Stirling Learning Community

School: Stirling Learning Community
Project: Chinese Tuesdays
Level: Gold
Date: November 2019

Project summary

The ‘Chinese Tuesday’ Project has provided a quality collaborative transition experience for P7 pupils from six associated primary schools within the Stirling Learning Community. The aim of the project was to bring pupils from their own school to the Stirling Primary Confucius Hub based at Braehead Primary School. While attending this transition project children participated in three interdisciplinary Mandarin and Chinese culture workshops focusing on developing employability skills in addition to key Developing the Young Workforce outcomes for life and work.

The workshops were established in partnership with the British Council and Stirling University who placed Chinese Language Assistants and 4th Year Chinese Translation and Interpreting students to support children’s learning and enrich their cultural experience. Each workshop focused on a different curricular area and provided quality opportunities for personal achievement.

The aim of the workshops was to provide engaging, purposeful and innovative learning opportunities using the theme of Mandarin and Chinese culture to motivate and empower learners. Strong links related to Developing the Young Workforce and promotion of the Learning Community’s L3 in line with national 1+2 Languages recommendations. Enhancing the children’s knowledge and understanding of the importance of learning a new language can create employment opportunities was key to the project aims and objectives. Throughout each workshop key Literacy and Modern Language learning took place supported by our national, local and Chinese partners.

To find out more about the project, view the video.

Verification comments

This is an excellent submission. It is a top example of innovation in promoting languages through employability. There was a high level of planning and professional commitment that is evident in both the structure of the project and the outcomes. There was a great amount of evidence of a wide range of pupils from several schools being involved in a variety of activities with a range of partners. The use of ICT, outside speakers, and the hub nature of the project itself are to be commended, as is the use of public outreach and awareness raising. Through reading and listening to feedback, it has had an obvious and clear impact upon the culture of language learning in the schools involved in the project, for both learners and staff.

Employment