Chinese (Version 8.4)

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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.

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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 …

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Years 9 and 10

Years 9 and 10 Band Description

The nature of the learners

Students have prior experience of learning Chinese and bring a range of capabilities, strategies and knowledge that can be applied to new learning. They are expanding the range and nature of their learning experiences and of the contexts in which they communicate with others. They have a growing awareness of the wider world, including the diversity of languages, cultures and forms of intercultural communication. They are considering future pathways and prospects, including how Chinese may feature in these.

Chinese language learning and use

The systems of writing and speaking in Chinese are distinct. Learners analyse how messages are conveyed across languages and apply their skills in mediating between languages and cultures. Classroom discussions focus on exploring and extending learners’ understanding of contexts and audiences to enhance their personal communication skills. Students access information and explore texts written in Chinese, developing strategies to interpret meanings where not all characters are known.

Contexts of interaction

Students interact with a range of known and unknown participants locally and globally, engaging in discussions about issues of personal interest (for example, relationships at home and school) and developing their ability to speak with confidence, experimenting with flow emphasis and stress to enhance their message.

Texts and resources

Students explore a range of text types, including informative digital media texts, opinion pieces and news, narrative fiction and non-fiction, short videos, TV programs and music. They learn to interpret, create, evaluate and perform different types of texts, such as procedural, persuasive and narrative, across a range of domains.

Features of Chinese language use

Students reflect on their understanding of and responses to their experiences when communicating across cultures. They construct blogs to post online, correspond with others by text message and email, and compose short texts on a range of issues for different audiences and purposes. They use creative, expressive and persuasive language in advertisements and posters relating to contemporary issues or events. They work collaboratively to exchange information and ideas and to share their life experiences with other Chinese speakers around the world.

Level of support

Students continue to develop their communication skills with increasing autonomy while drawing on diverse forms of scaffolding and models, including word lists, digital dictionaries, and teacher advice and support as required.

The role of English

Some explanations and reflection are necessarily carried out in English but learners at this level are able to express some complex concepts and reactions in Chinese.


Years 9 and 10 Content Descriptions

Socialising

Interact and socialise with known and unknown participants in familiar contexts to plan and arrange events, and exchange feelings, opinions and preferences

[Key concepts: leisure, neighbourhood, education, time, space; Key processes: planning, arranging, negotiating] (ACLCHC097 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • introducing self, peers, friends and familiar adults in conversation (for example, 这位是王校长; 这是小王; 这是王一飞) and responding to such introductions, for example, 你好,小王,我是…
  • stating opinions on school and family life, familiar people, experiences and significant personal events (for example, 我最喜欢圣诞节), and indicating preferences with reasons, for example, 我想去看…电影, 因为听说这个电影很好看
  • discussing topics of interest, such as music, TV programs or sports; and asking questions to seek information and opinions, request repetition, clarify meaning (for example, 你说你的生日是明天,是吗?) and enhance mutual understanding, for example, 我不太喜欢听流行音乐,我更喜欢摇滚乐,因为摇滚乐很有力
  • expressing apology, appreciation or gratitude in diverse ways, and comparing practices across contexts, for example, considering which term to use in various situations and depending on the relationship between participants (谢谢;辛苦你了; 麻烦你了; 真对不起; 非常感谢)
  • initiating activities among peers, such as 汉语角 to promote Chinese learning in school, and arranging a time and location for this activity, for example, 我们可以星期二练习说汉语。我们可以在教室,或者在电脑室
Correspond with peers and teacher, exchanging ideas, negotiating decisions and inviting others to participate in collective action

[Key concepts: travel, environments, community; Key processes: corresponding, exchanging, deciding] (ACLCHC098 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • corresponding with others via social networking sites, exchanging personal information and requesting information, for example, 你是哪国人?你喜欢学习汉语吗?
  • sharing information about life in diverse environments, expressing ideas with elaborated details to enhance meaning and engage readers, for example, 今天太冷了,只有零下五度,还下雪,只能在家呆着
  • sharing opinions about school or family life, including 我的学校,我的老师,我的好朋友, 我的一家人, and linking ideas to explain and support a particular position or view, for example, 我的姐姐不但喜欢音乐,而且也很喜欢体育, 我除了踢足球以外,还打板球。我觉得运动很有意思
  • reading promotional material on topics such as healthy eating, and creating similar texts in Chinese to convey the meaning to Chinese readers, for example, 每天吃五份蔬菜,两份水果
  • identifying unacceptable behaviours at school and devising a set of posters or signs in Chinese to remind people of school expectations, for example, 爱护花草,请安静, 可回收物/不可回收物,关闭手机

