All the Nord Anglia Education schools in China have a strong focus on Mandarin. Over the past 10 years in China, we have been developing our Mandarin curriculum and teaching methods to suit the learning styles of international students. We have adopted a regional approach to Mandarin teaching. Our Mandarin teachers in Hong Kong will be fully supported by the experience of our teachers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, ensuring that your child receives the best possible Mandarin learning experience.
At NAIS, we use the
Mandarin Matrix reading resource. These comprise a collection of educational products (books and websites) that support Chinese language teaching both within and outside the classroom.
These books are used in the same way as the English language reading books that the children bring home and are used to support their language development. Along with the books, each pupil will have an online login to access the Mandarin Matrix website. This allows our teachers to set reading, comprehension and character writing and recognition activities at home. The teacher can then assess their progress online and feed this into their learning in the classroom.
Between Year 1-4, your child will be taught Mandarin daily (each class for Year 1 is 30 minutes long, increasing to 45 minutes from Year 2). This includes reading and writing using simplified characters, as well as singing and drawing to ensure learning is fun and engaging. Our small classes ensure that your child’s level of Mandarin will be supported and challenged, whether they are an absolute beginner or a more accomplished Chinese speaker.
From Year 5, pupils have the option to study both Mandarin and Spanish, moving to 3 lessons of Mandarin and 2 Spanish lessons per week or keep 5 lessons of Mandarin.
For absolute beginners of Chinese, pupils begin to learn basic greetings as well as everyday words and phrases they can use when out and about in Hong Kong. For children who are already fluent in Chinese, there is a greater focus of learning Chinese literature and character writing.