Mandarin Chinese

Mandarin Chinese is taught as a modern foreign language (MFL) with all students from Year 1 (age 5 years) upwards entitled to 3 Mandarin lessons each week.

With over one billion Mandarin Chinese speakers in the world this language often tops the list of the most important foreign languages to learn.

RBIS International School is delighted to be working in partnership with the Mandarin teaching expertise of the Friendship Language Academy, Bangkok.

Qualified and experienced specialist teachers (native-Mandarin speakers) from the Friendship language Academy teach the Mandarin curriculum through 3 dedicated lessons each week.

In Primary classes students work towards the Youth Chinese Test (YCT) a standardised Chinese language test which is directed at examining non-native primary students’ ability to apply Chinese language in their studies and daily lives. (YCT tests in Years 4, 5 and 6)

YCT is divided into writing and speaking tests, which are independent to each other. The writing test consists of four levels, namely, YCT (level I), YCT (level II), YCT (level III), and YCT (level IV). The speaking test consists of two levels, YCT Speaking (Primary Level) and YCT Speaking (Intermediate Level).

Students in the RBIS Middle and Senior Schools move on with Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK), an international standardised test of Chinese language proficiency, assesses non-native Chinese speakers’ abilities in using the Chinese language in their daily, academic and professional lives.

HSK consists of six levels, namely HSK (level I), HSK (level II), HSK (level III), HSK (level IV), HSK (level V), and HSK (level VI).

At RBIS we expect students will work with: -

HSK (level I) in Year 7

HSK (level 2) in Year 8

HSK (level 3) in Year 9

HSK (level 4) in Year 10 (this is the expected level for University entry in mainland China)

chevron-right