Storytelling in the Digital Age – Teaching and Learning Chinese Using Storify

 

Li Hong (李红)

Emory University

 

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:

  • 32 out of 38 students agreed that they had to use critical thinking skills to complete the project
  • 31 out of 38 students agreed that they were able to develop Chinese writing skills by completing the project
  • 30 out of 38 students agreed that they were able to gain cultural awareness on important Chinese issues

 

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.