WHAT’S UP? MANDARIN UPDATE

Kindergarten

Our little Kindy may be young, but they are on their way to becoming good story tellers in Mandarin!

In unit 3, our Kindy boys learn about animals in Mandarin. Not only have they learnt to say the names of the animals but they have also learnt to recognise the characters as well. But wait! There’s more! They have learnt how to read a story book in Chinese as well. Next time you are in Kindy classroom, pick up our big book and let your son read you a story in Mandarin!

Years 1 and 2

Who is the most famous caterpillar in the whole world? The hungry, green one!

In unit 3 Mandarin, the boys have learnt about the life cycle, the names of food and built up their knowledge of characters by recognising the radicals (A radical is the key component of characters).

Year 1 boys had the chance to venture out to look for the REAL caterpillars around the school. We found them crawling on the ground, in the process of building their cocoon, and one that was already in the cocoon. Inspired by those lovely caterpillars around the school, we made our own caterpillars…

Year 3 and Year 4

Our Year 3 and 4 boys are learning poetry appreciation. They are learning one of the most famous poems by one of the most famous and talented poets called 李白. Throughout the learning, the boys have acquired their knowledge of Chinese characters and have further developed their deep understanding of the poem.

We also started to put our knowledge to use by writing to Year 3 and 4 children at P’uma Elementary School in Taiwan. Some of the students from P’uma Elementary School came and visited our school on our LOTE day. Our boys wrote a short paragraph each to introduce themselves and the letters have been sent. We are now waiting to hear from them soon.

Year 5 and 6

With Mr C’s superb technical support and persistence, we took a baby step to connect with other similar age students outside Australia and put “international mindedness” into practice.

5B boys had their first video conference with the Principal at Wen Lin Elementary School in Taiwan. Boys greeted her and sang a song in Mandarin that they learned in the class. We were thrilled with the experience and would love to do it on a more regular basis.

Some of our creative Year 5 boys were inspired by our past students who won the Lingufest Award. Several teams are competing for the position to represent Newington College Lindfield to enter this year’s Lingufest in September. We look forward to seeing those films!

Eva Angel – LOTE Teacher