We have recently featured two blogposts about Mandarin Chinese at Melbourn Village College (MVC). Chinese was highlighted in the school’s 2017 Ofsted Report in which Oftsed stated that through the introduction of Chinese, it considers MVC to be ‘forward-thinking in adapting the curriculum to suit the needs of the 21st Century’. Principal Simon Holmes and Chinese teacher Frank Fan have given us their insights into Chinese at the school, so for the final blogpost in the series, it is time to hear from the students and how they feel about learning Mandarin.
After observing a Year 7 Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP) class, some of the students were kind enough to stay behind and discuss their thoughts on having the opportunity to learn Chinese, how their families have reacted to it and how much they enjoy Mr Fan’s lessons.
Family reactions
“I think learning Mandarin is a really good opportunity and I’m the first person in my family to learn Mandarin.”
“My whole family thinks it’s a privilege to learn mandarin, and that it can help me in the future.”
“My siblings want to learn and they’re all really amazed and jealous that I’m learning Mandarin.”
Learning the language
“It’s a very different language and I like writing all the different characters, I feel 
learning Mandarin will benefit me when I’m older.”
“I like how different parts of the words fit together to make new words and I like how different it is to English and how you draw pictures instead of writing words.”
“Learning Chinese is self-inspiring because it’s so challenging and I’m overcoming the challenge!”
Chinese lessons with Mr Fan
“Sometimes I speak Chinese with my friends and we call each other the Chinese names given to us by Mr Fan.”
“Characters and writing is the most fun. Every character we learn, Mr Fan tells us a story about it.”
“I like doing flash cards because Mr Fan sings and makes it fun. The Bingo game is also very fun and we get prizes when we win. Mr Fan makes it fun and interesting.”
Thank-you very much to Melbourn Village College!
To read the full IOE CI Report of the Mandarin at Melbourn Village College, please click here.
Blogpost 1: Chinese leads to good Ofsted Reports; Top tips from the Principal involved
Blogpost 2: Mandarin at MVC; Insights from the Chinese Teacher
