Although math (especially when you think about the numbers and shapes) exists almost everywhere in our everyday life, it is largely considered an abstract and therefore hard-to-comprehend subject. As a result, it “has become more and more hidden” in our society. Some people are surprised when they know that my teachable subjects are Mandarin and Math. It makes more sense if I teach science and math, because math and linguistic just don’t come together. Some find a “good” reason that I teach math---because I am Chinese. From these, I can feel the perceived image of a math teacher in many people’s mind. However, I can easily see the connection between these two subjects. The NCTM standards are pretty straight forward, but I particularly like the second one: math as a part of cultural heritage. After thousands of years, math is now becoming more and more “sophisticated”, but it started as a simple counting strategy in our human history. When I teach Mandarin, teaching the written forms of numbers is always my favourite. I show students how ancient Chinese people created the symbols and how the symbols evolved and became the numbers. It’s a part of human history. I think I will do the similar activities with my math classes in the future. After all, math is much more than simply computing.
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