has become a very popular language in schools and in the world at large. Learning Chinese requires 3 or 4 times more time than other languages such as Spanish and French--so now is the best time for your children to learn!
Last year, our students progressed beautifully and met all of our goals. They started not only to speak the language, but also could read, write and understand basic questions. We did an "I" project about each of the students and everyone excelled. This summer, I took some students' projects to my SCCCS Star Talk training, according to the standard of the world language, we are in the level: Novice Mid to high. Next step is Novice Mid to Intermediate level. I look forward to continuing to teach your wonderful children this year!
Our Mandarin Program (2014-2015)
K-1 grade students, learning "My First Chinese Words"and "My First Reader"
They will have 40 minutes class from Monday to Friday. Students will learn Chinese culture (Chinese songs, origami, poem, abacus, culture related topic), speaking some everyday Chinese around their daily life, topic about " Greeting, introduce themselves, school, nationality, home address, calendar, holiday, birthday. They are learning writing Chinese in correct order; start to reading, write number 1-20-99, adding subtracting, Reading Chinese small books and answer some simple questions. We will use iPad to do partner speaking project with drawing and vocabularies match competitions with classmates.
2nd-3rd grade students, learning "My First Chinese Reader"
They will have 40 minutes class from Monday to Friday. Students will learn Chinese culture (Chinese songs, origami, poem, abacus, culture related topic), speaking some everyday Chinese around their daily life, topic about " greeting, introduce themselves, school, nationality, home address, calendar, holiday, birthday. They are learning writing Chinese in correct order; start to reading, write number 1-20-99, adding subtracting, Reading Chinese small books and answer some simple questions, topic about " Greeting, introduce themselves, school, nationality, home address, calendar, holiday, birthday, food they like to eat and drink", Reading 10-30 passages, We will use iPad to make partner speaking project with drawing and vocabularies match competitions with classmates and schoolmates.
4th-5th grade students, learning "My First Chinese Reader"
They will have 40 minutes class from Monday to Friday. Students will learn Chinese culture (Chinese songs, origami, poem, abacus, culture related topic), speaking theme about " Meet the people, My school & home, Event planner", My favorite thing(fruit, color, clothing, pet, sport)". Reading 14-36 passages; Writing complete sentences and paragraphs. We will use iPad to make speaking projects with partner and vocabularies match competitions with classmates and schoolmates.
6th-8th grade students, learning "My First Chinese Reader"
They will have 50 minutes class from Monday to Friday. Students will learn Chinese culture (Chinese songs, origami, poem, abacus, culture related topic), speaking topic about " greeting, introduce themselves, school, nationality, home address, calendar, holiday, birthday, food they like to eat and drink, color, clothing, pet, sport". Reading 14-40 passages; Writing complete sentences and paragraphs. We will use iPad to make speaking projects with partner and vocabularies match competitions with classmates and schoolmates.
Mandarin has become a very popular language in schools and in the world at large. Learning Chinese requires 3 or 4 times more time than other languages such as Spanish and French--so now is the best time for your children to learn!
Last year, our students progressed beautifully and met all of our goals. They started not only to speak the language, but also could read, write and understand basic questions. We did an "I" project about each of the students and everyone excelled. This summer, I took some students' projects to my SCCCS Star Talk training, according to the standard of the world language, we are in the level: Novice Mid to high. Next step is Novice Mid to Intermediate level. I look forward to continuing to teach your wonderful children this year!
Our Mandarin Program (2014-2015)
K-1 grade students, learning "My First Chinese Words"and "My First Reader"
They will have 40 minutes class from Monday to Friday. Students will learn Chinese culture (Chinese songs, origami, poem, abacus, culture related topic), speaking some everyday Chinese around their daily life, topic about " Greeting, introduce themselves, school, nationality, home address, calendar, holiday, birthday. They are learning writing Chinese in correct order; start to reading, write number 1-20-99, adding subtracting, Reading Chinese small books and answer some simple questions. We will use iPad to do partner speaking project with drawing and vocabularies match competitions with classmates.
2nd-3rd grade students, learning "My First Chinese Reader"
They will have 40 minutes class from Monday to Friday. Students will learn Chinese culture (Chinese songs, origami, poem, abacus, culture related topic), speaking some everyday Chinese around their daily life, topic about " greeting, introduce themselves, school, nationality, home address, calendar, holiday, birthday. They are learning writing Chinese in correct order; start to reading, write number 1-20-99, adding subtracting, Reading Chinese small books and answer some simple questions, topic about " Greeting, introduce themselves, school, nationality, home address, calendar, holiday, birthday, food they like to eat and drink", Reading 10-30 passages, We will use iPad to make partner speaking project with drawing and vocabularies match competitions with classmates and schoolmates.
4th-5th grade students, learning "My First Chinese Reader"
They will have 40 minutes class from Monday to Friday. Students will learn Chinese culture (Chinese songs, origami, poem, abacus, culture related topic), speaking theme about " Meet the people, My school & home, Event planner", My favorite thing(fruit, color, clothing, pet, sport)". Reading 14-36 passages; Writing complete sentences and paragraphs. We will use iPad to make speaking projects with partner and vocabularies match competitions with classmates and schoolmates.
6th-8th grade students, learning "My First Chinese Reader"
They will have 50 minutes class from Monday to Friday. Students will learn Chinese culture (Chinese songs, origami, poem, abacus, culture related topic), speaking topic about " greeting, introduce themselves, school, nationality, home address, calendar, holiday, birthday, food they like to eat and drink, color, clothing, pet, sport". Reading 14-40 passages; Writing complete sentences and paragraphs. We will use iPad to make speaking projects with partner and vocabularies match competitions with classmates and schoolmates.