Informing

Locate and compare perspectives on people, places and lifestyles in different communities, from a range of spoken information texts, and convey this information to others

[Key concepts: representation, time, leisure; Key processes: processing, informing, stating] (ACLCHC099 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • documenting specific details of events, customs and lifestyles obtained from diverse sources (for example, video clips and face-to-face interviews), and summarising the information in order to form a balanced view to share with others
  • listening to and viewing texts (for example, celebrity interviews, news reports and documentaries on tourist hot spots) and obtaining gist by focusing on familiar, anticipated items in a flow of words, such as names of people and places, time and date, attitude and opinions
  • using dictionaries and other support materials to identify key words, for example, identifying the likely meaning of 七夕 when they hear 农历七月七日是七夕
  • interviewing teachers or other familiar adults about their experiences (for example, 他小时候每天都骑自行车) and presenting this information to the class, quoting the source of information, for example, 有人说;她告诉我
  • producing multimodal presentations to deliver information about aspects of leisure activities, education or community life (for example, 澳大利亚的运动), and expressing opinions and perspectives, using data and examples to support ideas, for example, 我觉得这个电影很没意思,因为…而且… 所以…
  • presenting information to others with awareness of audience and context, for example, making appropriate language choices when presenting to adults as compared with presenting to peers
Locate and organise information on topics of interest from a range of written sources to develop a position, and convey this position to a familiar audience in a range of texts

[Key concepts: representation, time, leisure, community; Key processes: selecting, organising] (ACLCHC100 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • reading tourist brochures and websites detailing lifestyles in diverse locations in the Sinophone world, identifying features of local lifestyles that reflect modernity or tradition, and evaluating the information for relevance, appropriateness and significance
  • developing an information kit, supported by visuals, about their local city or region to provide to Chinese visitors via a local tourism website, including details on history, climate, environment, and cultural activities
  • composing short texts to report on topics of interest (for example, 中国的茶-澳洲咖啡), providing a range of alternative views on the subject, for example, 有人说…也有人说…他们都不知道...所以…

Creating

Respond to imaginative texts by stating how themes such as relationships, image and acceptance are portrayed, and create own performances to express ideas on personal experiences of these themes

[Key concepts: experience, emotion, beauty, character; Key processes: viewing, listening, responding, creating] (ACLCHC101 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • sharing opinions on language used in contemporary media for young people, including music videos and TV series, for example, 我很喜欢学这首歌,它的歌词很美
  • explaining meaning of scripts and lyrics, and recognising how feelings/emotions are expressed in ‘subtle’ ways through the use of stylistic devices or symbolism, for example, 月亮代表我的心
  • comparing how the theme of love is represented across different imaginative texts in both Chinese and English, and discussing personal responses, for example, 我觉得这个故事很像…。我不喜欢…因为他…,如果他像…一样,那么…
  • identifying how media convey a sense of ‘right’ and purpose in the lives of young people and expressing own opinion (for example, 我觉得他是好人,因为他帮助老人) and reactions to the situations and contexts represented, for example, 如果我是她; 我觉得他最好…
  • portraying a scene from a familiar narrative (for example, creating a skit or short play recounting an event from a well-known novel) and considering how the main characters represent their experiences and express their emotions through their interactions
  • creating a Chinese voiceover for a scene from an English language sitcom, experimenting with ways in which language, image, behaviour and humour are used to enhance meaning and entertainment
  • collaborating to create short performances, for example, a skit about celebrating Spring Festival, a simple lyric for a song about school life, or a rap about being a student of Chinese
  • collaborating to develop an imaginative promotional video to post on a website to sell an innovative product or service, such as a Chinese-speaking toy panda or a peer tutoring service
Respond to and create or adapt simple narratives that describe experiences and characters from folk tales or popular fiction

[Key concepts: experience, adventure, journeys, fantasy, description; Key processes: responding, describing, adapting] (ACLCHC102 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • composing a creative account of an imagined experience with Chinese visitors to the local community, for example, hosting a Chinese student or taking a tour group to a local sporting event
  • creating narratives that hold the attention of readers (for example, beginning a story with 你知道吗?), experimenting with 正叙,倒叙,插叙 to sequence events and using descriptive language to set the scene
  • collaboratively creating short plays describing the experiences of imagined characters in different cultures, for example, 《James在上海
  • exploring how alternative words can be used to convey varying degrees of emotion and attitude towards people, places and events, for example, 我真高兴。你快乐吗?他很幸福!
  • taking on a role in a story and retelling the story from one character’s perspective, describing their feelings and emotions, for example, 我真高兴! 太棒了! 哎哟,吓死我了!

