Key themes at this year’s conference are the ideas of collaboration and creativy, as we focus on the development of Mandarin Chinese in the UK. This collaboration can come from students, teachers, departments and between schools, but in this blogpost we are looking at a slightly different area to be creative and expose our learners to language and culture- the area of music and arts.
On Friday 17th June we welcome the band Transition, familiar in Chinese classrooms across the UK for their song “对不起我的中文不好,” to our final plenary of the day. They will be talking about their experience learning Chinese, working with schools to provide Chinese music workshops (for a more detailed example, please see our blogpost about their workshop at Christ’s Hospital School), and also giving us a world premiere of some of their new songs- for which our Teacher Training Coordinator Philippa Vallely has already created activities to share!
On Saturday 18th June we are delighted to welcome to the conference Rachel Harris, Creative producer, Festival Development, from the Southbank Centre, who will be giving delegates an early opportunity to hear about the forthcoming “Changing China Festival.” Yellow Earth Theatre Company will also be taking to the stage to discuss and demonstrate their work.
These plenaries will be supported with workshops on both days; on Friday 17th Irene Mainwaring will be leading a workshop to give practical idea about how to set up and get the most value out of guest visits to your school, and on the Saturday, Kumiko Mendl, Artistic Director of Yellow Earth Theatre Compnay will be leading a workshop to show how working with drama can enthuse your learners about the language and culture of China. With the importance of role plays in GCSE, it’s a workshop not to be missed!
In addition, we also have other creative workshops, such as Simone Haughey using storytelling to get pupils reading and writing in a fun way, and Thomas Godber focussing on active learning as a fun and creative approach in the classroom. As an opportunity to refresh your ideas and thoughts, and a place to think about trying new approaches, the conference is unmissable this year!
To book your place, click here
To see the full schedule, click here
