Mandarin Chinese

Why we teach Mandarin Chinese

Mandarin, the most spoken language in the world by nearly one-fifth of the world’s population, has become an increasingly important as a language of global business. By studying Mandarin at MVC, students become familiar with the fascinating culture and language of this historic and diverse country. All our students in KS3 have the opportunity to learn Mandarin using the booklets based on Jin Bu course books and are able to progress to take the GCSE course in year 10 and 11. MVC was the first school in the county to teach Mandarin to all students as part of the curriculum. It was also the first school in the county joined Mandarin Excellence Programme, which is a unique intensive language programme to give students an opportunity of exploring Chinese language and culture. We believe that the knowledge students gain by studying Mandarin will be of great value to them in Higher Education and employment. They will develop writing, speaking, reading and listening skills by studying a wide range of topics that enable them to have successful initial communication when visiting China on either business or pleasure.

KS3 Mandarin

Overview of content

Students will gain a general understanding of China and the Chinese language, be able to introduce themselves and talk about their name and their feelings. Students will be able to understand classroom instructions in Mandarin and begin to develop their ability to read Pinyin and tell the difference in the four tones.

 In Yr 7 we’ll be covering the following topics based on ‘Jing bu 1’ course, including:

• Greeting
• Introducing yourself
• Family and pets
• Birthday
• Hobbies you like and dislike
• Sports you can and can’t yet do
• Days of the week and diaries
• School subjects

Students in Year 8 who take Mandarin will follow ‘Jing bu 1 & 2’ course, including: 

• Time
• School timetable
• Class
• Nationality
• Food and drink
• Weather
• Places
• Transportation
• Appearance
• Room

Students in Year 9 who take Mandarin will follow ‘Jing bu 2’ course, including:

• Colours
• Clothes
• Daily routine
• My town
• Directions
• House
• Jobs
• Shopping
• Travel plans

While developing students’ communicative competence, the grammar knowledge necessary to achieve highly is integrated into these topic areas.

Yr 7  Programme of Study

Half term	Topics studied; skills and knowledge	How this will be assessed
Autumn - 1	Numbers; Age; Names, Greeting	Unit 1 Formal Assessment with four skills (Speaking; Listening; Reading & Writing) on the topics of 'Introducing and Greeting'
Autumn - 2	Family, Pets
Spring - 1	Calendar; Birthday	Unit 2 Formal Assessment with four skills (Speaking; Listening; Reading & Writing) on the topics of 'Family, pets and Birthday'
Spring - 2	Hobbies
Summer - 1	Sports; Diary	Unit 3 Formal Assessment with four skills (Speaking; Listening; Reading & Writing) on the topics of 'Hobbies and Sports'
Summer - 2	School subjects

Yr 8 Programme of Study

Half term	Topics studied; skills and knowledge	How this will be assessed
Autumn - 1	Current Time; Timetable; Class; Nationality	Unit 4 Formal Assessment with four skills (Speaking; Listening; Reading & Writing) on the topics of ‘School subjects and Timetable’
Autumn - 2	Food & Drink
Spring - 1	Daily Meals; Order Food	Unit 5 Formal Assessment with four skills (Speaking; Listening; Reading & Writing) on the topics of ‘Food and Drink’
Spring - 2	Weather; Country
Summer - 1	Place; Transportation; Year	Unit 6 Formal Assessment with four skills (Speaking; Listening; Reading & Writing) on the topic of ‘Travelling’
Summer - 2	Appearance; Rooms; Colours

Yr 9 Programme of Study

Half term	Topics studied; skills and knowledge	How this will be assessed
Autumn - 1	Clothes; Daily Routine; My Town	Formal Assessment with four skills (Speaking; Listening; Reading & Writing) on the topics of ‘Appearance & Daily Routine’
Autumn - 2	Directions; Everyday Expressions; Weekend Plans
Spring - 1	My House; Jobs	Formal Assessment with four skills (Speaking; Listening; Reading & Writing) on the topics of ‘House & Jobs’
Spring - 2	At the supermarket; Clothes Shopping
Summer - 1	Department Store; Online Shopping; Travel Plans	Formal Assessment with four skills (Speaking; Listening; Reading & Writing) on the topic of ‘Shopping’
Summer - 2	Visiting Beijing; Visiting Xi’an; Visiting Shanghai; Visiting Guangzhou

Homework

Each week student will be given homework which includes one page Chinese character practice sheet and one page of translation/reading and vocabulary practice. At this stage, students are highly encouraged to do the extension questions.

