Bilingual Banter

Discovery and Chinese Learning

With the introduction of Discovery at RWPS, students have been engaging in lots of rich language experiences. The topics, aligned with the Victorian Curriculum, are studied in both their English and Chinese classes.

We have also created some speaking and reading texts around areas such as safety and health to strengthen students’ Chinese language skills and vocabulary. This helps them better understand and access the content knowledge while continuing to develop their Chinese at the same time.

Visits

In Term 3, we welcomed representatives from the Consulate-General of China and a delegation from the Center for Language Education and Cooperation in Beijing to RWPS.

They visited some of our bilingual classes and were very impressed by the way Chinese is taught at our school, as well as the strong language skills demonstrated by our students.

Our leadership team also had a very fruitful discussion with the visitors about possible support they may be able to provide our school, as well as future opportunities for our students to study or take part in learning experiences in China.

Chinese Choir

In the meantime, we have noticed that quite a few students have been singing Chinese songs around the school non-stop. So we thought - why not start a Chinese choir?

We have now recruited a group of students from Grades 1 to 4 who are keen to be part of it, with Michelle leading the choir. They have been spending some lunchtimes and last sessions of the day practising together.

It has been great to see how excited they are, and we are sure there will be some opportunities in the future for them to perform for a bigger audience. We are looking forward to seeing where this goes!

Sister School Visit

As you are reading this newsletter, two of our Grade 5/6 students are currently studying at our sister school in Nanjing.

Their parents have some work arrangements in China, and our sister school has very kindly offered to host the students from RWPS while they are there. It is a great opportunity for the students to experience school life in China and continue developing their Chinese.

We have also received confirmation from our sister school that they are happy for us to visit again at the end of Term 3, 2027.

Official planning from our end is expected to start soon, and an Expression of Interest (EOI) will most likely be sent out sometime in Term 4, 2026.

We are very excited about the possibility of visiting our sister school again and giving more of our students the opportunity to experience learning and life in China.