Students on the Mandarin Excellence Programme (11-15 years old) all begin in Year 7 and study Mandarin for 8 hours per week (4 taught hours and 4 hours of self-study). In 2020, with exams cancelled and schools closed, these students across England were asked to create two Summer Showcase projects of their choice to demonstrate their Mandarin speaking and writing skills – and to bring their own individuality to their learning.
Students were asked to make a creative project in Mandarin. They could choose whatever they found interesting, as long as it showed their ability to:
- Be creative and original, or include some research in their showcase, and
- Be resourceful with the language they have already learned so far.
Students performed skits, wrote comics and children’s books, created traditional shadow puppets, wrote letters, made posters, immersed themselves in Chinese pop culture, and reviewed some Chinese recipes…
Other students took us on virtual tours of China and England, wrote essays about society, pretended to be estate agents, taught Mandarin to their parents for fun, and wrote some unforgettable songs of summer lockdown:
(Click here to read Thabiso’s lyrics in English. Click here to read Keisha’s lyrics.)
Some even found creative ways to tell stories with multiple characters despite quarantine and social distancing!
Students have clearly enjoyed creating something a little different in Mandarin this year, and teachers have commented on the positive impact this project has had on students’ morale during lockdown:
“Thank you so much for organising this Showcase, which has greatly enhanced the engagement of MEP students’ home learning in this challenging period.”
Sylvia Fan, Kingsford Community School
You can browse a large selection of highlights of the MEP Summer Showcase here and the full showcase of all the work we received will be published next week.
