I thought it was Prince Henry's but wasn't sure. I've just found another
one by using Google. It is Crossley Heath School
(http://www.crossleyheath.org.uk) in Halifax, West Yorkshire. Again, it's
probably too far from Sheffield anyway.
Let me try to explain the Chinese teaching situation here at my school.
The Thomas, Lord Audley school gained Specialist Language College status
in 2001 and immediately started offering Mandarin Chinese alongside
Japanese and 3 other languages as the school's "Language Experience" in
addition to the traditional MFL options, e.g. French, German and Spanish.
I joined TLA innitially as a Learning Support Assistant in October 2001,
and took up the extra responsibility as the Mandarin Chinese teacher in
January 2002 following the departure of our first Chinese teacher who was
British and had learned Mandarin Chinese in Taiwan. It was not until I
started teaching did I have a clearer idea about the Mandarin Chinese
teaching situation at our school.
Mandarin Chinese was innitially offered only to Year 10 (15 year olds)
students who had nominated the language to learn as their Language
Experience subject at the end of Year 9. I had two groups of approximately
25 students each in two classes. This means that Mandarin Chinese was only
taught in two 50-minute lessons in a week at our school. There would not
be exams, however, I was obliged to write their progress reports. However,
the school decided to change the ways in which the Language Experience
operated last year (September 2003), my old Year 10 students (became Year
11 in September 2003) would continue their Chinese with me until they
leave school. In addition, I gained two more year 10 groups who would only
learn Chinese in one term instead of one or two academic year. From 2003
onwards, Language Experience became compulsory, and our students had to
"experience" all 5 Language Experience languages in the 5 terms in Year 10
and 11. They would learn the languages on termly basis, for example,
Chinese
in one term, then move on to Japanese in another term, and so on and so
forth until they have covered all 5 options before they leave school.
There would still be no exams, but progress reports would still be
necessary.
All this means that now I have 4 Chinese lessons a week, 2 with the year
11 students who have been learning Chinese since September 2001, and 2
with Year 10 students, from period 3 to period 6 on Fridays. Apart from
those 4 lessons, I also have 2 periods as my preparation time in periods 1
and 2 on Fridays. Friday had now become my Mandarin Chinese day.
I don't know how useful my personal situation will be for you, Terry.
Still, here we are. Perhaps other people would also tell you about their
own Chinese teaching situations at their respective schools.
By the way, I am a native Mandarin Chinese speaker from Taiwan.
Please do let me know if there is anything that I can be of some help.
best wishes
Vincent
T E Lamb <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>Dear Vincent,
>Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, and with very useful ideas. I
>think
>the school you are referring to is Prince Henry's, but I've realised that
>despite my involvement with many of you I'm still very vague about how
>much
>Mandarin is being taught in your schools at the moment. Is this
>information
>accessible anywhere? I have a list of schools, but it would be really
>interesting to know who is taught Chinese, what plans there are for
>expansion,
>etc.
>
>Have a good day tomorrow!
>Terry
>
>Quoting Vincent Lien <[log in to unmask]>:
>
>> Hello Terry,
>>
>> Many thanks for your kind welcome and the exciting information that
>> immediately attracted my attention--PGCE in Mandarin Chinese--what
>novelty
>> and how exciting!
>>
>> Re. placement, obviously, Colchester is too far away from Sheffield.
>> Otherwise, I could try to talk to the Director of the Language College
>at
>> our school to see if we could host a PGCE Mandarin student.
>>
>> Have your tried York and Leeds areas? I used to be involved in the
>> Mandarin Chinese teaching for the Language For All programme and the
>> Linguistics Department at the University of York. As far as I can
>remember
>> there wasn't any secondary school in York that offered Mandarin Chinese.
>> In addition to students and staff from the university, we had people
>from
>> the general public and some students from the Law College in my Chinese
>> classes.
>>
>> I seem to remember, however, there is a school in West Yorkshire that
>> offers Mandarin Chinese. I will try to find out the name of the school,
>or
>> if anyone reading this who knows of this school, please could you let us
>> know.
>>
>> Hmmmm, I am not a qualified teacher, perhaps I should apply for your
>PGCE
>> in Mandarin at Sheffield, Terry.
>>
>> Meantime, back to the battlefield tomorrow--sigh.
>>
>> best wishes
>> Vincent
>>
>> [log in to unmask] writes:
>> >Hello all,
>> >It's so good to have messages like Vincent's. There is a real need for
>> >this site
>> >and it will get bigger and bigger. Welcome Vincent!
>> >
>> >Whilst writing, I just wanted to remind you that here at Sheffield
>> >University we
>> >are starting an exciting PGCE in Mandarin from September. Because of
>> >school
>> >placement problems, it would be good if people could also offer a
>little
>> >French, German or Spanish, at least until Mandarin gets more
>established
>> >throughout schools.
>> >
>> >I also would like to ask a favour. We have no Mandarin here in
>Sheffield
>> >schools
>> >so I'm having to find school partners where I could place a student,
>> >preferably
>> >not too far away. If anyone is interested in hosting a student, we
>could
>> >discuss in more detail. Please let me know directly (to avoid everyone
>> >getting
>> >bombarded with messages), and let me know if you could manage someone
>> >with just
>> >Mandarin.
>> >
>> >Many thanks! I look forward to hearing from you.
>> >
>> >All the best
>> >Terry
>> >
>> >Quoting Vincent Wen-Shan Lien <[log in to unmask]>:
>> >
>> >> Dear All,
>> >>
>> >> This is Vincent (連文山) from the Thomas, Lord Audley School and
>> >Language
>> >> College in Colchester, Essex. As per instruction, I am here to say
>"ni
>> >> hao" to everybody who may or may not remember me from the conference
>> >back
>> >> in March.
>> >>
>> >> What a wonderful idea this is that we have a virtual "staff room"
>here
>> >to
>> >> exchange thoughts and ideas about our jobs, etc.
>> >>
>> >> Trust you are all enjoying your bank holiday.
>> >>
>> >> Best wishes and
>> >> 平安快樂
>> >>
>> >> Vincent 文山
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >Terry LAMB
>> >Deputy Director, Initial Teacher Education
>> >University of Sheffield
>> >
>> >Honorary Membership Officer, Association for Language Learning
>> >Convenor, AILA Scientific Commission on Learner Autonomy in Language
>> >Learning
>> >
>> >School of Education
>> >The Education Building
>> >388 Glossop Road
>> >Sheffield
>> >S10 2JA
>> >
>> >Tel: (+)44 (0)114 222 8118
>> >Fax: (+)44 (0)114 279 6236
>> >Website: http://www.shef.ac.uk/education/staff/Lamb.shtml
>> >ALL website: http://www.all-languages.org.uk/
>> >AILA SC website: http://lc.ust.hk/~ailasc/
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
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