Tones – Mandarin has four – distinguish the meaning of a word from other similar-sounding words. Recognizing those distinctions is crucial: It can make the difference between referring for instance, to your mother or to a horse. “This word is a great example of how important tone is in creating meaning,” Tsui said.
In response to the challenge, Tsui has turned her teacher website into the hub of the virtual classroom outside of the daily 45 minutes of in-class time. To help her students learn tone, she relies, among other things, upon Vocaroo, an online program that allows users to make and send voice recordings, much like an audio e-mail.
As students move on to PHS, teacher Shwu-Fen Lin is ready with an array of tools to enhance instruction. Included in her repertoire are 30 iPods, which she uses as part of her assessment process.
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