As part of their Mandarin curriculum, pupils in the S2 beginners class got hands on with the ancient tradition of Chinese watercolour painting. 
 
Tying in with Chinese New Year, the class was set the task of creating Chinese inspired drawings using the traditional painting method. Pupils were shown examples and then encouraged to use their imagination to create their pieces featuring Chinese elements characters to aid memorisation. 
 
The project lent itself well for home learning with pupils using various types of art supplies to create their depictions. 
 
Miss Zhang, teacher of Mandarin, said: “In our Mandarin class, pupils not only learn the language but also the culture. Since Chinese New Year is approaching, I thought it would be good for pupils to not only experience a different culture, but to also broaden their horizons.
 
“It’s a shame that they couldn’t try real Chinese calligraphy brush pens at this stage, but the new method worked really well and it’s pretty covid-friendly and suitable for remote learning!”
 
Mrs Lamont, Head of Modern Languages: “These watercolours are outstanding pieces of art and the S2 pupils should feel very proud of their achievements. Learning about the culture of other countries is a very important part of learning another language and even more so at the present time when we cannot physically travel. We are looking forward to a very happy year of the Ox and getting back to school so that pupils can try out the Chinese calligraphy brushes. Well done to Miss Zhang and all the S2 beginners!”  
 
The S2 pupils were the first class to try out this task and due to the high calibre of submissions received, Miss Zhang has decided to roll out the session to the S1 and S2 continuer classes. 
 
Chinese watercolour painting is just one of the creative learning methods set out for Mandarin pupils. Other cultural activities include paper cutting and a virtual escape room in which pupils receive a virtual fortune cookie with clues. Safe to say the limits digital learning is endless with a good dose of creativity added to the mix.