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I personally think there will be a new problem. How are you going to decide who are native-speakers and who are non-natives? For those children we call them BBC (British Born Chinese), are they native speakers? Also there are many children who are born as half Chinese and half British. Some chldren came to the UK as native Chinese speakers. Buth when they came, they were under six years old. They didn't start school in China at all. I feel the main problem is that we do not have Chinese teaching in the same way as German and French. I have been teaching at two main schools for over three years. Chinese is a long way to be put in the school curriculum yet. I struggle to keep students happy at lunch teaching and after school. Helena >From: MTATE <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: Mandarin Chinese Teaching ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: GCSE >Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2005 13:19:53 +0100 > >Anne, > >They do have two seperate exams in Australia and also in New Zealand, >I think. We brought this suggestion up at the meeting with Edexcel, >DfeS, British Council, etc earlier in the year. Edexcel's concern is >that there used to be two exams and they were asked to make it into >one. So, it's almost as if this whole exam business has gone around in >a big circle. They took the suggestion on board, but I'm not sure that >they are actually seriously considering doing anything about it! > I think it would be the best way forward too, but financially for >Edexcel it would be a disaster. Think how many native speakers are >taking the present exam. About 97% possibly. Now think about how many >non-native speakers are taking it. It wouldn't be financially viable >for Edexcel to make a seperate exam. It's just a theory, but there may >be some mileage in this. > >Michelle > >----Original Message---- >From: [log in to unmask] >Date: 30-Sep-2005 11:52 >To: >Subj: Re: GCSE > > > > > > > >How about two exams -one for native speakers and >one for non native speakers ? >I have heard that this happens in some parts of >Australia. Does anyone know anything about this ? >Anne Martin > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: > Gina Edens > To: [log in to unmask] > > Sent: Friday, September 30, 2005 10:56 > AM > Subject: GCSE > > > I think Oliver's point about the boudaries > compared to Japanese is very important one. I also agree that the > syllabus for Chinese is OK as it does list grammar required and >there is a > core vocabulary but this will only get a student a C grade (I >believe - I am > still quite new to this so I may be wrong.) Would a comprehensive > vocabulary and character list (one for reading, another for writing) >be > useful? As a beginner teacher in Mandarin I find it very hard to > prioritise characters for reading and writing. I am constantly >aware > that when characters come up in the exam that students don't know, I >will be > the only one at fault for not having covered them in my lessons. I >don't > want my lessons to become a mad race to cover hundreds and hundreds >of > characters at the expense of pupils' enjoyment, cultural studies, >etc. > But at the moment as I have little guidance I am inclined to cram my >schemes > of work with what is really an unreasonable amount of characters >(which I > struggle with, let alone the students!!) > > We have just had our open morning and parents > were far more interested in Mandarin than Japanese. I wonder how >this > will change, however, when we have our first cohort take the GCSE in >2008 and > parents compare our Japanese results of nearly 100% A* most years >with > possibly very deflated Mandarin results unless changes are made. I >am > worried to say the least!! > > Gina Edens > Whitgift >School