You planned to teach in Mandarin today. Then someone asked "wait, what page?", you answered in English, and twenty minutes later you were still in English.
Every Mandarin teacher knows that slide. ACTFL recommends using the target language 90% or more of class time. Nobody gets there on willpower. You get there with routines: the same short phrases, at the same moments, every single lesson, until students stop needing a translation.
Why routines keep you in Mandarin
A routine makes Mandarin predictable. When 请坐 always happens as students sit down, nobody needs it explained. Context does the translating, which is what comprehensible input looks like in a real classroom. It also takes pressure off you. You're not inventing simple Mandarin on the spot; you're reusing phrases the class already owns.
Here are seven routines that do most of the heavy lifting.
1. Open every lesson the same way
Start with a call-and-response greeting:
- Teacher: 同学们好！(tóngxuémen hǎo)
- Class: 老师好！(lǎoshī hǎo)
Then two quick questions: 今天星期几？(jīntiān xīngqī jǐ, what day is it?) and 今天天气怎么样？(jīntiān tiānqì zěnmeyàng, how's the weather?). Keep it under two minutes. Once it's solid, hand it to a student as 小老师 (xiǎo lǎoshī, little teacher) for the day. Kids love running it, and you get to listen.
2. Build a 10-phrase instruction wall, with gestures
Pick ten instructions you say every day, put them on the wall with pinyin, and give each one a gesture:
- 请坐 qǐng zuò: please sit
- 请站起来 qǐng zhàn qǐlái: please stand up
- 请听 qǐng tīng: listen
- 请看 qǐng kàn: look
- 请跟我说 qǐng gēn wǒ shuō: repeat after me
- 请举手 qǐng jǔ shǒu: raise your hand
- 打开书 dǎkāi shū: open your books
- 第几页？dì jǐ yè: which page?
- 安静 ānjìng: quiet
- 再说一遍 zài shuō yí biàn: say it again
When a student looks lost, point at the wall and do the gesture. Don't translate. After a couple of weeks you'll notice you rarely need the wall at all.
3. Give students survival phrases too
Target-language classrooms break down when students have no way to ask for help in Mandarin. Teach these early and post them next to your instruction wall:
- 我不懂。wǒ bù dǒng: I don't understand.
- 请再说一遍。qǐng zài shuō yí biàn: please say it again.
- …用中文怎么说？… yòng Zhōngwén zěnme shuō: how do you say … in Chinese?
- 老师，我有问题。lǎoshī, wǒ yǒu wèntí: teacher, I have a question.
- 我可以去洗手间吗？wǒ kěyǐ qù xǐshǒujiān ma: may I go to the bathroom?
"用中文怎么说" is the gold one. A student asks in Mandarin, you answer in Mandarin, and an English moment becomes a Mandarin one.
4. Sing your transitions
Tidy-up, lining up, switching activities: these are exactly the moments teachers drop into English. A ten-second sung cue does the job better than a repeated instruction, and songs carry phrases students would never memorize from a list. Pick one short song per transition and use it every time. Within a week, the first few notes are enough to move the room.
5. Count down in Mandarin
五、四、三、二、一 (wǔ, sì, sān, èr, yī) is the simplest routine there is. Use it for every transition and every "pens down". Students get daily number practice for free, and the countdown resets the room without a word of English.
6. Plan your English moments
Going for 90% doesn't mean banning English. It means English gets a place. Try a two-minute 英文时间 (Yīngwén shíjiān, English time) at the end of class for grammar questions and quick clarifications. When students know English has a slot, it's much easier to keep it out of everything else, and you stop feeling guilty every time you need it.
7. Check understanding without translating
"Do you understand?" gets nods, not information. Try these instead:
- 对不对？(duì bu duì, right or wrong?) with thumbs up or down
- Either/or questions: 是猫还是狗？(shì māo háishi gǒu, is it a cat or a dog?)
- "Show me" with fingers: one for A, two for B, three for C
- Point-to tasks: 请指一下……(qǐng zhǐ yíxià, please point to …)
Each one tells you who's with you, in Mandarin, in about five seconds.
Common traps
- Long instructions. Keep classroom Mandarin to three to five words. 请打开书，第十页 beats a full sentence.
- Speaking too fast. Slow down more than feels natural, and repeat with the gesture.
- Judging after three days. Routines feel clunky at first. Give one two or three weeks before you decide it doesn't work.
