Chinese Learning

Bloom KKCA Academy’s dual language program aims to develop students’ English and Putonghua proficiency and appreciation of each language and associated cultures. While our program offers individual choice in the emphasis of one language, we expect students to ultimately be fluent in both languages.

We believe that oral communication is the foundation of language teaching at the primary level. As students develop their basic listening and speaking skills, we will begin to teach them pictographs and ideograms, the key to reading in Chinese. This step requires memory work and pattern recognition, and we use both traditional and creative methods to help students recognize characters accurately.

Once students can recognize a foundational set of characters, their ability and appetite for reading books independently will grow, and we will offer rich choices to engage them. We will then focus on training them to write well.

We believe that the central goals of language learning are interpersonal communication and the exchange of ideas, self-expression, and the development of sophisticated and independent thinking. We attach great importance to cultivating students' appreciation for literature and culture; therefore, our Chinese learning includes reading poetry and classical works, such as the Four Books and the Five Classics.

The Three Pathways

Our students represent a wide range of language and cultural backgrounds. Therefore, the proportion of teaching content in Chinese and English is determined by the students’ language skills and learning development. In the early stages, students will have more Chinese language arts courses, and less Chinese instruction in project-based courses, where English is the primary language of instruction. As they progress, the proportion of teaching in English and teaching in Chinese will balance out to be about 50-50.

In order to meet the different needs of learners, we have 2 pathways:

• Chinese as a Main Language (CML)
  Students whose native language is Chinese
• Chinese as an Additional Language (CAL)
  Students whose second language is Chinese
• Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL)
  Students who are beginners to Chinese language

The three pathways have different syllabi, learning content, benchmarks, and assessments. Placement of students in the pathways is determined by their interests, needs, language backgrounds, and language abilities.

*We teach Chinese in simplified script. Traditional script is used to teach calligraphy and higher level literature.

Curriculum

In the Chinese language classroom, we value a balanced development of students' language skills (listening, listening, reading, and writing). We aim to cultivate their ability to express themselves, think critically, create, and communicate interculturally. Teaching activities are rich and varied, from drama performances, to story discussion and interpretation, to calligraphy, and art.

At Bloom KKCA Academy, Chinese is not only learned as a separate language subject, but also as a language of instruction for learning other subjects, such as mathematics, physical education, and art. The project-based learning model also helps to stimulate student interest, along with cultivating their ability to find and integrate information, solve problems, organize research, and execute projects.

Below are subjects where we will use Putonghua as the Language of Instruction:

Modes of instruction used across all subjects:

• Collaborative
• Differentiated
• Project-Based Learning
• Multiple Modes (performances, songs, riddles, films, field trips)