The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
Issue link: https://thelinguist.uberflip.com/i/135206
FEATURES 'The Mandarin AS-level is incredibly difficult. Even native speakers find it a really challenging exam' LEADING THE WAY Kingsford pupils lead a special Chinese event In 2000, Kingsford became the first school in the UK to introduce Mandarin to its curriculum. In 2007, it was granted the status of a Confucius Classroom by Hanban, the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language. Its Mandarin teaching was developed and supervised by Linying Liu, who completed her Graduate Teacher Training on the job. 'It's amazing how much things have changed since I started at Kingsford in 2000,' she says. 'We had no resources whatsoever back then and we made our own from looking at the French syllabus. Now we're learning more and more each year about what's working in the classroom.' The impact of this trial-and-error approach on students is apparent, and each year the school has seen its Mandarin GCSE results topped. Last year, 87 percent of pupils were graded A*-C. 'Our teaching style has definitely changed to make classes more suitable for UK language learners,' says Liu. 'We've moved on from the old Chinese textbooks, which were teacher-centred and we're now focusing on our students' needs as active, practical learners. We do more games and use creative methods to teach Vol/52 No/3 2013 phonetics and involve pupils in the culture.' The popularity of Chinese at GCSE now exceeds that of French at Kingsford. 'I've definitely seen a shift in attitudes to Mandarin,' says Liu. 'Parents and students are realising the importance of it as a global language.' Nishat has a promising career in global policy ahead of her. After a recent internship at an international think tank she was asked to stay on, as her Mandarin skills were so valuable to their work. 'It's been a challenging journey but an interesting one, and with Chinese becoming more in demand I think there should be more opportunities at school to study it,' she says. 'I was very lucky that Kingsford pushed it. I don't know what I'd be doing today if they hadn't.' Teacher targets Through the Confucius Institute, native Hanban teaching assistants are being placed in classrooms across the UK to support in-class and supplement lessons, with extracurricular Chinese clubs. But one of the main challenges remaining is the severe lack of qualified Mandarin teachers. In July 2011, a five-year partnership was announced between the SSAT and Hanban to offer training to 1,000 additional Chinese teachers for secondary schools in England. Currently around three quarters of Chinese teachers are native speakers, and Carruthers is leading attempts to attract more people to the profession. 'At the moment we're providing an additional 30 teachers a year through mainstream training routes, such as the PGCE and Graduate Teacher Programme,' she says. The Confucius Institute also runs a 30-hour course in classroom management skills for teachers visiting from China, to give them a taste of teaching in UK schools. British language teachers are being offered the chance to take an intensive Chinese course in Beijing. 'Both the intensive and short courses give teachers the confidence and skills to commit to choosing Mandarin at PGCE level,' says Carruthers. Goldsmiths, Sheffield and Warwick universities all offer well-attended PGCE courses in Chinese. Carruthers estimates that numbers of qualified secondary school Mandarin teachers have doubled to around 200 since the partnership was established two years ago. She's confident they will hit the target of 1,000 additional Mandarin teachers by 2016. 'We will get there but there's a long way to go – not just for Mandarin but for all languages.' In this Chinese year of the snake, which according to the Hanban symbolises steady progress and attention to detail, perhaps more schools and individuals will catch on to the work of Katharine Carruthers and her peers, and the take-up of Mandarin teaching and learning at each stage will continue to grow. JUNE/JULY The Linguist 25