Congratulations to Michael T (4th T) who came third in a recent Mandarin language eisteddfod. It was John Colet School’s first time in the competition, and our participation was arranged by our wonderful Mandarin teacher (and school parent) Katrina P, who has an amazing gift for sharing her passion for the language and making it fun for the students.
Katrina helped our students prepare for the group recitation, with some also competing in the individual age categories.
Our students learn Mandarin as part of a club or after-school activity, and they were competing against students of other schools where Mandarin is part of the compulsory curriculum.
Michael came third in the 8-12yr individual competition which was wonderful!
The students also learnt a great deal from the adjudicators, including the need to speak clearly and fluidly, project their voices, feel the words and to focus on the tonal pronunciation of the language.
As one of the officials told us, learning Mandarin will have great benefits for the students in the years ahead.
