A Morning in the Virtual ELC Classroom

Kindergarten Lead Teacher, Alice Yang, began class in asking each child in Mandarin what food they “loved,” to review some of the basic vocabulary students have been learning during their recent unit on restaurants. Following a review of vocabulary words, and after singing the “welcome song,” (the same one is sung each morning), Ms. Yang gave a presentation about the various things that people do with dough. Kindergarteners were introduced to new vocabulary words with corresponding pictures for foods such as dumplings and noodles.

After learning new vocabulary for today’s activity, the Kindergarteners began to make dough, while following along from their computer screens. Holding up each ingredient and naming the corresponding Mandarin word, the Kindergarten Teaching Team made their own dough, modeling for students the sequential process. Ms. Yang introduced a new Mandarin word for each ingredient and had the class repeat it back to her. With the gracious help of the adult who sat with them, students were able to engage in the same type of hands-on learning experiences that they normally have in the classroom, even during this season of remote learning.

The Kindergarteners enjoyed this activity, making shapes and Chinese characters, some of them even teaching their parents what each of the characters meant! The session ended with a reading of the book Hurray for Chefs and the closing song.