Due to the Coronavirus situation, all our classes will be offered online in Term 2. Please visit this page for details.

Class Details

In 2020 Chinese for Families classes will be held at Toorak Gardens and Seaton.

Term 1 Toorak Gardens Classes

Class location: Gartrell Church, corner Prescott Terrace and Alexandra Avenue

Beginners: Sat mornings 11.00 -12.15, 1 Feb to 4 April (no class 11 April)

Continuers: Sat mornings 9.30-10.45, 1 Feb to 4 April (no class 11 April)

Intermediate Level 1: Sat mornings 9.30-10.45, 1 Feb to 4 April (no class 11 April)

Intermediate Level 2: Thurs 4.30-5.45, 6 Feb to 9 April (no class 30 Jan)

Intermediate Level 3: Tues 4.30-5.45, 28 Jan to 7 April

Intermediate Level 4: Wed 4.30-5.45, 29 Jan to 8 April

For information on our Chinese Text Creation/Jiale Zhongwen Extension Classes please visit this page.

Seaton Classes

Class Location: Seaton Uniting Church, 41 Squires Avenue Seaton

Beginners: Sat mornings 11.00-12.15, 1 Feb to 4 April (no class 11 April)

Continuers: Sat mornings 9.30-10.45, 1 Feb to 4 April (no class 11 April)

Intermediate Level 3: Wed 4.30-5.45, 29 January to 8 April (no class 26 February)

About our classes

Beginners

The Beginners class is aimed at children aged 4 and up. It is run in Mandarin with English only used occasionally as required. Each lesson is carefully planned with many visual prompts so that children with no prior exposure to Mandarin are able to follow and gradually acquire language primarily through listening. Songs, stories and interactive learning are the core activities of our Beginners program.

The Beginners program is based on the first section of the My First Chinese Words set of 36 books story based curriculum. Children are also exposed to a thematically linked vocabulary set each term and develop their memory skills practising these through interactive games and activities. They listen to and practise answering simple questions each lesson. Our classes are activity based and children consolidate their learning each lesson with craft activities or games which consolidate the focus language. Children are introduced to a range of picture based characters and given time to gradually absorb them through memory games and craft activities. Making glittery characters remains an all time favourite!

Continuers

The Continuers class is run in Mandarin with English only used occasionally as required. Children learn through listening and responding, songs, rhymes and expand their repertoire of simple conversational questions and answers. The program is based on the My First Chinese Words set of 36 books curriculum and we finish the books in the series in this year. There are vocabulary sets each term and previous vocabulary is frequently reviewed.

Children’s listening and responsive skills are further developed as teachers spend more time each lesson interacting with the children in Mandarin and read them a wider range of extension stories. Children are introduced to a wider range of characters and start to read and write sentences. Each term children produce a simple booklet in characters. Booklets are read aloud in class time and can be taken home at the end of each term.

Intermediate Classes

The intermediate classes offer a clear pathway of upward learning progression for primary school aged children. They are open to children who have completed the Chinese for Families Continuers course or who have learnt Chinese elsewhere. The primary aims of the Intermediate classes are to:

develop students’ listening comprehension of an ever increasing range of sentence patterns and vocabulary
develop students’ ability to engage in spontaneous interaction in Chinese
develop literacy primarily through reading texts in Chinese characters
develop a solid foundation which will set students up for success in secondary Chinese language programs and beyond.

Each lesson follows a structured set of carefully designed learning activities including vocabulary practice in pairs, interaction, listening and reading of the lesson text and joint story creation. Students are exposed to both pinyin and characters. The My First Chinese Reader curriculum is used in the Intermediate classes. This reinforces and extends the listening and speaking skills the students have already developed and also provides a structured reading and writing curriculum.

Assessment and recognition of learning becomes more important and students become older. Preparing for internationally recognised Chinese language tests (YCT 1 and 2 and HSK 1) is one part of our Intermediate class curricula and students can then choose to sit the tests in their own time if they wish.

Costs and Resources

Chinese for Families

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