Translating

Translate simple modified Chinese texts and familiar interactions in different contexts, identifying alternative ways to interpret meaning

[Key concepts: respect, directness and indirectness, representation; Key processes: translating, interpreting] (ACLCHC103 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • translating intended meaning of an interaction by avoiding literal (word-for-word) translations (for example, mediating a response to a compliment such as 你的衣服真漂亮。 ---- 哪里哪里!) and recognising that meaning may be implied rather than stated explicitly, for example, the use of to indirectly reject or refuse others in 我能来看看你吗? --- 不太好吧?
  • comparing word choices for public signs across languages, and discussing ways language is used to convey rules, expectations and permission, for example, comparing 闲人免进 to ‘Staff Only’
  • considering the uses of different measure words in Chinese (for example, 小勺 and 茶匙;斤 and ) when comparing several Chinese translations of the same recipe
Mediate descriptions of Chinese and Australian life, identifying what experiences and ideas are not readily translated between cultures

[Key concepts: equivalence, assumption; Key processes: translating, interpreting] (ACLCHC104 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • analysing Chinese texts alongside their English translations to identify the challenges of translating culture, and developing strategies to overcome these challenges, by asking: What is lost in translation? Why can’t we just translate word for word? Why does context matter?
  • reading bilingual signs in places such as restaurants, shops, pools, schools, hospitals and construction sites, and determining the effectiveness of the English translations and possible reasons for such interpretations
  • exploring ways to interpret and explain key concepts and cultural practices identified in Chinese interactions, such as 面子, and experimenting with how to give 面子 in interactions with others
  • translating information about life in Australia to Chinese readers overseas, considering the audience’s cultural experiences in order to determine what concepts they would find difficult to understand, exploring ways to elaborate on ideas to ensure clarity of meaning, and focusing on nuances of word formation and context, for example, 澳洲肥牛 (‘bushwalking’)
  • preparing a voiceover text for a video presentation on the Chinese language program or the school environment, discussing possible interpretations of the text from the viewers’ perspective and adjusting anything that is unclear before voice recording
  • considering the different terms used in the Chinese-speaking world to represent ‘Chinese person’ (中国人,华人,华侨,华裔)

Reflecting

Reflect on the reactions and experiences of participants (including their own) in interactions and observe how languages is adapted to communicate effectively in unfamiliar contexts

[Key concepts: face, disagreement, approval; Key process: reflecting] (ACLCHC105 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Ethical Understanding
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • sharing information about their membership of diverse groups and exploring how this is expressed in Chinese, for example, 我和他是同学,我们都在这个学校学习。我的姐姐是澳大利亚国家队的运动员
  • interacting with Chinese-speaking peers to share aspects of their own identities as young Australians, for example, considering: What aspects of my life and identity would Chinese youth find interesting? How do I want to be perceived or understood?
  • identifying how different opinions and perspectives are expressed and how this may be perceived by others, for example, comparing representations of foreigners in 外国人有一些不同的习俗 with 老外都很奇怪
  • interacting with teachers and peers and reflecting on how to respond, for example, what to do when they don’t comprehend words used or meanings expressed by other participants
  • identifying and responding to intended and unintended meanings conveyed in interactions, for example, noticing contradictions between what is being said and the posture, movement, gesture and expression of participants, and asking: How do I interpret participants’ real meaning? Are they just being polite or are their words genuine?
  • reflecting on their own language choices in interactions with Chinese speakers and how these may have been perceived, for example: Was my communication culturally appropriate? Did I adjust my language and body language to help convey my meaning more appropriately and effectively? How can I seem interested when I am not?
  • reflecting on how one’s own cultural values and norms may relate to those of Chinese speakers, for example: What are the values held by Chinese speakers? Which of my own values are non-negotiable? What Chinese values do I feel I should validate and support?
  • examining the use of inclusive language and how ideas are framed, for example, the impact of positive versus negative framing on how meaning is interpreted across languages and cultures, such as 足下留情,小草常青 versus ‘Keep off the grass’
  • considering the role of voice, pitch and pace to encourage involvement of others in interactions and experimenting with modality to empower themselves and others, for example, 你可以 versus 你一定要;我可能 versus 我会
  • exploring the contexts and implications of terms used to identify others, for example, 老外、 华侨、 华裔、 大陆人、 华人、 中国人、 少数民族

