Curriculum

Chinese (Cantonese) Program (K1 to L11)

The Chinese (Cantonese) Program offers 13 grades from junior kindergarten to grade 11 (K1 to L11) and accepts students from 3 years of age and up.

Program materials are enhanced in 2010 by putting in additional supplementary teaching materials and worksheets, along with revision of program books and worksheets.  Lessons are grouped in learning modules, which are more flexible and can be arranged to suit the variable levels of students.  Through this more effective approach, students’ confidence and interests in learning the Chinese language will be nurtured.  

In the program book, contents of each lesson are illustrated by lively diagrams and animations to foster students’ understanding of as well as interest in the lesson.  In a positive learning environment where students’ thinking is invigorated and participation is motivated, the knowledge gained will be retained for a longer period of time.  A glossary is attached at the end of the program book for easy reference, which compares traditional Chinese characters to simplified Chinese characters, together with phonetic transcriptions for Cantonese (Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Cantonese Romanisation Scheme) and Putonghua (Hanyu Pinyin Scheme).  

Learning materials are selected and organized in a systematic order according to the age of students.  The style of writing starts with simple characters and words, and proceeds to short phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and essays.   Upon completion of the program (L1 to L9), students will be able to identify and write more than 1,000 Chinese characters and more than 1,000 words, even if they do not have any Chinese language background.  The following table shows the number of characters and words to be learned by students in each level of study:

The themes embrace both Canadian and Chinese cultures, progressing from the surroundings and daily living in lower grades to Canadian customs and culture in middle grades.  Chinese festivals and biographies are also introduced.  This helps instill the virtues of filial piety and modesty in students.  Senior students learn topics on Chinese history, geography, idioms, poetry, etc. so they will have a better understanding and appreciation of Chinese culture.

Program Contents (L1 to L11):

Sample Worksheet (K1 to L11):