学校信息

The mandarin Chinese Language courses are established for all the people of any culture backgrounds, with the minimum age of 4. It aims to help students to develop their competence in the basic skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing Chinese and prepare for GCSE, A-level or higher exams. Students learn from Pinyin (the most-widely used Chinese phonetic system) as a tool to master the spoken language; strokes to form the Chinese characters; radicals to accumulate vocabulary. Introduction of historical, social and cultural background of China are also provided whenever relevant. The current textbooks and exercise books used by the school are the overseas edition of the Standard Chinese. The overseas edition material consists of 9 textbooks, which contain Pinyin, step-by-step build-up of Chinese characters, phrases, some of idioms and sentences, language structure and grammar, speaking, reading and writing. They deal with culture and science in the context of practical life, literary stories, natural scientific papers, traditional idioms and the modern Chinese society. Some supplementary materials are also prepared by the teachers when is necessary and appropriate.

Every effort is made to systemise language classes to suit the needs of learners of different age groups and language proficiency levels. As a small Sunday community school, however, some classes may consist of children of different ages and of different levels of Chinese language proficiency. Teachers are therefore entitled to adjusting teaching methodology and content at their own discretion on the basis of their professional judgement of the learning needs and characteristics of the children in their classes.

Seasonal cultural celebrations and extra-curriculum activities are also organised to broaden the range of linguistic and cultural knowledge of our children. Parents are keenly expected to offer assistance and support for these activities.

A combination of Western and Eastern teaching methodologies are used, i.e., an integration of teacher-centred, knowledge based and student-centred, task based approach. A variety of activities are used during the lesson. Students are encouraged to participate actively in the classroom to enable them to develop strategies of being independent learners. Homework is seen as an integrated part of learning process to consolidate what they learn in the lesson.

• Registration Form 学生注册表(.pdf)
• Children Photography Consent Form 学生照片使用许可表(.pdf)

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• School Constitution 学校宪章(.pdf)
• Duties and Responsibilities of School Committee Members 校委会职责 (.pdf)
• Students’ Handbook of Durham Chinese School 杜伦中文学校学生守则 (.pdf)
• The Admission and Tuition Fee Management Regulation 杜伦中文学校入学及学费管理规定 (.pdf)
• DCS Safety of Children and Care of the Facilities 杜伦中文学校学生安全及教学设施维护注意事项 (.pdf)
• The Code of Professional Conduct for DCS Teachers 教师守则 (.pdf)

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Durham Chinese School aims to deliver high standard education

in Chinese language (Mandarin in modern simplified written form) and Chinese culture to both children and adults and to promote Chinese culture within our multi-cultural society for racial harmony, equality and diversity, in the city and county Durham and beyond.

More specifically, the school aims

1. To help pupils to develop the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) of Mandarin Chinese.

2. To provide qualified revision courses for GCSE level & A level Chinese examinations.

3. To provide opportunities for pupils to experience the Chinese culture by organising different kinds of cultural activities and celebrating Chinese festivals.

4.To promote racial harmony by engaging pupils with the mainstream and voluntary communities in events and activities, e.g. ce lebrations of Chinese New Year and Moon festival, art, dancing, Kung Fu and music shows.

5. To gain insights into the importance of languages, communication and culture issues at all levels in the wider community.

It is intended that the fulfilment of our objects will meet

1. The needs of children by providing an opportunity to learn Chinese language at different levels of proficiency and assisting with retention of cultural identity by those children;

2. The needs of the local mainstream schools by providing teaching resources and consultancy in both curriculum and cultural issues;

3. The needs of adults in general society who wish to acquire greater knowledge of an increasingly important world language and culture;

4. The needs of members of the Chinese community in the Durham area to participate in the local community and do so in accordance with their traditions;

5. The needs of the multi-cultural society in the Durham area to promote the culture diversity.