Good educators prefer to ask students to be free rather than abiding by the law; rather than seeking to be like everyone else, they prefer to develop students’ individuality.

 ——Cai Yuanpei

The Chinese course of IB has always been a very unique existence. Among them,language and literature courses are often praised for their tolerance and freedom,diversity and flexibility.

Here, we can focus on text or explore reality; We can gaze east or gaze west; We can discuss tradition, or we can focus on the current hot phenomenon...

Here, we care about literature and we care about the world. Literature is the core of the curriculum and an important way for us to see the world.

Today, we are honored to have Ms. Vero, MYP's Chinese teacher, who is currently teaching Chinese language and literature in Grade 6 and language acquisition in Grade 10. She is very interesting, gentle and cheerful, and is very popular among students.Let's walk into her colorful world of teaching and literature.

Ms. Vero

·"Chinese Creations" Creative Essay Writing Competition for Overseas Chinese Youth Outstanding Instructor

·teaching qualification certificate for Chinese（high school）

·Chinese  Test Administration Certificate

·PYP  Category 1 certificate: Make PYP happen

·MYP Category 2 certificate：Interdisciplinary teaching and learning in the MYP

·MYP Category 2 certificate：Language and literature

Teaching Chinese Language and Literature in Year 6 ; Teaching Chinese LanguageAcquisition in Year 10;She's also the Chinese homeroom teacher for Grade 6A. 

She went abroad to teach after receiving  Master's degree in Chinese Language International Education from Heilongjiang University, and then joined the CISK family in 2019, which is now in its fourth year. 

She loves to read and has a complex reading style, with a book list that includes long epic poems as well as literary fictional texts. 

She is a funny person and hopes to bring funny Chinese lessons to her children. She hopes that she can show children that if you love literature, literature will love you back in the future.

The love of Chinese literature made her a teacher

For Ms. Vero, who grew up with a love of literature, becoming a Chinese teacher seemed like a natural thing to do. The excellent teachers she met during her school years made her determined in her dream of becoming a teacher.

When talking about literature, she talks about everything from ancient poetry to contemporary prose, from Li Bai to Wang Zengqi... She reads books in a variety of styles and covers a wide range of topics.

She appreciates the grand imagination in Li Bai's and Li He's poems; she likes Hai Sang and Mu Xin, and "If you love literature, literature will love you in the future" in Mu Xin's poem is also a phrase she wants to say to her students; She also loves Wang Zengqi's prose, and even wants to take his works to Yunnan ......

Besides, Vero also tries to go out of her comfort zone and read social science, popular science and even physics books, trying to get herself out of the "information cocoon" by reading these works that she may not be interested in.

She shared this quote with us: " Don't have a sense of intellectual superiority; chasing knowledge only makes us admit our ignorance. Stick to reading the classics, talk with the great souls of mankind, and get out of our inherent mediocrity and arrogance. "This fragment is from Professor Luo Xiang's work, and she hopes to remind herself of this at all times while reading, and hopes she can always practice it.

An unexpected encounter with IB

Ms. Vero decided to teach abroad after receiving her Master's degree in Chinese International Education from Heilongjiang University, and then returned to China and joined CISK in 2019. In her opinion, becoming an IB Chinese teacher was an unexpected encounter, but she gradually felt the charm of the IB curriculum in the process of teaching.

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"We used to have a model for answering questions, but IB Chinese focuses more on children's feelings and experiences and allowing students to express themselves, which is a very interesting point. "

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She is also a very popular teacher among her students. She wants her students to learn more than textbook, but to think outside the box and connect to the real world, and she wants to show them a enriched and interesting Chinese curriculum.

" I like to discuss the "what ifs" and to set up a situation to guide them to experience the feelings. I also like to adapt stories and use PPTs and mind maps to guide them to show their ideas."

When she taught the PYP Chinese program, she used to take the children to plant trees. “It was planted in the school's garden, and it was flourishing. Two years later, the children had grown taller, and so had the tree. It was an unexpected echo. Ten years of trees, a hundred years of trees. The school should stretch as long as the forest grows. "

When she taught the MYP, she was most impressed by the poetry created by the G10 students and the whole book reading activity in the sixth grade. 

One MSL student once described the forest at night to her as "deafeningly silent," and she said, "It was very graphic and literary. And working with students is like opening a blind box. Although I have preconceptions and expectations, I am always surprised by their wonderful imagination and rich creativity."

（G10 Students‘ work）

From IBPYP to MYP

During her four years at CISK, Ms. Vero has faced the challenge of teaching PYP to MYP level across grade levels, and has had her share of discomfort during this time, but then she realized,

"Listening to students' feelings and respecting their ideas is a very important thing."

At the same time, she would like to use her experience to give advice to students who are transitioning from PYP to MYP in order to help them better bridge the two stages of their studies.

Understanding terminology

One of the big changes in Mandarin learning from PYP to MYP is that - there are a lot more unintelligible words, aka terms! These concepts are not really unfamiliar, such as rhetorical devices and writing techniques, but we are not used to using them. Therefore, efforts should be made to standardize language and strengthen the use of written language and terminology when analyzing problems at the interface between PYP and MYP

Enhancing reading

In order to make a better transition from PYP to MYP, efforts should also be made to develop good reading habits. Attention should be paid not only to the amount of reading, but also to the length of the reading, the type of text, etc. When you reach MYP, for example, it is more important to read directly from the original novel than from the teenager version, while reading middle-grade or even longer novels is recommended. And in addition to interesting novels, drama, prose, poetry, etc., should also be covered.

Take good reading notes and build up your vocabulary

It is important to read not only with your eyes but also with your "hands". Language skills are on the rise and you should strive to express yourself with more precise vocabulary. MYP Mandarin requires a broader and deeper vocabulary, and it is not enough to rely on the classroom alone; you need to acquire it from reading and from life at all times.

Getting used to writing

Writing becomes more important in MYP. It becomes more frequent, the word count increases, the demands on writing skills increase and the standard of emotional expression is raised. And all this cannot be done in the classroom alone, but requires your own accumulation. To make a good transition from PYP to MYP, you have to get yourself used to writing. Write down what you feel when you read; at the end of the day, write a two or three lines summary of your day; it doesn't need to be long, but get into the habit.

Focus on feelings

In PYP school, Mandarin learning might focus more on language use. In MYP, however, it is not only about learning to use language, but also about feeling and expressing yourself. Start with how you feel, and then try to understand why you feel the way you do, the way the author expresses his feelings, the way we can express ourselves, and so on. Don't wait for answers, having your own answers and explain your answers.

Discover more material from life

Language learning is not just about texts; there are more than novels, essays and poems, but also speeches, posters, tour guides, narrations, videos and so on. To make a good transition from PYP to MYP, you need to make the world of languages much broader and draw more nutrients from life.

In the end, she concluded: "We now love literature, insist on reading, feeling, whether it's the knowledge, emotional experience, or creative inspiration we get as a result, they are the literary feedback. As long as we are truly engaged in reading, we will also be able to gain a lot from reading. "

Thanks for Teacher Vero's sharing. We wish every student of CISK could find his or her own truth, love, beauty and goodness in literature and truly realize that "if you love

literature, literature will love you". We believe that every symbol is the love of life, and every word is the depiction of the world. If you love the world, the world will love you back.