Systems of language

Discern differences in patterns of sound and tone in extended Chinese speech when listening to speakers of different age, gender, and regional background (ACLCHU106 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • listening to interactions between unfamiliar voices at different speeds or levels of clarity to develop auditory and comprehension skills, and discriminating between sounds heard in oral discourse, including the range of vowel and consonant combinations, for example, ‘qin’ versus ‘qing’ and ‘chi’ versus ‘qi
  • examining the diverse meanings of words that share similar sounds, for example, the many meanings of the sound ‘shi’ and how to differentiate between 同音词 and 近音词 in different contexts (同意 and 统一)
  • comparing examples of regional variation in pronunciation (for example, the Beijing use of and the southern pronunciation of ‘shi’ and ‘si’), and noticing and describing differences in accent and tone when listening to Chinese speakers from diverse regions
Relate prior knowledge of character form and function to infer information about sound and meaning of unfamiliar characters (ACLCHU107 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • analysing sequences of characters containing a common component or side to determine the features of form, function and predictability within the group, for example, explaining the features of position, phonetic function and range of sounds in the characters 请 清 情 晴 精 睛 猜
  • using understanding of familiar radicals and phonetic sides to estimate the sound and meaning of characters when reading aloud
  • describing characters to others by naming their components or sides in sequence, for example, ‘standing man’ () on the left, ‘words’ () on the right =
  • discussing the use of 繁体字 and 简体字 in Chinese-speaking communities today, including the revival of 繁体字 and the spread of 简体字 in diverse communities
  • recognising traditional characters encountered in their local Chinese communities and noting their simplified character version
  • exploring examples of types of simplifications and ways of associating traditional characters with known simplified forms, for example, whole simplifications (为-為), part substitutions (汉-漢) and half simplifications (说-說)
  • exploring the use of diverse character-morphemes to express similar ideas, for example, identifying multiple characters for ‘food’ (饭、菜、食、餐) and organising and classifying words containing these characters to understand their context of use
  • recognising the two-syllable preference in Chinese nouns and applying this understanding when reading texts
Analyse functions of grammatical rules and use language appropriate to different forms of oral and written communication (ACLCHU108 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • comparing ways in which tense is expressed, for example, to indicate completion; to indicate the achievement of a desired result; to indicate intention; the use of verb negation 没有 to indicate negative past; 正在 to indicate action in progress
  • exploring the uses of diverse time expressions and ways to sequence events in time, for example, 先…然后…; 一…就…;了…就…;才; 第一;然后
  • comparing the functions of prepositions and discussing the importance of context when determining their meanings in texts, for example, 跟;对;给
  • developing ideas using nuanced structures, for example, using different ways to negate depending on degree of formality or emphasis (我不是…;我哪儿有…?;我没有办法…;我不能…;不行; 别 ; 不准)
  • exploring and applying ways of sequencing and connecting ideas through the use of conjunctions, for example, 不但…而且…;虽然…但是…
Compare the purposes, text structures and language features of traditional and contemporary Chinese texts (ACLCHU109 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • analysing and explaining the organisation and development of ideas or an argument in a range of genres, including textual features such as paragraphing
  • applying understanding of genre to determine the purpose and intended message of a text, for example, the use of markers 第一步 and 第二步 in a recipe for fried rice
  • recognising the purposes of texts and analysing features of format and language used, for example, in a diary, letter or advertisement
  • comparing features of narrative, recount, report and procedural texts to identify ways in which information is structured and sequenced for particular purposes

