Chinese whispers

The soothing sounds of the Yang Qin, a Chinese musical instrument similar to a dulcimer, drifted across the Lomond Auditorium, before and after a lively presentation of international education.

Kim-Ho Ip, from the University of Edinburgh, performed the music as a preface to Judith McClure’s presentation on the work of the Scotland China Education Network and the creation of links with schools across the world by pupils of all ages. 'Scotland and its place in the world has got to be at the heart of everything we do,' said the headteacher at St George’s School in Edinburgh. 'The next generation of children will be citizens of the world, just like Kim-Ho, and we must give them the skills they will need to survive in a global community.

'If we have an international, collaborative outlook, we can achieve this. We have everything to gain from getting out of our boxes and giving our kids the chance to meet other children across the world. It’s about raising aspirations. It’s also about helping children to appreciate inequality across the world and see that they can do something about it.'

Judith was joined on stage by Meryl James, Quality Improvement Officer (Modern Languages) at Perth and Kinross Council. She explained a number of successful initiatives to teach aspects of Chinese culture and language in Perth and Kinross schools. 'Chinese is a new playing field,' she said. 'But if you have the courage to explore the possibilities, it really does pay off. In our experience, the children respond well and there is also tremendous support from on high to strengthen Chinese language skills.'

Meryl stressed that learning Chinese needn’t be at the expense of ‘traditional’ languages such as French and German. 'England is about nine years ahead of us with this,' she said. 'They have found that Chinese has actually rejuvenated interest in other languages, so it really doesn’t have to be one or the other.'

For inspiration on teaching Chinese, visit the MFLE website.