Storytelling in the
Digital Age – Teaching and Learning Chinese Using Storify
Li Hong (李红)
With the advancement of instructional
technology, the teaching and learning Chinese is increasingly taking place in
digital format. Social media sources, such as Youtube,
Twitter, Weibo, Facebook,
and Google, represent powerful and meaningful
opportunities for new forms of teaching and learning. In this presentation, I
will share my experience of using Storify to engage
students in active learning of Chinese language and culture.
Storify is
a free online tool that provides a platform in which users can curate stories
from a variety of social networks, such as Facebook,
Twitter, Flickr, YouTube,
and Instagram to design and develop a narrative on a
topic. While teaching the advanced course for heritage speakers, I assigned a
mid-term group project, requiring students to identify a Chinese
cultural/political/social issue and expand upon that topic by reading, writing
and speaking Chinese. After receiving approval for a topic/issue, students had
to research appropriate digital contents to create their own narrative of the
stories. In addition, they were also asked to write their own critical essay
about the social/cultural issue and a one-page personal reflection. Stories
generated and presented by students include赤壁之战:曹操为何败 (http://storify.com/CHN303G3/story), 尼尔伍德被杀案与薄熙来(http://storify.com/cutepandas2015/bo-xilai-s-fall-from-power),芙蓉姐姐,中国网络红星 (http://storify.com/CHN303GROUP1/story), etc.
In
the post project survey, students reported the following:
I
believe that the project successfully engaged students in extensive research,
critical thinking and planning, as well as intensive reading and writing. For
advanced heritage learners of Chinese, this type of comprehensive project
allows them to not only use Chinese extensively, but also interact with
authentic language and cultural materials and gain deeper understanding of the
social/cultural issues. Storify is easy to utilize
and very convenient as one can weave tweets, links, videos, and other media
into one coherent storyline while having the stories appear organized and
professional.