We will add enriched activities to the daily Chinese class in the comprehensive primary schools in Southern Finland.
Data will be collected through language tests and brain recordings.
Language tests measure various skills including listening, word recognition, and pronunciation. Instructions and test items are easy for children to understand and suit their language proficiency so that they will never feel too stressed or frustrated during tests.
Apart from language tests, we also have brain recordings to look at how language learning shapes children’s brains and the way they think. The results will be highly useful for language teaching.
Brain recordings (electroencephalogram, EEG) are a safe and painless procedure to record the brain's spontaneous activity. Children can do this either alone or with the company of a schoolmate or guardian. During the measurement, children will play a simple game while wearing a cloth electrode cap.
Music sessions setting the pace of the students' day! Years ago, in a primary school, about 40 children regularly participated in after-school activities. They were divided into two groups of about 20 children, but there were more or less of them in groups every day, depending on what time they left school. They are also free to group eg. for scheduling reasons. All were first or second grade students with a musical background to mention. The instructors of the groups remained the same throughout the school year.
Since the afternoon activities were music-oriented, the daily programme included diverse singing and rhythm games in about 15-minute sessions from the very beginning. They were virtually the same in both groups, but their timing varied:
Group A first did their homework and then held a singing playtime. Group B first had a singing play session, after which the children did their homework. After games and homework, there were outdoor activities, a snack and more musical activities.
After a while, group B instructors noticed that group B children were always able to get outdoors faster than group A. During the year, it turned out that group B children completed their homework almost half as fast as group A. Eventually, Group A decided to start the afternoon activities with music.
Our conclusion from this observation of everyday activities is that music sessions should be placed to rhythm children's activities. They can suitably cheer and calm you down, as well as divert your thoughts away from cognitive (homework-related) learning for a while. After the music sessions, homework tastes good again!
In the privacy notice (text in Finnish), you will find information about the processing of personal data in the longitudinal study on Chinese language learning in Finnish elementary schools.
If you have any questions or concerns about the research or would like to receive some more information, please get in touch with Xiazhen Liu (xiazhen.liu@helsinki.fi) and Dr. Mari Tervaniemi (mari.tervaniemi@helsinki.fi).