In 2024 the students in our Chinese Text Creation class will complete their final year after which the Jiale Zhongwen Chinese for Families project will conclude. Many thanks and much love to everyone who has been part of this journey. For those who are interested, the blogs, photos and videos below are a brief record of and reflection on this 17 year project.
Jiale Zhongwen’s “Chinese for Families” started in 2008 with one small class of children aged 4 to 5 and an action research question: “How much can children with little or no Chinese language knowledge learn in a one lesson a week language program?” Almost immediately it became evident children with little or no Chinese language knowledge could make significant progress in engaging and structured classes run mostly in Mandarin with the teacher using many techniques to support comprehension.
Over the next years the program expanded to include 8 different levels, each with its own tailored program and methodologies suited to the students’ age group and prior learning. Hundreds of students passed through our classes with up to 60 concurrent students and many students staying with us for four or more years. Many teachers came to observe our classes with more than ten undertaking training and working with us as teachers. While methodologies varied across the levels, key components in all classes were 1) the extensive use of interactive and comprehensible spoken Chinese, 2) stories: listening to stories, reading stories and co-creating stories, and 3) an open ended approach to literacy development with a primary focus on reading comprehension. While we made many of our own resources, the Better Chinese curriculum played a central role in the Beginners to Intermediate Level 4 classes and students in the Chinese Text Creation classes greatly enjoyed Mandarin Companion readers. The number of classes were reduced in 2023 and in 2024 one class of Chinese Text Creation students will complete their final year, after which the project will conclude.
Looking back on the past 16 years, many tangible successes and highlights come to mind.
The Jiale Zhongwen “Chinese for Families” project was also very enriching to me as the main teacher and director. Through this project I met many families of a range of backgrounds who were very keen for their children to learn Mandarin. I had the opportunity to teach the same students over a period of years and watch them grow not only in language proficiency but also as young people. Many classroom moments were pure joy, gems of deep connection, learning and laughter. I started with what I thought were ambitious learning goals only to find that the students could easily exceed them. I learnt that much more is possible than I had ever imagined. Many thanks to all the parents, students and teachers who were part of this project. It has been wonderful!
Jude at the last Chinese Text Creation class in 2019
Jude and Lewis have been regular students at our Chinese for Families classes for a number of years. Many thanks to their grandfather Larry Owens Emeritus Professor of Education from Flinders University (known to us as Larry) for writing this review of our classes.
I became interested in Chinese language as a result of work commitments over many years in Beijing and Shanghai. As Australia’s biggest trading partner, China is of immense importance to us and a greater understanding of Chinese language and culture is critical to us now and in the future. My oldest grandson, Jude (now 12 years old) was being home-schooled from his reception year and he needed to study a language as a part of his approved Australian curriculum. Fortunately, we found Belinda’s “Chinese for Families” (Jiale Zhongwen) which offered Chinese after school hours and on weekends. Belinda is a highly experienced teacher of Chinese language and she marries together an advanced theoretical knowledge of language learning with highly engaging classroom methodologies. With the help of the “Better Chinese” resources, Belinda and her staff provided an attractive teaching programme so that both my grandsons (the younger one, Lewis, now 8, also joined the classes) really looked forward to the weekly lessons. In fact, both boys have thrived, continually developing their reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. Jude is progressing through the Hanban official Chinese proficiency examinations, having achieved over 90% in both HSK1 and HSK2 (standardized tests of Chinese language achievement for non-native speakers). Lewis will begin these examinations in 2020. I can certainly recommend Belinda’s Chinese language programmes offered by her “Chinese for Families” classes.
Larry Owens, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Education, Flinders University
