1. Starting Young Challenges of teaching Chinese in KS1 and KS2
Lik Suen
Chinese Department
SOAS, University of London

2. 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)

3. Chinese Teaching in KS1 A supplementary towards a school’s curriculum
Arouse cultural curiosity
Improve cultural awareness
Integrate into school subjects

4. 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 !

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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.

8. Manage school teaching Teacher’s confidence and authority
Understand school routines.
Get familiar with sanctions and rewards rules.
Manage classroom behaviour.

9. 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……