Exploring Other Ancient Traditions That Have Traveled West Overview In the past few years, the popularity

of Feng Shui has skyrocketed all over the world. For this project, you will work in pairs to explore some other ancient traditions that have traveled west. As a group, you will be provided chances to investigate more about a particular art through various types of tasks, such as online research, oral report, interview, etc. Each group will deliver a presentation synthesizing all the information obtained from different sources.

Required Skills: Language skills: Listening, speaking, reading and writing, incorporation of linguistic features introduced in the unit. Related skills: online research skills, critical thinking skills, summarizing and synthesizing information skills.

Tasks: Stages 1. Project preparation Goals 1. Prepare for the project by deciding the topic and collecting useful information about it 2. Give an informal oral report about your findings in front of the class 1.Share the information you gathered on your topic 2.Provide/get feedback to/from the peers 3.Incorporate the feedback to your work Get detailed/specific information about the topic you chose May. 10th, Friday Due Dates Involved Activities 1. Online research 2. Preparation for an informal oral report

2. Informal oral report

1. In class oral report 2. Peer feedback

3. Conduct an interview

1.Brainstorming Session (In class) 2. Conference (In office hour) 3. Interview May. 17th, Friday In-class Oral Presentation

4. Final product presentation

Present your final product

Appendix A Task 1: Project Preparation

Besides feng shui, other traditional Eastern practices have become popular in the west. For this task, please work with your partner and choose one practice you are interested in and do some online research about it.

Step 1: Decide on an art you want to further investigate on. Here are some examples you might be interested in: Tai chi Yoga reiki shiatsu massage karate tae kwon do What are some other arts do you know?

Step 2: Do online research on the topic you selected Suggested online materials: videos, audios, blogs, magazines, newspapers, academic materials, etc. Suggested links: Tai chi (http://www.taichicenter-chicago.com/) Yoga (http://www.yogachicago.us/) Reiki (http://www.reiki.org/faq/whatisreiki.html) shiatsu massage (http://www.urbanoasismassage.com/shiatsu/) karate (http://www.wkf.net/) tae kwon do (http://www.wtf.org/wtf_eng/site/about_taekwondo/taekwondo.html) . Other suggested links: http://www.nvisible.com/Links/AncientLinks.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_philosophy Outcome: Informal oral report (given in class: May 10th, Friday)

Questions need to be addressed in the oral report:

1. Why are you interested in this topic?

2. What online materials did you look into? 3. What is the art about? Where did it originally come from?

4. When did it start becoming popular in the West?

5. How and why did this art become popular in the West?

6. How is it practiced differently here?

Appendix B Task 2: Informal oral report Each group will give a 5-7 minutes informal oral report about the topic you investigated on. Peers will provide feedback to each group.

Oral Feedback: 2 minutes (after the reports) You will be given 2 minutes to receive feedback and ask questions.

Written Feedback Each group will be assigned to provide written feedback to another group. (Please find the feedback questions on the next worksheet.) Please try to incorporate the feedback in their upcoming products.

Grading: Whether and how complete you addressed these questions?

1. Why are you interested in this topic? 2. What online materials did you look into? 3. What is the tradition you selected about? 4. Where did it originally come from? 5. When did it start becoming popular in the West? 6. How and why did this art become popular in the West? 7. How is it practiced differently here?

Appendix C Peer Feedback

For: From: 1. What is the aspect you like the most about your peers report?

2. What is the aspect you dislike about your peers report?

3. What are some aspects you want to know more about?

4. What are some aspects you do not fully understand?

Appendix D Task 3: Conduct an interview

Try to find someone who practices or is familiar to the art you selected. Look for either a professional or an amateur. Ask friends or neighbors, or look in the telephone book.

Step 1: Preparation for the interview questions You will get together with your classmates to brainstorm a list of a list of questions that you would like to ask the practitioner. (In-class session)

Depending on the art you work on, please adapt and supplement some specific questions to ask your interviewees. (After-class session)

Step 2: Get feedback on the interview questions

Please schedule a 10 minutes conference with me. Have the interview questions written down and bring it to the conference. I will provide individual feedback to each group.

Step 3: Conduct an Interview After revising your interview questions, please conduct a 10-15 minutes interview and take notes.

