1. “Journey to the West” Drama Club
-An effort to integrate drama into Chinese learning
CI@CI/NYU DCLT Workshop
March 9, 2012
Peng Zeng
Program Director
China Institute -Startalk
Summer Language Academy

2. What is Startalk?
 STARTALK is a program commissioned by the National
Security Language Initiative (NSLI).
 STARTALK’s mission is to increase the number of
Americans learning, speaking, and teaching critical
need foreign languages by offering students (K–16) and
teachers of these languages creative and engaging
summer experiences that strive to exemplify best
practices in language education and in language
teacher development.

3. China Institute & Startalk
 Sixth year – began in summer 2007
 Targets 30 New York metro-area high
school students in two proficiency levels
 Six-week immersion program
 Focuses on oral communication, reading
and writing, and Chinese culture through
studio art classes and local field trips.

4. Program Theme:
Journey to the West
Drama Club
 2010 & 2011, for both beginner and
intermediate level
 An integration of arts into language learning
• Art class – costumes, props, backdrops making
• Kong Fu class – Peking opera
• Final presentation – theater play, puppet show,
rap battles, comic strips, song, and interpretive
dance

5. Clothing
Personality Appearance
Encounters
Landscapes Seasons
and Week 1:
Scenery Dynasties
Characters
Week 5:
Silk Road
Journey to Week 2:
Time Period
the West
Characteristics
Lunar
of the Route
Calendar
Week 4: How to
People of China Week 3:
Apparel & Tell Time
Geography
Shopping
Weather
Festivals & Route of
Traditions JTW
Food in Transportation
Minority JTW Chinese Cities in JTW
Groups

6. Instructional Activities
Powerpoint on Characters  Missing Person
Telephone Activity

7. Summative Assessment:
“Would You Come With Me?”
 Week 2 assessment – evaluated students’
understanding of the characters.
 Students would be randomly assigned a character.
They will need to write down personality, physical
appearance, clothing, and other characteristics of their
character.
 Then, students would have to verbally interact with
peers to find the four members of the Journey of the
West characters.

8. Summative Assessment:
Create Your Own Journey to the West!
 Students were asked
to create a five day
personal Journey to
the West.
 They were asked to
include weather,
geography, date and
time. Also asked to
create a monster’s
physical attributes,
weapons and
personality.

9. Lessons learned
 Challenges in the past StarTalk programs
• Teachers lack experience and knowledge in drama
• Students lack interest in playwright and theater play
• Administrators found it difficult to manage both
language learning and drama production
simultaneously
 Improvements in 2012 StarTalk program

10. StarTalk Program Contact:
Peng Zeng 曾朋
Assistant Director, Children and Youth Program
Email: pzeng@chinainstitute.org
Phone: 212-744-8181 ext. 138