Language

Mandarin

At Muswell Hill Primary school we believe learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. Language teaching at primary school provides the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries.

Muswell Hill Primary School is a diverse community with 44% of children being able to speak another language other than English. Ten years ago, the school took the decision to teach Mandarin as its foreign language. Working in partnership with the Confucius Institute for TCM at the London South Bank University, the school embarked upon the journey of becoming a Confucius Classroom school. Children at Muswell Hill learn Mandarin from Reception to Y6 - please see our curriculum here.

Lessons are taught by our specialist Mandarin teachers who are native speakers.

Speaking and Listening

Each lesson starts with pronunciation practise after a phonics warm up. The children learn vocabulary mainly through games, songs and rhymes, and actions to accompany words. Children frequently work in pairs with plenty of opportunity to practise speaking and listening.

Reading and Writing

Children start to read and write Chinese characters at the start of their learning journey. Learning to write the characters correctly helps create good habits for future learning as well as encouraging concentration and boosting fine motor skills. The children are encouraged to use their imaginations to make visual associations which helps them to remember how the characters are formed.

Chinese Culture

The children are given opportunities to explore Chinese culture and way of life; they learn about key Chinese festivals and the whole school celebrates Chinese New Year through a variety of cultural activities and workshops. We also serve a special lunch to celebrate Chinese New Year, and the children sometimes take part in cooking Chinese delicacies.