Chinese (Version 8.4)

Please select at least one combination of Pathway and Sequence to view the content
Please select at least one year level to view the content
Please select at least one Strand to view the content

Context statement

The place of the Chinese language and culture in Australia and the world
China's official language is Modern Standard Chinese, or Putonghua (the common or shared language) in Chinese.

Read More >>

PDF documents

Resources and support materials for the Australian Curriculum: Languages - Chinese are available as PDF documents. 
Languages - Chinese: Sequence of content
Languages - Chinese: Sequence of Achievement - Background Language Learner Pathway - F-10 …

Read More >>

Years 5 and 6

Years 5 and 6 Band Description

The nature of the learners

Students use their bilingual and bicultural capabilities and understandings within the world of their own experience and imagination and draw on some topics from other learning areas. They are extending their knowledge of language structure and of texts.

Chinese language learning and use

Students are immersed in Chinese across speaking, listening, reading, writing and viewing; where practicable, activities may include those designed collaboratively with teachers in other learning areas to provide opportunities for translating or interpreting. Students speak and write in Chinese to express their own interests. They begin to appreciate how their own language use compares to modern standard forms in terms of pronunciation, tone and rhythm. They consciously use aspects of grammar in their language learning and employ a range of implicit and explicit models in response to teacher prompting. They consider audience, purpose, and appropriate language choices in their cultural and communicative practices.

Contexts of interaction

Students actively communicate in Chinese in classroom, school, home and community environments. They begin to interact with other language users via the online environment and other digital forums.

Texts and resources

Students engage with visual media, music, cartoons, stories, games and documentaries. They use multimedia for researching, exploration and collaboration. They create a range of short imaginative, informative and persuasive texts.

Features of Chinese language use

Students learn to analyse new characters encountered in texts, with a focus on mapping these character forms to their known spoken language. Students make comparisons between societies, social structures and belief systems and explore how these are conveyed through language. They discover and discuss diversity in cultural identity and experience. Students explore the Chinese past through texts such as fables and classical stories. Written language use includes reading and comparing Chinese and English children’s literature.

Level of support

Correct Chinese language use continues to be modelled by the teacher to support students’ oracy and literacy development. Texts often have Pinyin glossaries or include vocabulary lists to support learning.

The role of English

English is used to compare languages and explore complex ideas related to language, culture, learning and concepts from other learning areas.


Years 5 and 6 Content Descriptions

Socialising

Interact and socialise with peers and known adults, exchanging ideas and opinions about personal experiences and social activities

[Key concepts: place, identity, community; Key processes: negotiating, transacting, arranging] (ACLCHC145 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Ethical Understanding
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • engaging others in conversation and inviting responses on issues relevant to their lives, such as traditional and modern lifestyles and values, and language learning by asking questions such as 你知道澳大利亚的国宝是什么吗?你觉得什么最好玩?
  • participating in class and school debates, acknowledging others’ opinions and presenting own with examples and personal experiences, for example, 虽然你说得很有道理,但是如果我们再想一想,如果你也经历过… 那么你也会同意…
  • using social media to maintain contact with classmates and record events in everyday life, by keeping a weekly or daily journal or blog, recording highlights of school or home life or leisure activities (for example, 今天我的足球队又输了,真没劲!), or a holiday experience, for example, 袋鼠岛游记
  • describing and elaborating on details of experiences in correspondence, for example, 这次暑假过得很愉快,我们全家去了巴厘岛。在那儿,我们天天在海边,有时候冲浪,有时候散步
  • composing text messages, emails, letters using appropriate formats and employing appropriate terms to address recipient, for example, 敬爱的王老师 (for a formal letter), 嘿,小王,最近好吗 (for a casual letter or message)
  • responding appropriately to invitations, including by accepting and declining, for example, 谢谢你的邀请,祝你生日快乐。但是我星期日要…对不起,不能参加你的聚会。希望你玩得高兴
Take action, resolve issues, make shared decisions and organise shared experiences

[Key concepts: place, identity; Key processes: interpreting, negotiating, selecting] (ACLCHC146 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Numeracy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • collaborating to decide on a menu for a class lunch and negotiating items, prices and delivery with a local restaurant, for example, 大家都喜欢吃春卷,那么每个人一个春卷,我们需要二十五个
  • locating suppliers of Chinese learning materials through websites and other sources, for example, 你这本书是在哪儿买的?我们班要买一套图书,中国城的那家中文书店怎么样? to select a class set of readers
  • listening to or viewing community media such as local Chinese radio or television, and participating in advertised activities, for example, a singing competition or locally organised events
  • researching and arranging a visit by an expert (such as a calligrapher or a taiji master) to visit class and share knowledge to promote Chinese learning in school community
  • captioning bilingual posters to promote community events (such as Chinese New Year celebrations, lion dance performances, visiting performers) and school activities, such as cultural days, assembly items or grandparents’ day
  • creating posters and fliers to promote cultural events to the local Chinese community, such as 悉尼艺术节,XXX音乐剧
  • producing a paragraph in the school newsletter to promote an upcoming event

