School Project - North Bridge House School, London, UK

We have had 2 tutors over our year learning Mandarin Chinese. Firstly Jinny, who had to leave us to return to China.  It was sad but interesting to think of her going back home.  Now we have Hsin teaching us.

To start with we learnt the tones and simple words. We like learning songs. Hsin has taught us ‘shu zi ge’, ‘zhou peng you’, ‘liang zhi lao hu’,’yi ge mu zhi’.  We have learnt about things you may take to school, family members, the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac Each Chinese New Year there is a new animal for that year.

We can also ask someone’s name, age and where they are from. We have practised characters too. It is different not to have an alphabet. Characters can seem really difficult to learn, but after a while you get to recognise certain patterns and are able to work out what they mean.  It is fun to draw them using a calligraphy brush and it makes them easier to remember. The lower prep recorded some of their work at the end of the summer term 2008. Have a listen below. They are looking forward to being able to speak more next year.