News from our Specialists

LOTE Mandarin

Grade 5/6 students produced high-quality research posters as part of their recent assessment on facts about China. They selected from 11 well-known Chinese public figures, such as Bruce Lee, the world-famous martial artist and actor; Xi Jinping, the President of China; Puyi, the last emperor of China; and Yao Ming, the former 2.29-metre-tall NBA basketball player. Through this project, students had the opportunity to learn about the lives, achievements, and backgrounds of influential Chinese public figures before presenting their findings to the class.

Grade 3/4 students also completed many excellent Chinese Zodiac Family Picture projects, exploring the Chinese zodiac animal signs within their own families. Through this activity, students learned the zodiac animal signs of their family members, discovered how the Chinese zodiac differs from the Western zodiac system, and became familiar with the names of the twelve Chinese zodiac animals. Students also enjoyed the fun and creative opportunity to design family portraits using Chinese zodiac animals instead of ordinary human family members. They created colourful family zodiac pictures using the animal signs of the Chinese zodiac.

During Education Week last week, a Mandarin activity was held where participants could have their English names translated into Chinese characters and Pinyin, the Chinese phonetic system, to learn how their names are pronounced in Chinese. Many students and families participated in the activity, and everyone enjoyed discovering how their English names sounded in Chinese. Participants also had the opportunity to try writing simple Chinese characters with Chinese calligraphy brushes, with both Miss Priest and Mr Males joining in. Thank you to everyone who took part and supported the activity.