Each year, students take part in a period of intensive language study, contributing to their 8 hours a week studying Mandarin. Additional funding is available to help schools support this intensive element of the programme.
Year 7 and Year 8
Students in Year 7 and 8 will take part in intensive activities delivered locally by either your school or your hub school, with a focus on language study and motivating students in the early stages of learning Mandarin.
Watch the video below to learn about the Intensive Study day that Year 7 MEP students enjoyed at the University of Leeds in May 2022.
Year 9
Students in Year 9 have the opportunity to participate in an extended period of intensive study in China, which allows students to study, experience China and practise their acquired language skills.
In October 2023, 132 students from five schools across England embarked on a school trip to China as part of the Mandarin Excellence Programme. This pilot trip marked a significant milestone as the first international school tour organised under the Mandarin Excellence Programme since 2019. WThe pilot trip was arranged to assist with planning ahead for a much larger trip that will take place for Year 9 MEP pupils in summer 2024.
The intensive study in China is heavily subsidised by CLEC, meaning the majority of the costs of taking part in the study visits will already be covered. The cost of the airfare is subsidised by the programme. The remaining costs are covered by your school’s Mandarin Excellence Programme core budget, by parents or guardians, or through other fundraising means.
Where international travel has not been permitted or possible, we have delivered an online alternative for students, similar to the event which took place for the first time in July 2021 and then again in July 2022 and 2023. Students participated in a 2-week immersive online programme, Virtual China, to improve their language skills and experience China from their very own classroom. Schools were partnered with a host institution in China, who trained teachers especially for delivering this exciting new programme. With the help of video technology, students visited places of cultural and historic importance in multiple cities across China and covered topics such as: a visit to a Panda Zoo, Sports and Modern Life, and the Chinese school system.
To learn more about Virtual China, please watch the videos below which were filmed at 2 different schools during the event.
Finham Park School:
The Crossley Heath School:
Year 10
Students in Year 10 will participate in the MEP Tourism Project, with three days delivered online where students follow an interactive online course, and one full-day event at a local university which will be arranged by schools with support from the MEP Team. The day at a local university is designed to equip students with more experience of learning in a higher education setting, which will be useful as they approach Sixth Form and will start making decisions about their further study, whether that will be continuing with Mandarin or following another degree pathway.
The video below was filmed at Homewood School and Sixth Form Centre in June 2022, during the 3 days when students were following the MEP Tourism Project online course:
Meanwhile, this video was filmed at Queen Mary University London, who hosted an MEP Tourism Project university day for 5 MEP schools on Wednesday 15th June 2022:
The MEP Tourism Project was delivered for the first time in July 2021. Read more about it in our blogpost and here on our website.
Previous Intensive Study events
In the summer of 2018 and 2019, Year 8 students participating in the Mandarin Excellence Programme took part in a two-week programme of Intensive Study in China. The 2019 Intensive Study in China took place between the 2nd and 19th July and the host cities included: Beijing, Chengdu, Kunming, Jinan, Shanghai, Shenyang and Xi’an. The video below captures some of the highlights.
In summer 2019, students in Year 9 took part in a residential Intensive Study course running from Monday 24th June to Thursday 27th June at the University of Nottingham. Please watch the video below to learn more about it.
