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 5 and 6

Years 5 and 6 Band Description

The nature of the learners

At this level students are expanding their social networks, experiences and communication repertoire in both their first language and Chinese. They continue to need guidance and participate in structured, collaborative tasks that both recycle and extend language. Students are gaining greater independence and becoming more conscious of their peers and social context. They are gaining awareness of the world around them. Learners are noticing similarities and differences between Chinese language and culture and their own.

Chinese language learning and use

The systems of writing and speaking in Chinese are distinct. Because of the role of character learning and its impact on reading and writing, learners can accomplish a higher active use of spoken language than written language. As a result, engagement with Chinese language is primarily through speaking and listening. With teacher support, students begin to use Chinese to communicate their own ideas and participate in collaborative decision making. Learners engage in exploration of patterns and features of the language, talking about and making connections between known languages and cultures and comparing different ways of communicating in familiar contexts.

Contexts of interaction

Likely contexts for interaction are related to students’ personal, family and local environments, and their everyday educational experiences. They communicate with peers, teachers, known adults, and with other students in their class. The settings for interaction move to a more public context and include more participants. Students begin to move from socialising in the here and now to planning and organising future events.

Texts and resources

Text types include print and online news and media, blogs, advertisements, catalogues, popular music and drama. Texts presented in characters are generally glossed in Pinyin. Students write in characters to correspond with others in letters, and use Pinyin input systems to generate a variety of texts in digital format.

Features of Chinese language use

Engagement with oral language includes active listening; observing interactions between speakers in everyday contexts; and using the spoken language in songs, rhymes, stories read aloud, and games. Learners ask and answer questions, describe people and objects, and recount events. They speak with attention to the sounds and tones of words, using formulaic language and applying their knowledge of familiar language structures in new contexts. Students map character forms onto their familiar oral vocabulary, and recognise and name characters in context. They record and learn new vocabulary by using word lists in Pinyin, and use Pinyin to prepare drafts of spoken texts.

Level of support

Chinese language use continues to be scaffolded and prompted by the teacher. Teachers’ modelling of correct Chinese language use is the primary source of learners’ increasing Chinese oral and written language acquisition.

The role of English

The use of English is necessary for discussion, reflection and explanation, and for the continued development of learners’ knowledge base and intercultural capability.


Years 5 and 6 Content Descriptions

Socialising

Initiate interactions with peers and known adults to plan and organise social activities

[Key concepts: community, leisure, nature, recreation; Key processes: planning, organising, transacting] (ACLCHC033 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Numeracy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • experimenting with language choices to convey emotions and attitudes such as excitement and interest when events or ideas are suggested, including making arrangements, welcoming, congratulating, complimenting and praising
  • exchanging information and opinions in class discussion, responding to questions such as 你喜欢运动吗?, and expressing agreement and disagreement with others’ opinions (for example, 对,我也很喜欢运动); making sure that other participants are included in interaction, for example, 我去过法国,你呢?
  • participating in role-plays relating to shopping scenarios, and specifying quantity or type of item when selecting from options, for example, 三斤苹果,一包糖
  • completing transactions by confirming prices (for example, 多少钱?五块八) and exchanging money, recognising Chinese currency
  • preparing performances celebrating important events in the Chinese calendar to present at school assemblies to raise community understanding of aspects of Chinese culture, such as a taiji performance, a lion dance, or a Spring Festival song such as 《恭喜恭喜》
  • assisting in organising and hosting visitors from a sister school or guest speakers to raise school community awareness of the importance of learning Chinese
  • seeking permission from the teacher or peers to participate in activities or to be excused, for example, 我可以去喝水吗?
  • responding to the teacher’s questions with actions or answers (for example, answering the question 懂了吗?), and requesting or borrowing items from others using appropriate language such as 我想看看你的书,好吗?
Exchange correspondence and create simple written material to plan future activities and events and contribute ideas

[Key concepts: friendship, community, recreation; Key processes: collaborating, exchanging] (ACLCHC034 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • preparing and creating photo-stories with captions to present personal information and aspects of personal experience (such as friends and classmates, extracurricular activities, daily routine, and holiday experiences) for new classmates or for class blog
  • creating short texts such as emails, letters and text messages to interact with others, for example, to invite, congratulate or thank someone
  • producing short texts such as descriptions of a place, or the rules of behaviour for different events, situations or activities
  • participating in shared blogs, exchanging information with students from sister school, for example, 你好,我叫Ann, 我是澳大利亚的学生
  • using emoticons such as >_<||| in digital communication to enhance meaning conveyed
  • using digital media to produce a publicity flier for an upcoming cultural or sporting event such as 汉语比赛

