UNESCO has stressed that the basic qualities that are essential for human beings in the 21st century are " first, the ability to speak the mother tongue, second, the ability to speak a foreign language and third, the ability to communicate".
And as E. Miler says "Good speaking and writing skills in a second language are more easily developed when there is a solid foundation in the first language".
As Chinese is the first language spoken by nearly 90% of our students and families in their social, academic and professional lives, the BMH Chinese team has always focused on how to provide effective Chinese language education in our schools.
The BMH subjects of Chinese, Morality, History and Geography are based on the Chinese National Curriculum standards. The team of bilingual Chinese teachers with extensive international learning and teaching experience has developed a clear, solid and reliable teaching programme over the years.
The Chinese National Curriculum textbooks are used as the main teaching resources, focusing on areas such as students' learning interests, learning habits, learning methods and learning content, taking into account the need for bilingual learning support.
Through regular teaching, Chinese CCA and club, competitions, Chinese Immersion Week and other Chinese learning activities, students will gradually develop their language skills, and enhance their interest in learning and comprehensive skills.
We are keenly aware that every child's growth is a joint effort between parents and teachers, and that harmonious home-school communication is one of the most powerful supports. Therefore, we are eager to establish more contact with each family to discuss the growth and development of their children.
From April to June this year, the Liberal Arts team will organise four coffee mornings focusing on home-school co-education. We will conduct thematic parent workshops on topics such as student lesson tour, family parenting, policy, Chinese learning strategy.
The first Coffee Morning for the Liberal Arts team was successfully held on 7 April. Parents were able to participate in the students' lessons in a real way, learning the Chinese names of each plant in the rear garden of the school, experiencing the fun of the literature and Chinese characters.
Our Deputy Headmaster, Professor Zhang Chunhui, also gave a talk on "Family Education" to the participating parents. Professor Zhang shared her thoughts on family education as an educator and parent over the years. Parents also expressed their own views and ideas on how to better educate their families with Professor Zhang.
We would like to invite you to be a guest speaker at our parent workshops, to meet with us face to face, to build a learning community and to build your child's development.
The next coffee morning will be held on 21 April for Year 3 and 4 families, and parents are welcome to come and experience it. For more information on home-school coaching, please scan the code on the poster below to register your personal details and we look forward to meeting you at the parent workshop.
