This week, I designed and re-designed a lesson plan utilizing SuperChinese, an AI-powered Mandarin learning platform.SuperChinese, offers opportunities to ask questions of their bot, CHAO, and engage in real-world scenarios with their AI Coach. You can read my blog post about SuperChinese, here!
With this app, I designed a lesson whereby pairs of students pick between three Mandarin-speaking cities, engage with CHAO about popular activities in those cities, plus associated vocabulary with those activities. They will then individually practice holding conversations related to those activities with the AI Coach. Finally, they will practice and present such conversations with one another. The following was my first iteration, with less partner work:
When reviewing my lesson plan through a UDL lens, and fielding feedback with that in mind, it became clear that SuperChinese offers valuable learning opportunities. The app offers various ways of engaging with the material and gives students appropriate flexibility. However, my lesson lacked emphasis on partner work. It became clear that creating more space for collaboration is critical. This was further demonstrated when reviewing the research of Ruiying Niu, Lin Jiang, and Yuan Deng (2018) whose paper highlights the value of second language learners (particularly those of similar proficiency) engaging in language learning activities together. While their research is not conclusive nor definitive, they found that generally students engage better in the target language when working with a partner of a similar proficiency level.
Considering the UDL and the importance of partner work in language learning, I decided that students would start this lesson in pairs. Instead of exploring their chosen activities alone, they choose them with a partner. This allows them to explore new vocabulary together, and allow for greater ease come time for their presentations.
This shift also has important implications regarding intersectionality. Intersectionality asks us (particularly policy-makers) to consider that discrimination compounds and transforms when identities intersect. That is to say that discrimination against a Black woman is different than racial discrimination plus gender discrimination (Crenshaw, 1989).
It is important for the lesson plan to consider the many differences in previous experiences and discomforts that could be true for my students. Thus, allowing students time to pick and choose activities but pre-selecting the cities, and partnering them together allows all students to have a starting point and additional support throughout the activity. With all of this in mind, view the new activity:
In addition to fielding feedback regarding UDL and intersectionality, I reviewed two of my peers lesson plans with the same lenses. Exploring UDL was the simpler of the two, as the framework is more straightforward. I asked myself if information would be presented in a variety of ways, if a topic could be explored in as many ways, and finally presented or shared in as many ways. These questions align with the three tenets of UDL: Engagement, Representation, and Action & Expression (CAST).
With intersectionality, it takes creater empathy and creativity to consider how an identity distinct from one’s own may experience a lesson. The factors are infinite and the truth is, without asking folks of those identities about their experience in a lesson as this one, I can never fully know. Staying ahead of the way discrimination shows itself is important work, and in no way simple.
References:
CAST. (n.d.). The UDL guidelines. CAST. https://udlguidelines.cast.org
Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. University of Chicago Legal.
Niu, R., Jiang, L., & Deng Y. (2018). Effect of proficiency pairing on L2 learners’ language learning and scaffolding in collaborative writing. Asia-Pacific Education Researcher , 27(3), 187. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-018-0377-2