By Jingran Wan

Understanding the New CED and Designing for the AP Course Project
Presenter: Ying Zhang, College Board AP Chinese Consultant
Date: October 11, 2026

Meeting Overview

Ying Zhang led a workshop on the revised AP Chinese Course and Exam Description (CED) and ways to connect its expectations to classroom instruction. She emphasized a shift toward what students can do with their Chinese, with the goal of helping them become more independent learners and stronger communicators.

The session reviewed the revised course framework, including its six themes, streamlined skill categories, and assessment tasks. Ying discussed how students can prepare for listening and reading tasks, presentations, question-and-answer sessions, story narration, and email responses. She also demonstrated how teachers can use AP Classroom to target practice to specific task types.

Authentic Materials and the Course Project

A central focus was the AP Course Project and the Personalized Project Reference (PPR). Ying reviewed the project process, preparation timeline, presentation and Q&A expectations, and scoring criteria. She encouraged teachers to make project work part of the course throughout the year and to plan backward from the final assessment.

Ying stressed that project research requires students to engage with authentic materials in greater depth than they might for a typical reading-comprehension task. Students should learn to describe, compare, and reflect on cultural products, practices, and perspectives. The workshop used tutoring classes and beliefs about success as an example, with questions that invited students to examine Chinese and U.S. experiences and connect the topic to their own perspectives.

The presenter also shared strategies for guiding students from a project prompt to a focused inquiry. These included brainstorming possible topics, developing research questions and an action plan, using checklists for self-assessment, and choosing Chinese-language sources suited to students’ proficiency levels. Teachers should give students room to shape their own research while ensuring that their projects address the cultural dimensions of the course.

Classroom Practice and Discussion

The examples showed how teachers can use authentic texts and structured activities to build language skills and prepare students for project work. Ying also discussed multimodal input, email responses, and ways to help students use circumlocution when they do not know a word or phrase.

During the Q&A, participants raised practical questions about PPR submission, listening notes, music-related projects, and selecting authentic sources. Ying emphasized using a consistent language and research framework across different topics, while adapting support and materials to individual students.

Ms. Ying Zhang explained the revised CED and AP Course Project in a clear, practical way. The class examples showed how authentic materials can support discussion of cultural products, practices, and perspectives.

Sample questions and project-planning strategies gave teachers ideas they can adapt for their own classes. The Q&A addressed useful questions about PPRs, authentic sources, listening notes, and music-related projects.

By Jingran Wan

On August 22, 2026, CLTA-WA successfully hosted its Summer Professional Development Workshop, bringing Chinese language educators together for two inspiring sessions focused on creating meaningful, engaging, and authentic learning experiences for students.

Ms. Zhiling Hu, Mandarin Dual Language Program Teacher and Department Lead in the Bellevue School District, presented How to Make Complex Social Studies Fun? – Comprehensible Input and Engaging Activity Design in Dual Language Class. Through practical classroom examples, Ms. Hu demonstrated how teachers can use hooks to build connections, annotation to deepen reading comprehension, and authentic tasks to encourage meaningful language output. Her examples showed how even challenging Social Studies content can become accessible, relevant, and engaging when students are given the right scaffolds and opportunities to create.

In the second session, Ms. Lusi Hong, Mandarin Dual Language TOSA in the Issaquah School District and CLTA-WA Vice President, shared Enhance Language Learning Opportunities at Middle School – Language Exchange Program. Using Westside School as an example, she introduced a thoughtful progression from building students’ technology and communication skills to developing meaningful partnerships with students in Taiwan. Her presentation reminded us that some of the most powerful language learning happens when students have a real audience, a real purpose, and a genuine reason to communicate.

The workshop concluded with an engaging Q&A, during which participants raised thoughtful questions about curriculum design, annotation, technology tools, language exchange, time differences, and simplified and traditional Chinese characters. The lively discussion reflected our educators’ shared commitment to continually improving learning opportunities for students.

We sincerely thank Ms. Hu and Ms. Hong for generously sharing their expertise, classroom practices, and resources, and we thank all participants for spending part of their summer learning together.

This workshop reminded us that effective language teaching is not simply about teaching vocabulary and grammar—it is about helping students connect, think, create, and communicate through language. We look forward to carrying these ideas into our classrooms and continuing to learn from and inspire one another throughout the new school year.

The workshop was well organized and offered a strong balance between practical classroom strategies and broader program ideas. Both presenters shared authentic examples, student work, and resources that teachers could adapt to their own classrooms. The two topics also complemented each other well—one focused on engaging students within the classroom, while the other explored how to extend language learning beyond the classroom through meaningful exchanges.

The Q&A session was another strength. Participants asked many practical questions about annotation, curriculum pacing, technology, language exchange, and simplified and traditional Chinese characters, showing strong engagement and interest in applying the ideas to their own teaching.