KS3 Homework Book 1: https://catrustorg.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/sites/MEL_Subjects_MN/Student%20Resources/KS3/KS3%20Homework/KS3%20Homework%20Book%201.pdf?csf=1&web=1&e=edIAX7

KS3 Homework Book 2: https://catrustorg.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/sites/MEL_Subjects_MN/Student%20Resources/KS3/KS3%20Homework/KS3%20Homework%20Book%202.pdf?csf=1&web=1&e=01l8Rg

KS3 Homework Book 3: https://catrustorg.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/sites/MEL_Subjects_MN/Student%20Resources/KS3/KS3%20Homework/KS3%20Homework%20Book%203.pdf?csf=1&web=1&e=Q5iYFU

Self-learning resources

In order to encourage students’ independent learning, each student is entitled to have free access to ‘Go Chinese’ website which contains abundant self-learning resources to consolidate four skills in Mandarin, especially the GCSE related practices as the preparation for the next year.

Vocabulary and Grammar Booklets

Each student will have Vocabulary and Grammar Booklet which covers all of the vocabulary and grammar points in all topics. Students can make good use of it for revision as well as the learning support in lessons.

KS3 Booklet 1: https://catrustorg.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/sites/MEL_Subjects_MN/Student%20Resources/KS3/KS3%20Booklets/KS3%20Booklet%201%20.pdf?csf=1&web=1&e=wfVHuK

KS3 Booklet 2: https://catrustorg.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/sites/MEL_Subjects_MN/Student%20Resources/KS3/KS3%20Booklets/KS3%20Booklet%202%20.pdf?csf=1&web=1&e=PbzdKt

KS3 Booklet 3: https://catrustorg.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/sites/MEL_Subjects_MN/Student%20Resources/KS3/KS3%20Booklets/KS3%20Booklet%203.pdf?csf=1&web=1&e=sTYmZv

Assessment

Each term students have assessments in all four skills over the course, for which they are expected to recycle the old languages they learned with the new ones.

KS4 Mandarin

AQA GCSE Mandarin (8673)

Overview of content

In Mandarin we aim to expend students' knowledge from Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 4 on Speaking, listening, reading and writing. We also introduce the culture and traditions of China and its society.

Programme of Study

Year	Half term	Topics studied; skills and knowledge	How this will be assessed
Year 10	Autumn - 1	Topics: Interests; Sports; My Town; Transportation; My Family Grammar: Question words; Three modal verbs; The use of ‘in addition to’; Means of transportation; Measure words; Frequency words Knowledge: Express personal opinions; Talk about personal interests and hobbies; How to use directions	Four skills (Speaking; Listening; Reading & Writing) assessments in GCSE format
	Autumn - 2	Topics: Jobs; Clothes and Colour; Shopping; Appearance Grammar: Complement word ‘de’; ‘Bounce back’ questions; Possessive word; future tense Knowledge: Provide options in a question; How to negotiate the price; How to express positive & negative comparison; How to form a superlative
	Spring - 1	Topic: Personality; Food and drink; Restaurant; Daily Routine; Class; Weather Grammar: The use of ‘although…but…’; Measure word; past tense; time words; The use of ‘Because… therefore…’; present tense; Days of the week Knowledge: Express an action has been completed; Explain cause and results; Express ‘would like to do something’; Describe the weather; Express two things are done at the same time	Four skills (Speaking; Listening; Reading & Writing) assessments in GCSE Foundation / Higher format
	Spring - 2	Topic: Country; Places; Holiday; Scenic spot Grammar: Future tense; starting and finishing point; time duration; past tense Knowledge: Express the distance of two places; Talk about something is just about to happen; Express past experiences
	Summer - 1	Topic: Body; Healthy; Sports Competition; Education; Plans for the future Grammar: Chinese word order; ordinal numbers; comparison; adverbs; coverbs Knowledge: Express personal opinions; Express the meaning of ‘apart from…also…’; Know how to compare two things	Four skills (Speaking; Listening; Reading & Writing) assessments in GCSE Foundation / Higher format
	Summer - 2	Topic: My hometown; Directions; Chinese poems Grammar: Directional complements; the use of ‘come’ and ‘go’; the use of ‘as soon as…then…’; ‘every’ with question word Knowledge: How to ask and give directions; Decoding information from Chinese poems; Build up writing skills
Year 11	Autumn - 1	Topic: Chinese traditions; Social media; Go to work; At home Grammar: Time duration; Time word ‘when’; Link word ‘both… and…’; Overview of modal verbs; two words for ‘or’; the use of progressive word; Overview of time phrases; Over view of complements; Prepositions Knowledge: Know Chinese culture and festivals; Express personal opinion; Make a conditional sentence; Express some quality or state is increasing with time; Talk about the sequence of a series of action; How to fill the application form	Four skills (Speaking; Listening; Reading & Writing) assessments in GCSE Foundation / Higher format
	Autumn - 2	Topic: Global issues; Entertainment and media; Common errors Grammar: Overview of grammar particle ‘le’; The use of ‘not only…but also…’; Action measure words; Overview of coverbs; Overview of conjunctions Knowledge: Talk about global issues and environment problems; Express the influence of social media; Know different common errors
	Spring - 1	Revision and preparation for examinations	Four skills (Speaking; Listening; Reading & Writing) assessments in GCSE Foundation / Higher format
	Spring - 2
	Summer	Period of Formal Examinations

