The nature of the learners

Students continue to develop their bilingual and bicultural identities. They explore how their identities are changing through their lived experience in Australia, identifying points of difference between their own values and those around them. They engage with the possibilities that being bilingual offers them now and in the future, and reflect on their potential as mediators of language and culture in local and global communities.

Chinese language learning and use

Students are immersed in Chinese. They present, debate and discuss issues, exploring their responses, positioning themselves in relation to events, and recognising and accepting others’ diverse perspectives. 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.

Contexts of interaction

Students use language in a range of contexts across family, school, community and social situations to further develop their skills in communicating with range of audiences and contexts. They actively mediate between languages and cultures within their school and local communities.

Texts and resources

Students read, view and listen to a range of print, digital and online text types and resources, including newspaper reports, news websites, magazines, teen fiction, films and documentaries.

Features of Chinese language use

Students learn how to write objectively in simplified and traditional characters and substantiate their ideas and perspectives in appropriate ways. They learn to transcribe complex spoken texts and develop skills in listening to diverse speakers of Chinese who vary in rhythm and pitch. Students experiment with western genre conventions in their Chinese speech and writing and with ways of expressing and developing their ‘Chinese voice’ effectively for diverse audiences.

Level of support

Students develop their understanding of Pinyin. They use Pinyin and characters to transcribe the sounds that they hear in a range of contexts, for example transcribing song lyrics and noting details from spoken texts.

The role of English

Chinese is the language of classroom instruction and interaction. Students make comparisons between Chinese and English language and culture as their sophistication in both languages grows.