Rosetta Primary School


Mandarin

Children at Rosetta Primary School learn Mandarin as their foreign language.

At Rosetta all of our children have the opportunity to learn Mandarin. We work with the Confucius Institute in the UK as part of our Modern Foreign Languages curriculum (Years 1 to 6). Our Mandarin teachers visit us from China and stay for one or two years. It is very exciting to be taught Mandarin and Chinese culture by teachers who have Mandarin as their first language and grew up there! Mandarin is the most widely spoken language in the world and demands that learners use both sides of the brain so it will aid our children in continuing to develop learning power and further opportunities for practising communication skills. Our aim is that through this our children will develop a genuine love of languages which will broaden horizons and pave the way to a wider range of opportunities as they progress to the next stage of their education and lives. 

Every year, the children at Rosetta Primary School take part in numerous activities to celebrate Lunar New Year. Our celebrations kick off with captivating performances and our children are enthused by martial arts, Chinese singing, calligraphy and dancing. Moreover, the children discover that the New Year is all about new beginnings; Spring is the beginning of a new year, just as the morning is the beginning of a new day. In their Mandarin lessons, the children  learn all about how Lunar New Year is traditionally celebrated and have understood the significance of why it is celebrated. 

How do we do it? What do we do every day to ensure the children make progress?

  • Ensure that all pupils understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources.
  • Ensure that all pupils develop cumulative accurate linguistic knowledge and precision skills in pronunciation through the teaching of Mandarin ensuring readiness for future learning and the next stage of their education. 
  • Ensure that all pupils are beginning to write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences.
  • Ensure that all pupils discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in Mandarin.