Homework

Homework will be set once a week including paper homework and online practice through ‘Gochinese’ platform.

Each student has a homework book, a writing book, a speaking conversation book and an online learning account. Electronic copies of homework can be downloaded from the Student Sharepoint site.

How it is assessed

Mandarin is assessed by means of three written and one spoken exam at each term.

Skill	Tier	Time	Tier	Time
Speaking	Foundation	7-9 minutes	Higher	10-12 minutes
Listening	Foundation	35 minutes	Higher	45 minutes
Reading	Foundation	45 minutes	Higher	1 hour
Writing	Foundation	1 hour	Higher	1 hour 15 minutes

For speaking, each student has 12 minutes’ supervised preparation time, either Foundation or Higher.

For Listening, each exam includes 5 minutes’ reading time of the question paper before the listening stimulus is played.

Each paper is worth 25% of the marks for the course.

Students must take all four question papers at the same tier.

Learning outside the classroom

Students are encouraged to use ‘Quizlet’ to revise vocabulary and ‘Gochinese’ to practise listening and reading skills.

Parental support and extension

Students will benefit from your help and support through:

• Encourage your child to practice Chinese characters often with stroke orders.
• Make sure your child finishes his/her weekly homework and hand it on time.
• Encourage your child to use online learning platform such as ‘Quizlet’ & ‘Gochinese’
• Expose your child to Chinese culture such as celebrating traditional Chinese festivals and appreciating Chinese music and songs with him/her.

More information

All pupils are provided with photocopied booklets which cover all essential vocabulary and grammar. Electronic copies can be downloaded by students from the Sharepoint site.

KS4 Homework book:

 https://catrustorg.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/sites/MEL_Subjects_MN/Student%20Resources/KS4/GCSE%20Homework/KS4%20Homework.pdf?csf=1&web=1&e=rzhHS2

Speaking Conversation Book:

 https://catrustorg.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/sites/MEL_Subjects_MN/Student%20Resources/KS4/GCSE%20Homework/Speaking%20Homework%20Book.pdf?csf=1&web=1&e=IPiAk7

Writing Book (Foundation):

 https://catrustorg.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/sites/MEL_Subjects_MN/Student%20Resources/KS4/GCSE%20Homework/Writing%20workbook%20(Foundation).pdf?csf=1&web=1&e=l1RWbv

Writing Book (Higher):

 https://catrustorg.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/sites/MEL_Subjects_MN/Student%20Resources/KS4/GCSE%20Homework/writing%20workbook%20(higher).pdf?csf=1&web=1&e=haRWLI

Pupils may also benefit from using the AQA GCSE Chinese Textbooks for the course. The books are available from ‘Dragon Teaching’ website at a cost of £24.99 for textbook1 and £25.99 for textbook 2.

Everybody is somebody