Informing

Locate and compare factual information from different sources about different communities and lifestyles

[Key concept: lifestyle; Key processes: informing, selecting] (ACLCHC147 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • viewing TV programs, documentaries or interviews with young people such as 《智慧树》, discussing the participants’ experiences and comparing with own life experiences
  • investigating aspects of life of Chinese communities overseas, for example, web-chatting with relatives overseas to find out more about own family origins, history or circumstances
  • identifying and selecting visual sources (for example, 优酷, and comparing and contrasting different perspectives on issues, such as how children in different locations in China describe their school experience
  • following an instructional video in order to complete an action collaboratively, for example, watching 如何画中国画, or preparing for a cultural celebration by following video procedures on how to 包粽子 for 端午节
  • representing information in a new format, for example, watching a TV cooking show then converting each step into a written recipe with essential information including ingredients and quantities, and amount of time required
  • selecting appropriate resources to research a topic of interest such as a major place, person or event in Chinese history, and identifying key information to share with others
  • researching a topic by analysing what information is needed, employing Chinese search engines to access a range of sources of information online, and choosing the most suitable sources, for example, 这个网站看上去像正规网站吗? 这个网站是官网吗?
Plan and present key points of information to familiar audiences

[Key concept: social action; Key processes; presenting, conveying] (ACLCHC148 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • developing informed opinions to share with others, giving examples (for example, 澳大利亚人说很多语言,比如英语,汉语,法语等等) and comparing information, for example, 中国人口比澳大利亚的多)(我觉得我们应该帮爸爸妈妈做家务
  • working in teams to prepare and present an oral presentation, supported by digital media, related to own school or community or on topics of interest, for example, endangered animals, popular singers in Asia
  • preparing and creating a video clip to share with peers overseas introducing aspects of local culture, including interesting places, history, famous people, and lifestyle, for example, 墨尔本的电车
  • producing a digital display containing text and images to present a personal perspective on life in Australian schools to share with peers overseas
  • creating poster displays using graphics, photographs and illustrations to document and convey ideas related to topics of interest, for example, their country of origin, family tree or favourite sports team
  • collaborating with others to prepare a report for a school or community newsletter about Chinese language learning experiences or activities at day school and community school

Creating

Respond to popular stories and characters from Chinese folklore, sharing opinions on aspects of the storyline, characters and themes

[Key concepts: significance, tradition; Key processes: comparing, responding, creating] (ACLCHC149 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Ethical Understanding
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia
  • exploring various forms of Chinese popular culture in audio or visual media, including 流行歌曲、电影、电视剧、娱乐新闻, appreciating stylistic devices used in popular song lyrics, such as 重复, and comparing them to English songs
  • comparing popular performance across cultures and generations, evaluating performances with attention to the aesthetic values and the influence of Western and Asian popular culture, and comparing the content and language, for example, 我妈妈最喜欢的中文歌是…这首歌唱的是…我最喜欢的中文歌是… …内容和我妈妈喜欢的歌不一样
  • recognising the influence of traditional culture on modern popular entertainment, for example, considering the use of traditional instruments in popular songs, the composition of modern songs from well-known traditional poems such as 《水调歌头•中秋》, and the representation of traditional symbolic meanings such as 孝顺 (filial piety), 礼让 (out of courtesy or thoughtfulness) in modern performances
  • reading children’s literature, including fables and traditional stories; exploring values and morality tales such as the concept of 寓意 in 动画片,小人书; and comparing values and morals conveyed through texts across cultures, such as 凿壁偷光,塞翁失马 (你能找到英语中类似的说法吗?你觉得澳大利亚人理解这个故事的寓意吗?)
  • reading extracts from culturally significant children’s literature, discussing their personal responses to the characters and storyline, and writing a journal to relate the story to personal experience or express empathy for characters involved
Create short narratives to express the experiences, thoughts and emotions of individuals in imagined contexts