Language variation and change

Explore the development of Chinese as an international language and as a lingua franca in Chinese communities (ACLCHU110 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • exploring the use of 普通话 as a lingua franca in Chinese-speaking communities and identifying terms used in different regions to express a similar idea, for example, 普通话 versus 国语; 达人 versus 高手
  • investigating the dialects spoken in local Chinese communities and understanding why character subtitles are typically added to Chinese films and television shows
  • exploring the role of code-switching in the language use of bilingual speakers (for example, acronyms and words which have not been translated from their original English) and how Chinese authorities are trying to change this and limit the use of these terms in everyday media
Explore the role of tradition in contemporary language use and how languages change over time (ACLCHU111 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • exploring the use of classical language such as 成语 and how this refines the style of writing when comparing 口语 and 书面语, for example, 她很漂亮 and 她貌美如花
  • reading texts consisting of 名人名言 (for example, 孔子说…), and discussing the cultural meaning of the quote and how it is relevant to contemporary language use, including why it is still quoted widely in modern writing, for example, 三人行必有吾师
  • exploring the nature of common idioms (成语), identifying their meanings and recognising how they can be used to add a sense of style to everyday communication, for example, 年年有余、人山人海
  • examining how globalisation is impacting on Chinese values and language use, for example, how responses to praise are shifting to reflect a western concept of gratitude (谢谢) rather than the modesty of the past (哪里哪里)
  • exploring the ways in which English words and phrases are incorporated into everyday communication in Chinese in digital media, for example, English expressions of emotion used in chat forums and text messaging ( happy ), and Pinyin abbreviations replacing characters ( L P = 老婆)
  • investigating the use of internet language, including numerical representations of words (55555 = 呜呜他在哭) as a means of private communication among youth
  • examining how the adaptation of words reflects and encourages change, for example, gender equality is reflected in the use of to acknowledge females and to include both men and women

The role of language and culture

Reflect on how language and culture both shape and reflect each other (ACLCHU112 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • reflecting on the values of one culture when communicating in another, for example, differences in the use and frequency of ‘thank you’ and 谢谢
  • exploring how cultural concepts of family and the importance of one’s sense of connection to others influence use of language
  • analysing the impact on language use of context and relationships between participants, for example, discussing how concepts such as face (面子) and connections (关系) are reflected in interactions between Chinese speakers
  • identifying choices made in interactions in Chinese with people from different generations, for example, changes in greetings (吃饭了没有、拜拜、嗨) and forms of address (同志 、 小姐 、 师傅) over time

Years 9 and 10 Achievement Standards

By the end of Year 10, students use spoken and written Chinese to initiate and sustain interactions in familiar and unfamiliar contexts. They exchange information, ideas and opinions and enquire into the experiences and opinions of others, using question words such as 为什么,怎么,怎么样 to elicit more information. They summarise and collate information from different sources and perspectives to compare how ideas and concepts are expressed and organised in Chinese texts and contexts. Students observe how texts are created for different purposes and audiences. They respond to narratives, identifying language features that do not translate easily between cultures, mediating these ideas and expressing insights in Chinese while adjusting language use for different audiences. They justify their opinions with reasons and specific examples (比如), using tone and rhythm emphatically. Students respond to and create a range of informative and imaginative texts for different purposes and audiences, including Chinese audiences, and describe adjustments they have made in their language use for these different audiences. They use prepositions of time and place, and prepositions to show relationships with other people, for example, 给,跟,对. They make comparisons using 比, and describe people in terms of appearance, personality and behaviours, and places in terms of scenery. They use a range of cohesive devices (for example, 不但…而且;除了…以外; 如果…就) with the support of models and cues. In writing, they organise their ideas according to themes or sequence events using specific time words, temporal markers such as 的时候,以前 and connectives, for example, 先…然后. They also indicate changes in tense with tense markers such as 了,过, and use verbs to express modality (for example, 可以,要,会,应该) or intention, for example, 希望,想,打算.

Students discern differences in patterns of sound (for example, ‘qing’, ‘qin’) and tone in extended speech for different contexts and audiences. They apply knowledge of character components and morphemes to assist their understanding of new characters and words encountered. They analyse grammatical rules, use language appropriate to the form of communication, and compare textual features. Students recognise the key features of grammar and sentence structure that are distinctive to Chinese, such as measure words, and varied uses of verbs ( and attributive ), and apply them in new contexts. They are aware of particular issues relating to translating between Chinese and English and recognise that certain concepts cannot be translated readily from Chinese to English and vice versa. They are aware that language use varies according to context, purpose and mode. Students explain how culture and language shape their own and others’ communication practices, and reflect on how their own cultural experience impacts on interactions with Chinese speakers.


Years 9 and 10 Work Sample Portfolios