This was the test in Chinese class, recently. End result? Amazing. Even the teacher was delighted, through the moon. And so I realized that with all the hard work, getting to this level, to be able to usher a young mind to produce such a fine piece - it is the ultimate reward that every dedicated teacher lives for - to witness this positive transformation.
I thought about pasting the essay here, for those who can read and appreciate what this means. But in the end, I've decided it doesn't help paint a clearer picture. No doubt, there would be plenty of folks who, not knowing the Chinese language, would cut and paste it into Google Translate to figure out what it says. But reading it in translation is not the point. Plus, it's a machine doing the translation. Would it capture the literary artistry that is evident in the piece? Would it be able to capture the feeling of a young child's point of view? I doubt it. And certainly, it would not be able to show what this means in the total context of what my child has been writing all these last 3 years.
But here's the challenge to any and all out there who want to know where you're going on this MI path. First, there are the conditions. Sixty minutes, blank page, write something. No guidance from the teachers, no vocabulary sheets, no dictionaries, nothing. Just you and the blank page.
Does your program have such an expectation? What's the end result? No such expectation? Why not?
Some programs are afraid to do this. Our program, in fact, has not even announced it to the parents. I only know because the teacher was so happy with what my child wrote, and that the teacher knows that this matters to me so much and I am able to read enough Chinese to be able to appreciate what this means, that she had to share her own excitement with me.
But I really do wish that more parents in MI knew that this was happening. It's a huge challenge. But it can tell you a lot about where your kid is at and where you are going.
End of 3rd grade test. Sixty minutes. Blank page. Write.
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