Starting Young Challenges of teaching Chinese in KS1 and KS2 Lik Suen Chinese Department SOAS, University of London Email: lx@soas.ac.uk
Key Stage 1 & 2 Subjects English Maths Science ICT Design and Technology History Geography Music Arts Physical education Religions Education PSHE (Personal, Social, Health & Economic Education)
Chinese Teaching in KS1 A supplementary towards a school’s curriculum Arouse cultural curiosity Improve cultural awareness Integrate into school subjects
Language learning at KS1 Language learning is essentially a habit-forming process; Elementary stage is the important stage of habit-forming and it involves accurate observation, reproduction and imitation. Ear-training! Accuracy! Repetition! Learn by playing !
Chinese in KS1 Get sounds right! Get sentences right! Get natural language! Let’s speak! The phonetic transcript is not important Display characters whenever possible Pay attention to the structure of characters Music, songs, games and apps….. Cultural activities and events
Chinese teaching at KS2 ‘selected year group’ vs ‘school wide’ ‘regular slot vs ‘block slot’ ‘On timetable’ vs ‘off timetable club’ ‘Intensive MFL programme’ vs ‘cross-curricular elements’ Being assessed or not
Chinese teaching at KS2 Structure the Chinese curriculum within year groups and across key stages. Set medium-term planning with spiral learning and lots of repetition. Focus on listening and speaking but introduce other language skills, including character copying/writing. Minimal grammar. Cover daily common topics, prepare for KS3. Use multimedia sources and apps.
Manage school teaching Teacher’s confidence and authority Understand school routines. Get familiar with sanctions and rewards rules. Manage classroom behaviour.
Classroom Management an example How to get attention of the class Using noises: ring bells, tapping the desk, clapping, ask students to sit up straight… Using silence: folding arms, hands on hips, frowning or using puppets Key point: students need to know the rules at the very beginning……