Students are introduced to the fundamentals of Mandarin; pinyin, tones and Chinese Characters. Through an investigation into the building blocks of the Chinese writing system, students are encouraged to start reading and writing Chinese characters from the beginning. KS3 Mandarin follows the course set in the Textbooks Jinbu 1 and 2.

The curriculum explores a range of topics from family and pets to education and the environment to cover the broad aims below.

• To encourage an interest in Chinese language, history, culture and geography.  
• To introduce and explore the foundations of the Chinese language and its difference with European languages.  
• To focus learning on dialogic Mandarin, including talking about yourself and your family, opinions, and hobbies.    
• To introduce the main topics of the GCSE course, including describing your hometown, school, jobs and plans for the future.    

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Students follow the course laid out in AQA GCSE Chinese textbook in preparation for the GCSE exams in Year 11. Students study all the following themes on which the assessments are based.

Theme 1: Identity and culture: including family, relationships and technology, free time and free time.

Theme 2: Local, national, international and global areas of interest including the environment, poverty and homelessness.

Theme 3: Current and future study and employment including jobs, career choices and ambitions.