Here is the link of Pod 11’s learning resources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15s1UjFJGIQ-phjtnHHc8la4ri1CqVLT_xjL8fqd981Q/edit

Overview:

I think Pod 11 has a really good idea, which they want to teach college students to speak Mandarin.  Nowadays, there are more and more people choose to learn Mandarin as their second or third language. There also are lots of people like Chinese culture, which means Mandarin is a crucial tool for them. Pod 11 found lots of useful resources that can help their learners to have a good opportunity to learn Mandarin.

Things may need to improve:

First of all, after watching the introduction video, you may ask some questions about it. By doing this, you can check whether they understand the video or not. Also, different people would have different thoughts about one video, it would be good to ask them some questions to lead them to realize the mean purpose that you want them to watch that video. Secondly, I might have made some mistakes, do I have to sign up for an account in order to check the Pinyin chart? When I clicked the link, it showed nothing but ask me to sign up for an account. I think it is better to find another website that does not need to sign up. Or the website that you chose for no computer students is good enough. I opened it on my computer and my phone, it works well for me. Thirdly, It seems to me that you guys give to your students too much information. Correct me if I am wrong, I think the resource should take approximately 1-2 hours for a learner to complete. However, I think it is hard for a student who does not speak Mandarin to remember all the Pinyin and watch all the videos that you provide. There is one video takes one hour and 14 minutes to watch. I think it would be better to reduce resources. Last but not least, I think it would be better to find an application that can be used between students and teachers, such as Slack. It will be easier for both teachers and students to communicate.

The alignment of the activities, outcomes, and assessments:

Activities:

Unit 0: The video you choose is a good introduction; however, as I said above, you should also ask students questions after they watch the video.

Unit 1&2: I think after reading the article and using the Pinyin chart, students are able to learn phonics. Nevertheless, I think this activity will take students lots of time to do. It is hard to remember all the Pinyins in hours. I think it took me three months to remember all the Pinyins. You may want to change this activity to another or reduce the amount of it.

Unit 3: I think this activity can let students be interested in Chinese characters. It is a brilliant idea to let students learn the evolution of Chinese characters. However, it would be good to reduce the number of videos that they need to watch. Instead, you may ask them to try to write some words down after they watch the videos.

Unit 4: I think the mean purpose to learn a language is able to speak it. Thus, I think Unit 4 is the most important part of your learning resource. I think you feel the same way. That is why you used lots of Youtube links as your resource. However, I think you may use too many links and those videos are too long, It’s hard to get students to concentrate. I think you could try to record a video yourselves. Teaching them some sentences you want them to learn, and it doesn’t have to be a long video.

Outcomes:

I think after doing all the activities, they can reach the learning outcomes. However, there is something you may want to adjust: First, reduce the resources. Giving students the most useful link that they need. Secondly, I think it would be hard to remember all the Pinyins, you may want to change this outcome. Finally, identify which sentences you want your students to learn.

Assessment:

I may miss something because your videos are too long to watch, but I don’t think there is a video that teaches students to learn the sentence structure. Also, I think there is only one class, which means you can’t let them do a quiz before each class. I think you may ask them to have a quiz after each unit.

Foundational learning theory:

You guys choose constructivism as your learning theory, I think that is the best choice for a language learner. Learning a new language needs more practice. Students should learn by speaking and writing. That is also why I think constructivism is the most suitable theory for you.

Learning design:

Direct Instruction(DI) is the learning design they chose to teach their students. I think DI is also a good choice for them. When people learn a new language, they need someone to correct them if they make mistakes. Also, DI can help students to hear the correct pronunciation.