Unveiling Chinese Culture through Calligraphy

文wén房fáng四sì宝bǎo

–Chinese Four Treasures of the Study

The Chinese language course is not only a course about language but also a course for students to understand and experience Chinese culture. High school students in the new school year will be able to experience different Chinese culture while learning the language. Students in grade 10 have experienced the “Chinese four treasures of the study” during the first quarter.

The “Chinese four treasures of the study”–(笔bǐ 墨mò 纸zhǐ 砚yàn)writing brush, ink stick, paper, and ink slab —are writing tools with a long cultural tradition and unique artistic style created by the ancestors of the Chinese nation. They have played an important role in recording Chinese history, popularizing various cultures, and promoting the development of Chinese calligraphic and pointing art over thousands of years. It was a great time for our Grade 10 students to use ‘Four Treasures of the Study’ to practice Chinese Calligraphy.

Explore more about Chinese calligraphy online at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Palace Museum

A Peek into Middle School French Classes: Language Learning & Cultural Exploration

This is the first “Newsletter” from the French Department for the Middle School classes. I am happy to be able to give some description and pictures of academy activities since the beginning of the school year until now. I will give an overall picture of the activities of each Middle School class.

In Grade 6, Students still learn very basic knowledge of French language, starting with how to pronounce letters, read words with correct pronunciation and articulation. Then, students have learned several forms of greetings and goodbye expressions, addressed to the right person. Now, students are learning French grammar how to differentiate the gender and the articles of words, singular or plural forms. They also learn French vocabulary as useful objects, family, professions, etc.

In Grade 7, Students have learned about France, viewed from several aspects such as geography, politics, culture, technology and history. In the field of language, students have learned the complete form of greetings and goodbye. Students have also learned sentence types and expressions, such as declarative, interrogative and imperative. They have more emphasized their knowledge in the practical French language, practiced directly in the classroom. Here too, they learn French grammar and new vocabulary to strengthen their language knowledge and communication.

In Grade 8, Students review systematically starting from the basics of French, such as sentence types, forms of negation, verb conjugations, gender of words, and forms of articles, as well as everyday vocabulary and expressions. In this class, students emphasize their French knowledge on everyday use. Overall, they practice French, both in writing, listening, reading and speaking.