Informing

Obtain and process specific information from multiple spoken sources, selecting and sequencing appropriate content for specific audiences

[Key concepts: public, private; Key processes: comparing, collaborating, recording, identifying, describing] (ACLCHC035 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Numeracy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • identifying specific information related to places, for example, listening to a weather forecast, recognising the names of familiar cities (such as 北京,上海), and recording the weather conditions and the temperature
  • using textual clues such as 听一听小明的一天 to predict possible content when listening to spoken texts, and preparing to hear key information such as time and activities
  • listening to and viewing a range of informative texts to identify key points, for example, answering questions from classmates about the procedure and main ingredients for cooking a Chinese dish from a cooking show
  • presenting a short talk using information gathered from multiple sources, for example, investigating 南京的天气 by interviewing the teacher and listening to a podcast of a weather forecast
  • supporting presentations with pictures, charts or graphs as appropriate, for example, using bar charts to show data on 澳大利亚的语言
Locate key points in written informative texts, summarising the points to report to known audiences

[Key concept: information; Key processes: reading, viewing, summarising, analysing] (ACLCHC036 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Numeracy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • locating key information in texts such as timetables, calendars, brochures or advertisements, using clues such as organisation of content, for example, 星期一,星期二 etc. listed on the top row of a timetable
  • reading familiar texts, such as shopping catalogues, understanding key phrases such as 八折, and working out the final price of an item
  • recognising markers of time (for example, 第二天) in a sequence of events to monitor information flow and assist with reading for overall meaning
  • creating a poster to convey information to Chinese peers (for example, about a local city or popular tourist site) with pictures, maps, data, words and sentences
  • selecting from word lists to create informative texts such as signs, slogans and notices, using electronic tools such as a digital dictionary to extend own expression

Creating

Engage with characters and points of view in short imaginative texts, express personal opinions and create simple spoken imaginative texts

[Key concepts: character, viewpoint; Key processes: connecting, expressing, responding] (ACLCHC037 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • singing popular songs, exploring the intended meaning of lyrics and the use of stylistic devices such as 比喻我爱你,我爱你, 就像老鼠爱大米) or 重复我是女生,漂亮的女生,我是女生,爱哭的女生
  • retelling stories read by the teacher in Chinese and sequencing actions (using 然后), or explaining the cause of an action (using 因为)
  • expressing personal opinions on TV programs or music videos, for example, 我很喜欢中国的 rap
  • participating in performances such as 诗朗诵 and applying specific prosodic features such as ‘tone flow’ (抑扬顿挫) to enhance the effect
  • creating short plays or skits and taking on roles in imagined scenarios such as a shopping trip, fashion show, or visiting or hosting a Chinese friend
  • reading short stories in groups, and summarising the story and conveying the emotions and opinions of characters using, for example, 最、非常、太
  • reading aloud phrases such as 哎呀!天哪! that are used to highlight the characters reactions to situations or the actions of others.
Create written imaginative texts, describing characters and sequencing events, using scaffolded models of texts, learnt characters or word lists for support

[Key concepts: character, narrative, sequence; Key processes: connecting, expressing, responding] (ACLCHC038 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • experimenting with storytelling techniques by following provided models of narrative texts, for example rewriting 她有七色花,红色,蓝色,白色… and replacing with 气球 and writing 她有七色气球,红色,蓝色,白色
  • using digital media to create an imaginative story to share with peers and Chinese-speaking contacts, using both language and images to achieve particular effects, for example, using 重复(很大很大的球; 走啊走啊走啊)
  • plotting a storyline, considering: Who is the main character? How can I make this character interesting to readers? How can I sequence my story to grab the reader’s attention?
  • collaborating to create alternative endings to well-known stories using learnt sequences and word lists for support

Translating

Interpret and translate simple texts used for everyday purposes, identifying actions, words and phrases that do not readily translate into English

