[華語 Mandarin] 活動 | 聖誕節手寫卡片- Christmas card writing

為記錄第一篇筆記，選了“聖誕節”這主題作為開始。
(English version is attached in the end)

我的學生背景：一位來自南非的8歲小男生，目前就讀台灣的小學二年級，在家裡説南非荷蘭語(Afrikaans)，學校主要以中文授課，因同學也多是外國人，大部分使用英文溝通。

小學一年級時學了注音，會寫的國字量還不是很多，加上寫字本來就花時間，小朋友常會偷懶想寫注音，藉著"聖誕節"的名義，讓他做角色扮演，提升學寫字的動機。

今天課堂的目標是練習寫字，但又不能讓學生覺得無趣。課前先確認了學生的國家有過聖誕節的習俗，也知道他相信有"聖誕老公公"。課堂前準備好聖誕帽，讓學生覺得他不是在上課或寫作業，而是今天的主角：聖誕老人。因為有發禮物的任務，所以我要他練習寫聖誕卡片給爸爸媽媽和老師，卡片建議選大小適中的，避免需寫太多字，或太少空位寫字。

藉由節慶，我認為"寫卡片"是很好的活動，成本相對低且簡單達成，不管是國外節慶或台灣節日都很適合。寫的內容也請小朋友要講給家長聽，學生很興奮地拿著卡片要跟爸爸媽媽説，家長除了直接看到學習成果，在這數位的時代，收到手寫的卡片總是讓人感動。學生也寫了一張卡片給我，看到他努力寫的中文，聽到家長的感謝，自己也收到了最棒的禮物，是教學最大的動力。祝大家聖誕快樂 ！

---

To start this blog, I decided to write a note with the merry theme "Christmas".

About my student's background:

He is a 8-year old little boy from South Africa, and he's currently studying in the second year of elementary school in Taiwan. The main language for communication at home is Afrikaans. Most of courses are taught in Mandarin at school, but my student sometimes replies on English while talking with his non-local classmates.

My student has learnt "zhu-yin" (The spelling system for Mandarin which is used in Taiwan) during his first year of study. He can recognize many Mandarin characters, but the capability of writing is still limited. It really takes time for children to write Mandarin characters. Since Christmas is around the corner, I asked him to do "role-playing" as a Santa Claus, to motivate him for writing.

Before today's class, I confirmed that South African celebrate Christmas, and my student believes in "Santa Claus". I prepared a Christmas hat for him to be a "Santa Claus", and he'll need to practice writing cards in Mandarin to his parents and the teacher.

By celebrating festivals, I think "writing cards" can be a budget-friendly and easy-reached activity, no matter for foreign or local holidays. It's touching to receive hard-writing cards nowadays. My student was happy to "translate" the content he wrote to his parents, and I felt thankful and motivated from his parents' appreciation. My student also wrote a card to me - it's definitely one of the best presents I've received so far.

Merry Christmas everyone!