Appendix E Task 4: Final Product Presentation

Summarize and synthesize the information obtained from different sources (e.g. online research peers feedback, teachers feedback and the interviews). Prepare and deliver a 10 minutes oral presentation on your topic in the class.

Requirements: 1. Each student in the group needs to be in charge of a part of the presentation. The time amount of the presentation for each student in the group should be relatively equal. 2. Incorporate the vocabulary, grammar points and functional language, pronunciation strategies learned in this unit. Vocabulary: Use at least ten new words learned in this unit. (Please check and review your textbook and notes. P.108-P.112)

Grammar (Spoken Discourse Connectors): Use at least one from each category (Please check and review your textbook and notes. P.112-P.114)

Contrast but however on the other hand

Addition plus in addition on top of that

Result so as a result

Functional language (Emphasizing a point): Use at least three expressions of emphasizing a point (Please check and review your textbook and notes. P. 116-P.118) Boy... I wouldnt say....but I would say... ...would no more....than... Talk about... Id have to say...

Pronunciation strategies (intonation on sentence introducers): Utilize at least five different sentence introducers learned in this unit and pay attention to the intonation. (Please check and review your textbook and notes. P. 114-P.116)

Well First

In addition On the other hand You know Plus Anyway Actually So

Appendix F Grading Rubrics (Presentation)

CATEGORY Content

4 Shows a full understanding of the topic. The presentation was very wellstructured and easy to follow. Each student in the group presented equal amount of time. The student efficiently integrated all the information got from different sources and went beyond expectations. Student is completely prepared and has obviously rehearsed.

3 Shows a good understanding of the topic. The presentation was very wellstructured and easy to follow. But Each student in the group didn't present equal amount of time. The student integrated all the information got from different sources.

2 Shows a good understanding of parts of the topic. The presentation obviously missed one part. (e.g. introduction, body, conclusion) Each student in the group presented equal amount of time. The student has one piece of information missing.

1 Does not seem to understand the topic very well. The presentation obviously missed one part. (e.g. introduction, body, conclusion) And each student in the group didn't present equal amount of time. The student has more than one piece of information missing.

Organization

Completeness

Preparedness

Student seems pretty prepared but might have needed a couple more rehearsals.

The student is somewhat prepared, but it is clear that rehearsal was lacking. The student followed the guidelines for the assignment but was not very creative in their presentation.

Student does not seem at all prepared to present.

Creativity

The student followed the guidelines for the project and was very creative in their presentation.

The student followed the guidelines for the project and was somewhat creative.

The student's project was derivative and lacked creativity.

Vocabulary

Grammar (Spoken Discourse Connectors)

The student accurately and appropriately utilized at least 10 new words learned in this unit. The student accurately and appropriately incorporated at least one spoken connector from each category. (Contrast, Addition, and Result)

The student accurately and appropriately utilized 7-9 words learned in this unit. The student accurately and appropriately incorporated one spoken connector from two of the category. (Contrast, Addition, and Result) The student accurately and appropriately used only two expressions of emphasizing a point learned in this unit. The student pronounced clearly and comprehensively most of the time. Plus the student accurately and appropriately used at least five sentence introducers learned in this unit.

The student accurately and appropriately utilized 4-6 new words learned in this unit. The student only accurately and appropriately incorporated one spoken connector from one of the category. (Contrast, Addition, and Result) The student accurately and appropriately used only one expression of emphasizing a point learned in this unit. The student mispronounced very few words and didn't impede the comprehension. Plus the student accurately and appropriately used three to four sentence introducers learned in this unit.

The student only accurately and appropriately utilized less than 4 new words learned in this unit. The student didn't accurately and appropriately incorporate any of the spoken connectors learned in this unit.

The student Functional Language Use accurately and appropriately used at least three expressions of emphasizing a point learned in this unit. Pronunciation The student pronounced clearly and comprehensively all the time. Plus the student accurately and appropriately used at least five sentence introducers learned in this unit.

The student didn't accurately and appropriately use any of the expressions of emphasizing a point learned in this unit.

The student mispronounced numbers of words, and impeded the comprehension. Plus the student accurately and appropriately used less than three sentence introducers learned in this unit.