Chinese Continuers Two units for each of Year 11 and HSC NESA Developed Course
What background knowledge do I need to study Chinese Continuers? Students who have studied Chinese Beginners in Years 7 to 10 as a second language at school or privately and gained a sound knowledge of the language equivalent to 200 to 300 hours of study. For more information, please ask the Chinese teachers.
Why study Chinese Continuers? Chinese is a significant world language, one of the official languages of the United Nations and is spoken by about 16 per cent of the world’s population. There are many spoken varieties of Chinese, and modern standard Chinese is pre-eminent among these. It is the major language of communication in China, Taiwan and Singapore and is widely used by Chinese communities throughout the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia. The study of Chinese contributes to the overall education of students, particularly in the areas of communication, cross-cultural understanding, literacy and general knowledge. It provides access to the culture of Chinese-speaking countries and communities. The study promotes understanding of different attitudes and values within the wider Australian community and beyond. •
Chinese interacts well with other subjects requiring more research tasks and/or essay writing. It works well with Visual Arts, History, Music and even Science and Mathematics.
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Studying Chinese can provide a basis for continued learning and a pathway for students into post-secondary options. These options may include employment domestically or internationally in areas such as tourism, technology, finance, services and business.
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The significance of Chinese within and beyond Australia requires strategies for the building of sociocultural, economic and political engagement; learning Chinese in the Australian context will support such engagement.
Course description: The aim of the course is to foster within students the ability to: • • • •
exchange information, opinions and experiences in Chinese (speaking) understand, analyse, process and respond to texts that are in Chinese (listening/reading) express ideas through the production of original written texts in Chinese (writing) understand aspects of the language and culture of Chinese-speaking communities.
Students who enjoyed the challenge of learning Chinese to the Record of School Achievement level will derive further satisfaction from developing their language skills to a higher level. Senior programs provide students with access to a wide range of texts such as: • • • • • • •
short stories newspaper articles reviews and magazines recorded conversations films emails letters
Subject Choice for the Higher School Certificate
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