[Key concepts: character, emotion; Key processes: comparing, responding, creating] (ACLCHC150 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • recounting an imagined encounter with a famous person, or reproducing a scenario where cultural misunderstandings create a humorous outcome
  • collaborating to create dramatic performances to retell classic Chinese stories, such as 《负荆请罪》, or famous stories in other cultures, such as 《丑小鸭》
  • creating narratives to describe imagined experiences, for example, a trip to China, including a visit with a homestay family or an adventure on the Great Wall, or the experiences of a Chinese student visiting Australia
  • creating stories in various literary styles (for example, 记叙文、散文、诗歌), experimenting with descriptive language to convey the intensity of characters’ emotions, and events , using written styles of language, for example 我看到好多漂亮的花,有粉红的,雪白的,真是太美了

Translating

Identify and account for the potential loss of subtle meanings from character components and individual characters in compounds when translating into English

[Key concept: meaning; Key processes: translating, interpreting, negotiating meaning] (ACLCHC151 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • reading Chinese texts such as advertisements and signs that include the translation of some words or phrases, and engaging in class discussion about the merits of translations and alternative ways of representing the meanings expressed in the texts
  • reading children’s stories in bilingual form and reflecting on ideas expressed in Chinese and English which may not be readily translated and discussing possible reasons for this
  • observing interactions between speakers of Chinese and attempting to describe the interaction in English, discussing personal interpretations of the meanings conveyed and the cultural messages implicit in the interaction, for example, watching an interaction between a teacher and students in China and contrasting with their own experience in Australia
  • explaining culture-specific concepts such as humility (谦虚) to people from different cultural backgrounds, including examples of when and how 谦虚 should be shown and how it is understood by participants of the communication, for example, when accepting/rejecting appraisal
Create simple bilingual texts for different audiences, explaining features of the different versions and the impact of context

[Key concepts: audience, context; Key processes: identifying, translating, interpreting, negotiating meaning] (ACLCHC152 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • acting as interpreter for visitors from diverse backgrounds and communicating their message to speakers of other languages, applying strategies such as clarifying, rephrasing and explaining when mediating cultural concepts
  • using a range of resources to assist in creating a Chinese translation of a text, exploring the functions of print and digital translation tools and discussing their strengths and weaknesses

Reflecting

Reflect on the benefits of learning Chinese and English in both Chinese and English interactions

[Key concepts: place, biculturalism, identity; Key processes: observing, explaining, reflecting] (ACLCHC153 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • noticing and reflecting on how interacting in Chinese feels different to interacting in English, and identifying ways of communicating or behaving that appear culturally specific
  • discussing language choices expected or required in diverse contexts across languages, for example, apologising, congratulating, expressing thanks, declining, rejecting, complaining
  • engaging with Chinese peers in diverse contexts, identifying situations in which misunderstanding or miscommunication occurs and exploring strategies to overcome these
  • recognising signals within an interaction that require adjustment of language choices

Systems of language

Recognise the use of tone, intonation and stress of words to express emotion, opinion and attitude (ACLCHU154 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • reading aloud printed information with attention to pronunciation and tone
  • recognising syllable changes in speech, including change of tonal value and tone sandhi, such as 不要
Recognise the contextual meanings of individual syllables or characters to assist comprehension and vocabulary development, and explain the form and function of components in individual characters, for example, 心,想,情,闷 (ACLCHU155 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • inferring the meaning of unfamiliar characters by identifying familiar semantic and phonetic components of compound characters, and using contextual clues to map the form of characters to sound and meaning
  • using digital tools to write a specific character, and finding out its pronunciation by using online dictionaries
  • writing characters with correct structure and proportion when writing with and without 田字格, and discussing issues with remembering and reproducing individual components in characters, for example, discriminating between characters such as 冒、昌…
  • exploring a range of fonts in digital form and personal styles of writing, and appreciating the aesthetic value of calligraphy, including 硬笔书法
Understand and use basic structures and features of Chinese grammar to enhance meaning and clarity of expression (ACLCHU156 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • recognising grammatical functions of common suffixes and prefixes to assist comprehension in reading, for example, recognising that 子, 者, 家 are noun suffixes (for example, in 书法家、数学家)
  • discriminating between the contextual meanings of characters with multiple meanings, such as in 家人 and in 画家
  • recognising words that reflect particular cultural understandings, for example, 天气 means ‘weather’ but literally translates as ‘sky’s energy’
  • explaining the function of words and structures in language encountered, for example, in the sentence 我早上看见了两只猫 indicates the completion of an action in the past
  • exploring and beginning to build more complex messages, such as using forms of cohesion, and finding ways to generalise or nominalise ideas, for example, 因为… 所以 …, 虽然… 可是…, 不但… 而且…, 总而言之/总的来说
  • recognising the different focus and purpose of alternative sentences, for example, 他把杯子狠狠地扔在地上 and 杯子被狠狠地扔在地上
  • understanding that there are different applications of grammatical rules in spoken and written language, for example, in ordering food (for example, comparing the structure of the following expressions: 来点儿什么菜?; 您吃点儿什么?;你想吃/要吃什么?; 你想吃海鲜炒饭吗?; 海鲜炒饭要吃吗?)
  • differentiating use of grammar based on context, for example, using sentences with more formal structures in report writing
  • recognising terms and expressions used in formal written styles, for example, 首先,其次,最后 rather than 先…后来…后来…
Recognise and apply conventions of personal texts and compare textual features of different texts (ACLCHU157 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • exploring metaphorical and literal meaning in texts, for example, 远远的街灯亮了,像是闪着无数的明星
  • analysing rhetorical devices in texts, including 比喻、夸张、排比; identifying culturally specific features such as 日月如梭,难于上青天; and experimenting with rhetorical devices in own speech and writing

