S3 Mandarin have been attending a Word Wizard Competittion since the beginning of term and we have been practising the characters for this competition. On Friday 30th May, the class winner Ines Bertaso will attend the National Final Competition at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh where pupils from all over the country compete in different languages.
Well Done! Ines won the First Prize in Scottish Parliament!
On the 14th of February, pupils from S1 to S6 attended and presented in St Ninian’s High School Chinese New Year party. The classroom was decorated with lanterns and was very beautiful. The party was a great success due to large amount of pupils and teachers turned up and everyone enjoyed to have some fortune cookies with Chinese green tea. The party started with a bagpipe performance and followed by a Chinese Happy New Year song. There was a variety of performances including singing, music, presentations and a quiz. The song “Big China” sung by S4 pupils Charlie and John was very impressed to the pupils. One of the S4 pupils commented that: “The party was very enjoyable. It was a chance to experience Chinese culture and learning things about Chinese festivals. It was very fun. We can see a lot works were put into the party.” Pupils learned a lot about the Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival through the presentation and the quiz. The two cultures of Scottish and Chinese were combined to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The party was both enjoyable and educational with a closing speech from Mr Docherty.
On Monday night 27th of January, S6 pupils Christopher McNulty, Erin Hamill, Kayleigh Welsh had the opportunity to attend and perform with Mrs Zhou at Glasgow University Chinese New Year Celebration. They watched a variety of different traditional Chinese performances, such as an authentic Chinese Lion dance by the Glasgow Hong Lok Dance Troupe and a piece from a Beijing opera. Then the pupils performed a selection of popular Chinese songs in front of an audience of over 600 people, including the Chinese Consulate General and the vice principal of Glasgow University. The pupils received a very warm reception and would be delighted to be invited to an event like this again.
On Friday 15 November the following St Ninian’s pupils performed in the Chinese Consulate in Edinburgh at a reception held by the Chinese Ambassador for UK, Consul General Li Ruiyou, for the Scotland China Education Network.
Christopher McNulty (6a5), Eve McAlpine (6a7), Howie Liu (3a3), Anna Campbell (4a10), Louisa Preston (3a6) and Alban Joseph (3a2) performed the popular Chinese songs “The Moon Represents My Heart” and “Jasmine Flower.”
Their clear Chinese pronunciation and wonderful singing won enthusiastic cheers and applause, adding cheerful atmosphere to the reception.
Well done to the teaching staff and pupils who have been recognised with the Confucius Classroom of the Year 2013 Award.
A superb achievement for a Hub that has only been in existence for 4 years.
The work of the Confucius Hub is being extended across all school Clusters in East Renfrewshire this year by the Education Department.
The teaching of Chinese language, supporting Chinese cultural activities across the different subjects, the development of language skills of our teachers, encouraging the uptake and learning of languages in all educational establishments, pre-five, primary and secondary, are recognisable strengths in our schools.
The work is very much in tune with the new national curricular developments being encouraged and developed in our schools and the young people are enjoying learning the language and taking part in cultural activities and competitions.
Many of our schools have seen a growing number of pupils receive national recognition in the different competitions sponsored by the Confucius Institute.
Success in SQA Exams from Intermediate, Higher and Advanced Higher has been excellent.
One of the main developments for the future is to develop further the ability of our teachers to teach the language in pre-Five and Primary and we will do this through in-service training and Authority conferences.
By encouraging more of our young people to learn key words and phrases they will recognise that learning languages is for them.
This investment will encourage language uptake, develop into a lifetime of interest, and provide young people with the opportunity to study at Higher and Further Education.
This can only be to the benefit of Scottish and British businesses and for future employment.
It will also improve further the cultural links with the Chinese community at home and abroad.
China is a huge economic power and its global influence is becoming more apparent. It is vital that our young people understand this and are prepared well to grasp the many opportunities that will become available through the growing Scottish-Chinese economic and cultural connections.
Join us in the Confucius Classroom to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Chinese Festival and the Chinese National day! There will be Chinese singing, presentations and the chance to try Chinese Tea and fortune cookies!
Wednesday 2nd October, Lunchtime (12:25-12:55) in Confucius Room (Science 9)
Congratulations to the S1 and S6 pupils who took part in the Yu-Han Memorial Trophy Competition. They told stories and sang songs in Mandarin and played Chinese music.
The judges made the following comments about their performances:
‘Don’t Count’:Very well spoke.’
‘Can work more on pronunciation, good to hear a story in Chinese!’‘Twist and Jasmine’:Excellent performance.‘
‘It’s excelllent for British to pronounce ‘Si shi si, shi shi shi.’ Well done!’
‘Great poem and great music. Good and technical attempt!’
‘Auld Lang Syne’ (in Mandarin):
‘Very good performance.’
‘Great team work!’
‘What a lovely song sung in Chinese, great effort by students. Very well done!’
‘Very good performance, and excellent pronunciation!’
‘Very lovely song sung in Chinese and the duet. It is amazing how much can be done after learning for only 1 term! Very well done!
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The East Renfrewshire Confucius Classroom Showcase Event takes place on Wednesday 5th June from 6pm to 8:30pm in St Ninian’s High School.
Many of the performances are by St Ninian’s High School pupils and pupils of St Joseph’s, Our Lady of the Missions and St Cadoc’s Primary Schools.
All are welcome to attend this fantastic event!
