Mandarin - Mr Su

Mandarin Newsletter – Week 4 Term 4 2022

Junior Level

In Term 4, the Prep classes have started a new language learning topic on animals, and students were encouraged to also recall the vocabulary of body parts that they learnt last term to describe different animals in Mandarin. In addition to that, Prep students have also explored some fundamental descriptive words such as ‘大big’ and ‘小small’, and they have been actively using them in the learning activities in the Mandarin sessions. The Year 1/2 classes have been exploring the topic of weather and learning how to tell day and time in short conversations. Students have also reviewed the vocabulary and expressions learnt in the past through a variety of language learning games in the first few sessions. 

Middle Level

Students from Year 3/4 classes have been actively exploring the cultural aspect of Chinese writing system and further developing their understanding of Chinese characters. Through the topic of Five Nature Elements in Chinese traditional culture, students have been learning the origin and structure of the key characters ‘金木水火土(metal/wood/water/fire/soil)’ along with a poem themed on Five Nature Elements that represents a brief worldview in Chinese traditional culture.

Senior Level

Extended from the school camp activity that Year 5/6 classes went for at the beginning of Term 4, students have been learning to read and tell a variety of sports in Mandarin. Along with learning the new vocabulary, students were also introduced to the sports illustrations from 2008 Beijing Olympic Games that were inspired by traditional Chinese calligraphy. We discussed the different styles of Chinese calligraphy and also tried to create our own ‘狂草wild cursive’ Chinese calligraphy style using the words we have learnt in the past.