Dear Colleagues,
Dragons in Europe has been working closely with the Independent Schools Examinations Board (ISEB) for the last 2 years and they have made the exciting decision to make Mandarin Chinese a new curricular option for the 11+ and 13+ entrance exams into private secondary schools. Whilst I realise that this won’t be relevant to a large % of the network, I also know that there are some teachers who do work in the private sector and therefore this information will be very exciting and a great way to take Mandarin forwards as a curricular subject.
Common Entrance Mandarin
Common Entrance Mandarin will be available over 2 levels and we strongly recommend starting at Year 4 age, ideally on curriculum . Level 1 will be examinable over 30 hours and this would mean that, based on ISEB schools giving their pupils 35-60 minutes of Mandarin lessons per week, it could be completed some time in Year 5.
Level 2, which schools will hopefully want their pupils to sit after Level 1, will be based on 20 hours and we would envisage this being completed in year 6.
Additional info:
- Unlike French, Spanish and German, Mandarin Chinese CE can be taken any time before 11+ /13+
- 3 examination date options during the year (November, Jan/Feb and June).
- First paper available in November 2012
Level 1 is very similar to the short-lived but very popular Mandarin Chinese Certificate of Achievement. The curriculum and wordlist is based on Primary School Chinese Books 1 and 2.
- Level 2 is a more challenging paper and the curriculum and wordlist is based on Primary School Chinese Books 1,2 and 3.
- The content of the curriculum is reviewed online in a fun and interactive format via a webportal called www.primaryschoolchinese.com
- Dragons in Europe are the authors of Common Entrance Mandarin Levels 1 and 2
- Dragons in Europe can provide you with fully trained, Enhanced CRB teachers who would be able to run curriculum classes based on Level 1 and or/2 based on your timelines.
Hope this helps!
Best
Marcus