Chinese is the world’s most spoken language, with nearly 1.5 billion speakers spread across East and South-East Asia. It is also one of the world’s oldest, with a written history of more than four thousand years, and its influence can be seen and felt throughout the Asian-Pacific region.
At the College, we teach Modern Standard Chinese (or “Mandarin”, as we often call it in the West).
At Year 9 level, the emphasis is on listening, reading, writing and speaking. AIM is used to conduct most of the class in Chinese. Time is also spent learning about China, its people, its places and its culture, the primary aim being to foster a knowledge of, an interest in and an understanding of a culture and people so ancient and so different from our own.
Year 9 Chinese assumes previous study of Chinese in Year 8.
Language Themes in Year 9 include appearance, transportation, future aspiration, travelling, food, social life, school, time and sports. Cultural themes include the history and geography of China, holidays, shopping, education and the common language.
By the end of Year 9, students should be able to:
pronounce, recognise and recall approximately 160 Chinese characters
translate simple and compound sentences from Chinese into English and from English into Chinese
recall and analyse information on a number of cultural topics relevant to China: its history, its people and its places.
The following areas of study are assessed:
There are also Semester 1 and 2 examinations.
Please see the booklist.