- Starting with all seven. Don't. Pick one this week and add another next week.
Where to start this week
If you only try one thing, try the opening greeting plus the countdown. They take almost no prep, students pick them up in days, and together they cover the start of class and every transition in between.
If you'd like ready-made songs for routines like these, Song Club has the song videos, and Club Lǎoshī adds printables to go with them. Not sure which song fits your unit? Try the Song Topic Finder.
坚持说中文：7个课堂常规，让你更接近90%目标语言教学
你本来打算今天全程用中文上课。结果有学生问"等一下，第几页？"，你用英文回答了，二十分钟后你还在说英文。
每位中文老师都经历过这种"滑坡"。ACTFL（美国外语教学委员会）建议课堂上90%以上的时间使用目标语言。没有人能只靠意志力做到这一点。真正有用的是课堂常规：每节课在同样的时刻，说同样的短句，直到学生不再需要翻译。
为什么常规能让你留在中文里
常规让中文变得可预测。如果每次学生坐下时你都说"请坐"，就没人需要解释。情境本身完成了翻译，这就是可理解输入在真实课堂里的样子。它也减轻了你的压力：你不必临场编简单的中文，只是在重复全班已经掌握的句子。
下面这七个常规，能帮你完成大部分工作。
1. 每节课用同样的方式开场
从一问一答的问候开始：
- 老师：同学们好！
- 学生：老师好！
然后问两个简单的问题：今天星期几？今天天气怎么样？控制在两分钟以内。等大家熟练了，每天请一位学生当"小老师"来带。孩子们很喜欢，你也可以专心听。
2. 做一面"十句指令墙"，配上手势
选出你每天都会说的十个指令，连同拼音贴在墙上，每个指令配一个手势：
- 请坐
- 请站起来
- 请听
- 请看
- 请跟我说
- 请举手
- 打开书
- 第几页？
- 安静
- 再说一遍
学生一脸茫然时，指一指墙，做一下手势，不要翻译。几周后你会发现，几乎不再需要那面墙了。
3. 也给学生"求生句"
如果学生没办法用中文求助，目标语言课堂很快就会崩掉。尽早教会这些句子，贴在指令墙旁边：
- 我不懂。
- 请再说一遍。
- ……用中文怎么说？
- 老师，我有问题。
- 我可以去洗手间吗？
"……用中文怎么说？"最有价值。学生用中文问，你用中文答，一个本来会说英文的时刻就变成了中文时刻。
4. 把过渡环节唱出来
收拾东西、排队、换活动，这些正是老师最容易切换回英文的时刻。一段十秒钟的歌声提示，比反复说一条指令更有效，而且歌曲能带出学生靠背单词表永远记不住的句子。每个过渡环节选一首短歌，每次都用。一周之内，前几个音符就足以让全班动起来。
5. 用中文倒数
五、四、三、二、一，这是最简单的常规。每次换活动、每次"放下笔"都用它。学生每天免费练习数字，倒数也能不用一句英文就让课堂重新安静下来。
6. 给英文安排固定时间
追求90%并不是禁止英文，而是给英文一个固定位置。可以在下课前留两分钟"英文时间"，用来回答语法问题、做简单澄清。学生知道英文有专门的时段，其他时间就更容易坚持中文，你也不会每次需要英文时都觉得内疚。
7. 不翻译也能检查理解
"你们懂了吗？"只会换来点头，得不到真实信息。试试这些：
- "对不对？"配合大拇指向上或向下
- 二选一问题：是猫还是狗？
- 用手指作答：一根手指选A，两根选B，三根选C
- 指认任务：请指一下……
每一种都能在大约五秒内，用中文告诉你谁跟上了。
常见误区
- 指令太长。 课堂中文控制在三到五个字词。"请打开书，第十页"比一整句话好。
- 说得太快。 放慢到比你觉得自然还要慢一些，并配合手势重复。
- 三天就下结论。 常规一开始总会有点别扭。先坚持两三周，再判断它有没有用。
- 一下子全上七个。 别这样。这周选一个，下周再加一个。
这周从哪里开始
如果只试一件事，就试开场问候加倒数。它们几乎不用备课，学生几天就能学会，合起来就涵盖了上课开头和中间的每一次过渡。
如果你想要现成的歌曲来配合这些常规，Song Club 提供歌曲视频，Club Lǎoshī 还附有配套的打印材料。不确定哪首歌适合你的单元？试试 Song Topic Finder。