Language variation and change

Differentiate key features and apply rules for expressing meanings in spoken and written modes in diverse contexts (ACLCHU158 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • identifying variability in language used in a variety of contexts, for example, at the supermarket, at the doctor’s surgery, or when visiting a friend or relative
  • recognising language reflecting different levels of formality, such as 爷爷 and 祖父, and using language to reflect formality appropriate to context, for example, l and 非常疲惫
  • using words and expressions reflecting their interlocutor’s seniority and authority, for example, 您老敬请?
  • analysing language use to identify degree of intimacy or distance between participants, for example, 咱俩、我们、我和您
  • differentiating oral and written styles of language, for example, 我要吃好吃的。中国有很多美食
Explore the impact of English on everyday communication in Chinese and the impact of Chinese on English (ACLCHU159 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • exploring language ‘borrowing’, such as English words ‘borrowed’ from Chinese (for example, ‘yum cha’ and ‘kung fu’) and the impact of English on Chinese language use today, for example, 考拉、汉堡包
  • analysing the impact of languages on one another such as 他写着作业 (他在写作业。) and 白了 which sounds like ‘bye’
  • exploring the impact of English on Chinese language use, such as recognising transliteration in Chinese, for example, 可口可乐

Role of language and culture

Explore particular cultural meanings conveyed in everyday interactions across languages (ACLCHU160 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • exploring origins of 成语 and 歇后语 encountered in texts such as 朝三暮四,姜太公钓鱼, and using fixed phrases to share or convey a cultural idea in own writing, for example, 塞翁失马,笨鸟先飞
  • exploring how the languages that people know can impact on the way they communicate in other languages, for example, the use and frequency of ‘thank you’ and 谢谢 is a sign of westernisation, whereas in Chinese it is not used as often as overuse indicates distance between participants in interactions
  • exploring how cultural concepts of family and the importance of one’s sense of connection to others influence use of language, for example, in the greeting 阿姨好! (‘Hello, Aunty!’), where ‘aunty’ may be a colleague of their mother’s and a total stranger to the child

Years 5 and 6 Achievement Standards

By the end of Year 6, students use spoken and written Chinese to maintain interactions with familiar and unfamiliar people across a growing range of situations (for example, 你星期几去汉语学校?,你说…对吗?); to convey information, opinions and experiences (for example, 我喜欢踢澳式足球,你呢?); and to access a range of print and digital media resources, such as 童书,报纸,画册,科学书,传单,广告, 教材,地图. They write characters, paying attention to shape, and stroke order and proportion. They transcribe spoken words and sentences in Pinyin and select simplified characters to match the sounds they hear. They use stress, tone and intonation to express emotion and opinion. They respond to and create a range of short informative, persuasive and imaginative texts for diverse audiences and purposes. They relate their own experiences to those presented in texts, for example, 《如果我是…》. They create sentences that include prepositions (给 、跟 、对) and possessives and attributive clauses with particle . They use a range of verbs, and use verb complements to describe the direction, result or potential of an action. They use conjunctions (for example, 可是、或者、因为、除了)to connect ideas and elaborate on or clarify opinions and actions. They explain how their developing bilingual ability supports their identities as users of Chinese and English.

Students explain the nature of Pinyin and apply it to their own speech. They categorise characters into groups based on meaning, appearance, pronunciation or function and apply this information to new characters. They compare the word order of Chinese sentences with that of English, and identify how their knowledge of English impacts on the way they express ideas in Chinese. They describe how the features of Chinese and English texts are used to convey meaning.