Forget the “Year of the Rat” it was all about the Dragon at our Chinese Celebrations last Tuesday! Well done Marks and Aaron on a very entertaining performance.
Happy Chinese New Year!
Links with China Blog
Girls on the Catwalk
Our P5 and P6 Girls love learning about Chinese Culture especially when they get to model these beautiful outfits!
Kung Fu Moves!
Our P6 boys demonstrating their Kung Fu moves with Mr Wan Li. Each move has an associated number which is an active way for the boys to learn to count in Mandarin.
YCT Presentations
Yesterday we were delighted to welcome back 33 former pupils with their Secondary School Principals and teachers to receive certificates for the YCT Level 1, which they sat in their P7 year.
The YCT is an international standardised test of proficiency in Mandarin, set by Hanban, the Department of Education, China. It assesses students’ abilities to use Mandarin through demonstrating their ability to understand and use some of the most common Mandarin phrases and sentences. The test is made up of two components, writing and speaking.
We are delighted to report that St. Mary’s students under the instruction of Mr Wan Li our Confucius Institute, Mandarin tutor, scored very highly on their papers, in fact well beyond the required pass mark!
Congratulations everyone, we were delighted to see you all again and hope that your experience of learning Mandarin at St Mary’s will promote a life long, love of languages.
Chinese Celebrations
Tomorrow we look forward to a wonderful morning of Global Learning as we celebrate Chinese New Year with Mr Cui and invited guests. Mr Cui has an exciting programme of entertainment planned, immersing us in Chinese culture. Pupils from P4, P5 and P6 will perform, as well as professional Chinese Artists, including musicians, dancers and Sichuan Opera, face changers!
To assist with P5 and P6 girls’ costume changes and P6 Kong Fu demonstrations all those pupils in P5 and P6 performing, may wear their PE uniforms.
In attendance will be 33 former P7 Pupils, (and their Secondary School Principals) whom we welcome back to receive their YCT Mandarin Level 1 certificates. In addition we will have representatives from SWC Confucius Hub, Mrs J. McDowell, Mrs L Beatty and Mrs F Cole.
We will take photos to share here with you, so watch this space!
Chinese Cultural Night
Congratulations to P6 and P7 pupils who entertained our audience with Chinese Poetry, Song and Dance during the very special YCT Certificate Presentation.
The pupils’ enthusiasm and enjoyment for learning Chinese Mandarin is always very evident during lessons but to hear the group sing, recite and dance so confidently for a large audience was truly magnificent! Well done to all!
There were special performances from our Chinese teachers Miss Yan and Ms Candice who recited a W.B. Yeats poem “When You are Old” in Chinese Mandarin. Miss Yan also played the Chinese Hulusi instrument.
Confucius Chinese New Year Art Competition Presentation
Congratulations to P6 pupil Moya who received 1st prize in the Confucius Chinese New Year Art Competition.
Moya was presented with her prize by Madam WANG Shuying, Chinese Consul General during a very special celebration ceremony in the Mac Theatre, Belfast.
Guests were entertained by the very talented Guangzhou Art Troupe who presented Lingnan Puppet, Cantonese Music and Cantonese Songs. A very memorable occasion for everyone.
Mandarin Exam
We are delighted to offer our P7 pupils the opportunity to sit the YCT Exam -Youth Chinese Test, Mandarin Level 1. This is a fully accredited exam through the Hanban/Confucius Classroom and on successful completion pupils will receive a certificate. Miss Mae and Miss Lai our Mandarin Tutors have worked hard since September to prepare everyone and are delighted with the progress made.
Whilst this is an optional exam we would encourage all P7 pupils to take part, they have access to the lessons via the school website following the thread:
International Links- Links with China- Chinese Lessons
The exam will take place during normal Mandarin Class time and pupils will have opportunity to recap on vocabulary before hand.
The cost/child to sit the exam normally £15 is being subsidised this year through the school’s International Project Fund, so the cost/pupil will be £10.
Every P7 has been given a note with the relevant information, please detach and return the reply slip and payment a.s.a.p.
Thank you
P7 Teachers.
China News-March 2016
Over Easter Miss Crawley and Miss Mulkerns travelled to the city of Zhouzhu in Hunan Province, China. There they visited Baihe Primary school, our partner school in the British Council funded, Connecting Classrooms Project. Whilst there they observed lessons, spoke with teachers and pupils and even helped out in some of the English Classes. The pupils performed traditional Chinese Opera and dance, demonstrated how to form some of the calligraphy characters used in Mandarin and took every opportunity to speak in English practising all the phrases they have been learning in class.
