Welcome back to 2021.  It was great to see the students looking happy to be back at school.  Grade 3 - 6s are learning Mandarin Chinese this semester and it will be the Preps to Grade 2s turn next Semester.  Students have their weekly language classes in their own classrooms.  This week, all the students are learning about the Chinese Animal Zodiac.  They were very keen on finding out what Zodiac animals they were connected to and all the information associated with them.

Preps, Grade 1s and 3s had a very busy two weeks learning Mandarin Chinese. Preps practised reading the Chinese numbers by playing a number game. They took turns to read numbers on the dice and then place the correct number of counters on their 10 frame.  The first person to finish was the winner of the game.

Grade 1s learnt to express their feelings in Chinese.  They made a paper puppet to tell someone how they felt.

Grade 1s revised the Chinese numbers from one to twenty.  They worked in groups where they had to read the numbers on the pegs and try to find the matching cards.

Grade 3s revised all the words and phrases learnt for the last two weeks by playing the Quizlet Live game.  They were getting very excited about competing with other teams.

This term, Preps, Grades 1 and 3 are learning Mandarin Chinese in their classrooms.  How exciting it was to see all the students back to face-to-face learning this week!! It was the first time for me to meet some of the Preps.  It was also great to see them looking so enthusiastic about learning a new language.  Grades 1 & 3 were also looking very happy about returning to school and are ready for the new term ahead of them.
Last week, students learnt about the annual Mid-Autumn Festival.  Students made these beautiful lanterns during home learning.

Due to planning and the change of timetable this week, I was able to teach the 2020 Prep students.  It was fantastic to see them getting really excited about learning Chinese.  They watched a dragon dance video and had a class discussion afterwards.  It was very special for a lot of students as they had never seen a dragon dance before.
Grade ones also had Chinese lessons this week.  They learnt about the rules of a 'Jianzi' game.  They had so much fun playing with their classmates in the undercover area and in the playground.

Grade 2 & 4 students have been learning about the story of the Chinese Zodiac.  They have also learnt the names of the animals in the story.  They had fun playing the Zodiac bingo game where they took turns to spin the paper wheel, say the words and find them on the bingo sheet. This is an excellent game where they learnt to work cooperatively and at the same time, they practised speaking and reading Chinese.

Grade 5 & 6s have been learning about how Chinese New Year is celebrated.  They are using Quizlet language games to practise matching the words from Chinese to English.  They especially enjoyed  competiting with other students in class and learning at the same time.

Welcome back to 2020, Year of the Rat.  It is believed that people born in the Year of the Rat are clever, playful, timid and love puzzles and games.
Students in Grades 2, 4, 5 & 6 are learning Chinese for 50 minutes per week during Semester 1 and Preps, Grades 1 and 3 will have their turn during Semester 2.
As our school has an extra grade this year, sadly we no longer have a Language room and Chinese will be taught in students home rooms.  My office is in the Grade 3 pods. 

Grade 3 students have learnt to describe family members.  They had fun participating in the speaking activity where they had to ask the quesion 'Ni you mei you ....?' (Do you have..?) in order to find as many matching words as they could.

Preps have been studying the story 'The Giant Turnip'.  They learnt to read the name of the characters in the story, practised singing the song 'Ba Luo Bo' and made a mini book to share with other classmates.

Grade 3 students used online resources and played a dice game to help them revise the words learnt on the topic of 'Birthday'.