Differentiated Teaching Empowering Chinese Language Growth

At Wellington College International Hangzhou, the Primary School's Chinese teaching adheres firmly to the core principle that 'interest is the best teacher'. We are committed to creating an inclusive and encouraging classroom environment where pupils feel confident and motivated to learn. Believing that language learning is both an emotional and cognitive journey, our lessons move away from rote memorisation and instead focus on situational interaction, engaging tasks and personalised feedback, enabling pupils to develop a genuine fondness for and confidence in Chinese through joyful exploration.

As a core foundation subject in our international curriculum, Chinese is allocated ample learning time—one dedicated Chinese lesson every day in the Primary School. This ensures consistent and effective language input, helping pupils consolidate their linguistic foundation and form positive learning habits through immersive study.

Years 1–3: Foundational Differentiation

Years 4–6: Targeted Differentiation

Centred on the national Chinese curriculum, covering listening, speaking, reading and writing comprehensively. Lessons also integrate traditional culture and literary classics to foster native-level thinking and cultural identity. 

Designed with practical language application in mind, this pathway develops balanced proficiency across the four core skills. Cultural content focuses on idioms, customs and everyday etiquette—helping pupils navigate cross-cultural communication with confidence.

Tailored for pupil swith little or no exposure to Chinese, this pathway begins with pinyin, basic characters and simple conversations. The emphasis is on building listening, speaking, recognition and writing ability progressively, laying a solid foundation for future advancement.

Learning Outcomes: Steady Progress, Proven Excellence 

Last year, several non-native speaker pupils achieved excellent results in the HSK (Chinese Proficiency Test) Level 2 examination, showcasing the practical effectiveness of our foundational teaching.

Native speaker pupils actively participated in the Global Chinese Writing Competition for Young Writers, earning awards for their rich linguistic expression and creative perspectives.

Both First-Language and Second-Language pupils shone in the Chinese-English Bilingual Spelling Bee, reaching the finals and excelling in cross-linguistic applications.