Not just a language: international school in Hong Kong stresses Chinese culture
Canadian International School shows how serious it is about making sure students get China by investing HK$60 million on new wing intended as a space where they can learn about Chinese arts, music, and history after lessons.
About half of the students enrolled at the Canadian International School are ethnic Chinese, but that’s not why it invested HK$60 million to build a new wing dedicated to learning about Chinese culture. The idea is to help students navigate a world in which China is the lodestone.
Opened in January, the school’s Chinese Cultural Centre provides an immersive environment for such learning: Its four classrooms are shaped like the Taoist bagua symbol; even the corridors are decorated with traditional Chinese kitchen utensils and inventions such as the abacus.
Although Chinese-language lessons for junior forms are held in the centre, the main aim is to create a space where students can learn about Chinese culture after school, says Penny Pan, the school’s director of Chinese studies.
“The Chinese orchestra of 34 students playing erhu, zither, pipa and flute perform there. There are also Chinese painting classes, a dance club and choir. Later we will have martial arts classes.”
Shadow puppet and paper cutting masters will also be brought in for the school’s artist-in-residence programme, which previously introduced martial arts troupes and dragon dance masters, Pan says.
Chinese is a compulsory subject up to Grade Eight at the Canadian International School, where students have seven lessons each week – two more than the usual five periods at other international schools. At Grade Nine, they may opt to study French instead but 95 per cent of students choose Chinese.