Curriculum Progress

Grade 1
The students can now sing several songs related to greetings and numbers. You are probably used to hearing ‘ni hao’, ‘zai jian’ instead of ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’.

They have also grasped some of the basic strokes which make up the Chinese characters. Common pictographic characters which serve as radicals are also introduced.

In the following months, we will cover ‘Colours & Fruit’ and ‘Food & Drinks’ as part of the integration with their POI units.

Other than new words related to the units, the students will also learn sentence patterns such as:

wo xi huan chi…. (I like to eat….)
wo xi huan he….(I like to drink….)

wo e le, wo yao chi….(I am hungry, I would like to eat….)
wo ke le, wo yao he….(I am thirsty, I would like to drink….)

They also learn to place ‘bu’ in front of the verb to negate the meaning:

wo bu xi huan chi…. (I do not like to eat….)
wo bu xi huan he…. (I do not like to drink….)

Similarly, they will use ‘hao chi/hao he’ to indicate that the food/drink is tasty and ‘bu hao chi/bu hao he’ when the food/drink tastes bad.

Pronouns and ‘Family Members’ are woven into these units to widen the scope of their conversation.

Grade 2
Following a quick revision on greetings, numbers and family members, the students will move on to the next units ‘People at School’ and ‘Places at School’.

Once they accumulate an adequate vocabulary, question and answer formats will be emphasized so as to enable them to be engaged in a conversation such as:

Q: ta shi shui? (Who is she/he?)
A: ta shi wo de han yu lao shi. (He/She is my Mandarin teacher.)
Q: ta yao shang nar? (Where is he/she going?)
A: ta yao shang ce suo. (He/She is going to the toilet.)

Subsequently, the students will also learn about the things in school for them to give a better account of their school life.

Grade 3
In the unit ‘My Birthday’ which covers dates and days of the week, the Grade 3 students will learn to read a calendar in Chinese. After which, they will design and create their very own calendar.

Following that, the unit ‘My Favourite Subject’ aims to enable them to talk about the school subjects and facilities.

We will round off the semester with ‘My Birth Place’ in which they learn about their friends’ nationalities and languages spoken in their countries.

Grade 4
Using the book ‘Chinese Made Easy’ as a basis, the students are learning about their family and school life. Particles and conjunctions are also taught to help them make more concise and meaningful sentences.

The units covered may seem to overlap with what they have learnt in their younger years, however, more reading comprehension is introduced and the students are also learning to write essays up to at least 50 words.

Grade 5
In preparation for Middle School, we try to align the curriculum with the Middle School’s curriculum.

We started the semester with the unit ‘A Day in School’ in which the students compare their school life with what their counterparts have in their home country. Following that, expressions about seasons and weather are introduced in the unit ‘My Holidays’. The last unit of the semester ‘Visiting a Friend’ will review and reinforce their knowledge on time and daily routines.

Cultural Event
This year, the Mid-Autumn Festival (Moon Festival) falls on 14 September (the actual day being the 15th day of the eighth lunar month). The full moon symbolizes reunion which is very important to the Chinese.

The upper grade students will be guided to do a research on the legends of the festival, while the younger ones will enjoy a story-telling session and have a feel of the festive mood by parading around the school with little lanterns.

Useful Websites
Below is a list of websites which will help to enhance learning. The students are encouraged to bookmark them and learn more at their leisure.

Oral Practice
1) http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/real_chinese/

2) http://www.chinese-tools.com/learn/chinese/contents.html

3) http://www.wku.edu/~yuanh/AudioChinese/

4) http://www.minmm.com/minc/classes.php

Writing Chinese characters
2) http://www.shuifeng.net/Pinyin.asp

3) http://www.zhongwen.com/shufa/index.html

4) http://www.csulb.edu/~txie/azi/page1.htm

5) http://www.usc.edu/dept/ealc/chinese/newweb/character_page.html

Mandarin Team