Students at Notley High School are studying Mandarin and are learning about the Chinese culture every Tuesday afterschool in F2 with Mrs Xiong. 

They particularly enjoyed celebrating the Chinese New Year during their last sessions . This is what they have to say about their Chinese experience:

I decided that I wanted to go to Chinese club because; it doesn’t matter where you are in China, if you know Mandarin, anyone can understand you. So far, we have covered hello, how are you?, what’s your name?, numbers 1-99, age, spring festival, the 12 zodiacs and calligraphy. I’m having lots of fun Leraning new things and everyone else seems to enjoy it as much as I do. By Toby Yap.

I joined the Chinese club to expand my knowledge of the culture of China and its language. The Chinese club has been such a great experience for me. So far, I have been able to learn basic Chinese greetings , aspects of the culture, numbers, the zodiac signs and much more. I was also given a traditional Chinese envelope containing a chocolate coin as a symbol of good fortune when we celebrated the Chinese New Year. I think I am now equipped with a further tool for communication. By the end of the course I hope I can have a conversation with Chinese people and I am sure I will know more about their culture. By Dexan Charlery-Warner.

I decided to join the Chinese club because it would improve my language skills. It is so much fun and the teacher is so lovely. I would recommend it to anyone likes languages or art/ calligraphy. This week we drew our own name with calligraphy. It was so much fun!!! By Chenise Smith.

Learning Mandarin is so much fun because we also learn about China and culture. For the past two weeks for example because it was the Chinese New Year we have been learning about hoe people celebrate the New Year and the animals of the zodiac. It is really fun and so interesting. By Fae Reynolds.