Chinese – Years 7 and 8
Learning Objectives
In Years 7 and 8, students may be formalising their learning of Chinese or extending prior knowledge of Chinese language. This will be influenced by the extent of students’ backgrounds and prior experiences of language learning. They use Chinese to describe their personal worlds and interact and collaborate with teachers and peers within and beyond the classroom, including within their family and in their local community, if applicable. Listening, speaking, reading, viewing and writing activities are supported by scaffolding, modelling and feedback, as required. Background-language and first-language learners may work collaboratively to facilitate learning.
Students access authentic and purpose-developed spoken, written and multimodal resources which may include traditional and contemporary stories, conversations, audio and video clips, textbooks, advertisements, blogs and magazines. They may source texts and other resources from their local community to share with peers. They use their English and/or Chinese literacy knowledge of metalanguage to reflect on similarities and differences between Chinese and English language pronunciation, structures and features. They understand differences between using the Roman alphabet in English and Pinyin, and characters in Chinese, including the use of tones and how they affect pronunciation and meaning. They may access resources in simplified and traditional characters, and identify differences between these systems. They recognise that language choices reflect cultural identity, beliefs and values.
Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 8, students use Chinese language to interact and collaborate with others, and to share information and plan activities in a range of contexts. They respond to others’ contributions, and use culturally-appropriate gestures, questions and instructions in exchanges. They understand relationships between spoken and written forms. They interpret non-verbal, visual and contextual cues and translate and analyse information in texts. They respond in Chinese or English, and demonstrate understanding of context, purpose and audience in texts. They manipulate language and grammatical structures and features to create spoken and written texts. They apply their knowledge of script conventions in written texts.
Students apply tones, pronunciation and intonation authentically. They use Chinese conventions and rules for non-verbal, spoken and written communication. They compare aspects of Chinese and English language structures and features, using metalanguage. They reflect on and explain that the Chinese language is connected with culture and identity, and that this connection is reflected in their own language(s), culture(s) and identity.