The nature of the learners

Students whose first language is Chinese learn about being Chinese in Australia and begin to develop their bilingual and bicultural identities as they learn to live and interact with the Australian community.

Chinese language learning and use

Students are immersed in Chinese, with the teacher using Chinese for instruction, explanation and interaction. Learners speak and write in Chinese to express their own interests and describe and discuss their life experiences in diverse contexts. To develop oracy and literacy, learners build metalinguistic awareness across both Chinese and English, identifying similarities and differences in language systems and framing. Given the high value placed on recital in Chinese culture, students are likely to have begun to develop this skill, and it should be further developed as part of their progress towards becoming high-level users of Chinese in a range of contexts. Students consciously apply a working knowledge of Chinese language systems to their language use in order to understand why they make certain choices in interactions and to access a wider range of written texts.

Contexts of interaction

Students use language in a range of contexts across family, school, community and social situations. They actively participate in the wider Chinese community, both locally and globally. They learn to adjust their communication for audience and purpose.

Texts and resources

Students access Chinese texts written in both simplified and traditional characters to obtain information on a range of subjects which support their learning in other areas. They engage with contemporary culture through film, music, and youth magazines, and use online and digital resources. They engage with traditional and contemporary Chinese language literature to enhance their appreciation of literary styles. They read texts in both simplified and traditional characters, comparing forms and identifying how key components are altered or transferred, and use this understanding to make informed predictions of meaning when they read new characters in the form that is less familiar to them.

Features of Chinese language use

Students use Chinese to write and speak with imagination to engage or persuade peers, justifying their perspectives by drawing on ideas or experiences of others. They apply linguistic expressions encountered in contemporary and traditional literature to develop their own ability to write in more expressive and creative ways while increasing accuracy in their use of simplified and traditional characters.

Level of support

First language learners often have limited experience of Pinyin but may use other romanisation systems. First language learners transcribe Pinyin and character texts from the sounds that they hear, with the support of Pinyin tables and component lists as required.

The role of English

Students make comparisons between Chinese and English as they develop their literacy and oracy skills in both languages.