[Key concept: equivalence; Key processes: interpreting, translating] (ACLCHC039 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • identifying how best to interpret key words when translating English texts into Chinese, for example, the use of after first-, second- and third-person pronouns; numbers with measure words; possessives with ; plurals
  • viewing spoken interactions in Chinese between peers or in texts (for example, viewing a segment of a movie), and interpreting the meaning of the dialogue as well as comparing and discussing culturally determined manners or behaviour displayed in the interaction
  • differentiating between word-by-word meaning and intended meaning when translating from Chinese into English, for example, the word-by-word translation of 我喜欢一个人看书 is ‘I like one person to read’, but it means ‘I like to read alone’
  • comparing own translation of short texts (such as brand names, signs, slogans and billboard advertisements) to others’, and evaluating the effectiveness of own translation
  • recognising the role that gesture plays in oral interaction, including emblematic (hand) gestures, gesturing for emphasis and encouragement, and taboos within Chinese communication, such as pointing directly at someone
  • identifying Chinese symbols in print and digital texts (for example, the longevity symbol), and developing ways to convey the culturally attached value when expressing the meaning of these symbols in English
Create own bilingual texts such as signs, displays and posters

[Key concepts: equivalence, idiom; Key processes: translating, identifying, discussing] (ACLCHC040 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • producing bilingual posters to promote a healthy lifestyle, such as 健康食品
  • designing bilingual signs (characters/Pinyin/English) to post on key buildings and rooms around the school that convey short messages such as descriptions of the place or the rules in that place
  • developing strategies for using bilingual (Chinese–English and English–Chinese) dictionaries in both print and digital forms to assist with translation

Reflecting

Describe aspects of own identity and reflect on differences between Chinese and English language and culture, identifying how this knowledge can help their intercultural exchanges

[Key concepts: similarity, difference, culture; Key processes: comparing, contrasting] (ACLCHC041 - Scootle )

  • Literacy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • using appropriate forms of address in interactions, including nicknames for friends, greetings such as 嘿、哈罗、吃了吗、校长好, and courtesy phrases when agreeing, thanking, apologising, refusing, declining and leave-taking, for example, 谢谢, 不客气, 对不起,没关系
  • presenting short spoken texts to peers and to Chinese-speaking people in other contexts via digital media, sharing culture-specific aspects of own identity (for example, 我是希腊人,我周末学希腊语 or football club membership) and discussing their significance
  • defining own identity by describing relationships with others, for example, friendship groups (我的朋友是 Lisa George,我们都很聪明), ethnic group (我是德裔澳大利亚人)
  • engaging with Chinese speakers through organised school activities (such as through a video-conference with students at a Chinese school, or welcoming visitors to own school), observing moments when difficulties are experienced in communication and reflecting on the cause of the difficulty
  • sharing with peers personal experiences of interacting with Chinese speakers, for example, ‘I was really nervous and forgot how to say…’
  • observing interactions between Chinese speakers, and discussing the context and language use (for example, a family eating out in a restaurant, noticing the environment, seating arrangements, and how dishes are ordered and presented) and comparing to their own experience

Systems of language

Discriminate between similar or related syllables and words by listening with attention to intonation, stress and phrasing (ACLCHU042 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • recognising familiar language spoken by different voices
  • recognising and discriminating between homonyms in Chinese (for example, shì and ), relying on contextual cues to assist understanding, and differentiating syllables with different tones, for example, shì () and shí ()
  • connecting the sound of spoken Chinese with the spelling and tone marks of Pinyin, for example, reading out words written in Pinyin with attention to Chinese pronunciation and tone; using Pinyin to record the sound of words or sentences encountered
Identify how character structure, position, and component sequences relate the form of a character to its particular sound and meaning (ACLCHU043 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • decoding characters by analysing their structure and the number of components, and recognising familiar components
  • applying their knowledge of characters to learn to read and write new characters, and developing strategies for learning, for example, making connections between characters with a common component (你、他、们)
  • identifying different meanings of key morphemes used in different contexts, for example, 天,日,二/两,你好 versus 好玩
Form sentences to express details such as the time, place and manner of an action and to sequence ideas (ACLCHU044 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • developing knowledge of metalinguistic terminology, discussing, for example: What is the plural form? How do we know it’s plural when reading in English? Can we tell when we read a Chinese word?
  • recognising that in Chinese, verbs convey tense without verb conjugation, for example, explaining why can mean ‘have’, ‘had’ and ‘will have’
  • comparing the use of tenses in English and Chinese, for example, how future tense is often expressed through time phrases in Chinese (我明天去北京,下个星期去上海)
  • identifying the use of adverbial phrases, and extending understanding of sentence structure using subject–time–place–manner–verb–object, for example, 我星期一上学。我在墨尔本上学。我走路上学
  • examining the clauses of a sentence in Chinese and noticing how they are linked coherently, for example, 他叫王晓明,(他) 是我的朋友 (i.e. no subject/pronoun)
  • applying processes of discourse development, including joining (也、 和), contrasting (但是) and sequencing () information
  • using alternative language to clarify intended meaning, for example, saying 我不胖不瘦 when they don’t know the phrase 中等身材
Notice how the features of text organisation vary according to audience and purpose (ACLCHU045 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • describing the major features of familiar text types in Chinese, and experimenting with analysing Chinese texts, for example, recognising the ‘problem’ and the ‘resolution’ in a narrative
  • identifying the purpose and intended audience and context (for example, digital, online or face to face) of a range of familiar texts
  • exploring features and conventions of Chinese text, including lack of word spacing or use of punctuation, and variability in text direction, and comparing texts in traditional characters with texts in simplified characters
  • understanding the use of Chinese-specific punctuation, such as double quotation marks to signal a quote

Language variation and change

Understand that Chinese is characterised by diversity in spoken and written forms (ACLCHU046 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • knowing that Putonghua is the standard spoken language used in China and the main Chinese language taught in other areas of the world
  • understanding that there are simplified and traditional Chinese characters, and exploring examples of both forms to identify differences, for example, and
  • exploring how the Chinese language has changed in response to modern life, such as the inclusion of English terms in everyday language; recognising ‘borrowed words’/借词 in Chinese from English (for example, 咖啡、 澳大利亚), and in English from Chinese (for example, tofu), and discussing how and why these types of words are introduced
  • noticing the use of English words or phrases in Chinese interactions (for example, 拜拜, or a few words of English in a Chinese pop song), and discussing the reason for the ‘code-switching’
  • examining the role of myths, legends and 成语 in contemporary language use (for example, reading texts containing 成语, such as 井底之蛙,画龙点睛 within 成语故事) and discussing their intended meaning, and the cultural importance of employing classical language in contemporary contexts
Examine how language is used to clarify roles and relationships between participants in interactions (ACLCHU047 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • comparing values and beliefs across cultures and identifying how Australian cultural values such as mateship are expressed through language
  • exploring the nature of the concept of ‘family’ in Chinese culture and how this influences relationships between individuals, for example, addressing adults as 叔叔 or 阿姨

The role of language and culture

Explore the ways in which everyday language use reflects culture-specific ideas, such as the influence of age, gender and social position on language choices (ACLCHU048 - Scootle )
  • Literacy
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Intercultural Understanding
  • exploring cultural values conveyed in expressions relating to celebrations, for example, by asking: ‘In the colloquial phrase 合家团圆, what is 团圆? Why wish people 团圆? Does this have the same meaning in Australian culture? What’s the relationship between the language use and the Chinese values in this phrase?’
  • applying appropriate choices of pronouns and labels when referring to others in interactions, for example 您/你; 小张/张晓琴

Years 5 and 6 Achievement Standards

By the end of Year 6, students use spoken and written Chinese to initiate and maintain interactions. They describe and give information about themselves and their preferences, their environment, experiences and interests, for example, 我很喜欢唱歌。我的学校很漂亮。我觉得澳大利亚是很好的国家. They use simple questions (for example, 请问… ? 你是哪国人?你会说汉语吗?) and seek clarification, for example, … 对吗? They access information from a range of print and digital resources (for example, 课文,菜单,宣传单,图样,地图,课程表, 日历,行程表, 天气预报) and summarise key points in order to inform others and organise activities, for example, 我们这个星期六去打球, 好吗? They engage with a range of imaginative texts. They use intonation and stress to engage audiences and participants. They translate everyday expressions (for example, 好久不见 or 不谢) and use context to assist with interpretation. They produce short informative and imaginative texts. Sentences include details of time (for example, 八点,十二月二日,星期五), place (for example, 在澳大利亚,在墨尔本,在家) and participants, for example, 我的朋友, 小明的哥哥. They use prepositions and possessive clauses, including . They use a range of verbs, including verbs of identification and existence (), and some modal verbs (喜欢 、 会) to express interest or ability; they negate with or . They use simple connectives such as and conjunctions to connect ideas.

Students explain the nature of tone-syllables, for example the role of tones in meaning making. They recognise the features of the Chinese writing system and apply their knowledge of the formation of characters in their own writing. They use Pinyin to transcribe spoken language. They identify how the relationships of participants and context affect interactions. They identify the features of familiar text types in Chinese and use these features to assist in interpreting meaning. They recognise that variations exist within the Chinese spoken and written language, and identify examples of this, particularly within their own community. They recognise and describe features of Chinese culture reflected in communication practices, and apply this knowledge to their own interactions with Chinese people.


Years 5 and 6 Work Sample Portfolios