NEWSLETTERS
Macquarie Mandarin Staff Development Meeting
On May 14th, 2022, Macquarie Mandarin held an online development meeting
with thirteen teachers from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in attendance,
including our new Brisbane teacher, Danna Weng.
The subject of this development meeting was ‘Crisis Management'. Teachers
were placed into four groups to discuss the crises they have encountered
which included topics across teaching, administration, customer relationship,
and how to prevent and resolve these crises.
The meeting helped our teachers understand how to identify different types of
crises that may arise during school operations and covered various scenarios
and skills required to handle and prevent future crises.
Past Student Testimonials – Anika Popovic
Since young, I have been fascinated by Chinese culture and language, always wanting to explore deeper into that legendary realm, filled with stories of mythical creatures being defeated by martial arts heroes, which have shaped the civilization to its stature in today’s society. My name is Anika Popovic, and I was a student at Macquarie Mandarin, and my relationship with MM started when my journey of learning Chinese was almost brought to an abrupt end, but thanks to the discovery of this fantastic Chinese school, I was able to carry it through to today, in the process of majoring in Chinese Studies at Sydney university. Allow me to illustrate my experience at Macquarie Mandarin.
I began studying Chinese at Macquarie Mandarin in year five, in order to continue learning Chinese, after spending a year learning in school. What immediately appealed to my ten-year-old self was not only the size of classes, which in my time had never exceeded ten to fifteen students, allowing an intimate and comfortable learning environment to be created, but also the teachers’ patience and creativity in planning lessons. MM teachers are committed to their students’ progress in learning Chinese and are capable of quickly adapting to accommodate individual needs. Course content was not only applicable to a classroom setting and has helped guide me towards leading conversations with background speakers in both daily life and more professional settings, the ultimate goal of all Chinese language learners.
My journey at Macquarie Mandarin led me to the completion of my HSC exams, for which Chinese Continuers was one of my subjects. By continually pursuing improvement in my knowledge of Chinese language and culture, and with the help from the devoted team of teachers at MM, I was able to get a score of 95 percent in my final exams, solidifying my decision to continue studying Chinese at a tertiary level, which I have been able to achieve by receiving a place at the University of Sydney to study a Bachelor of Arts in the Dalyell Scholars stream. I would say that my journey of learning Chinese has ended nicely, but I can attest that it is far from over.
Macquarie Mandarin continues to have an important place in my heart, and because of our continued contact, I know that I have somewhere to turn whenever I need help with my studies, because that is the environment which MM creates for its students; a welcoming haven for learning amongst people who become your lifelong friends. The inspiration to pursue Chinese as a future stemmed from the continual efforts of everyone at MM, and for that I am eternally grateful. I hope that one day, when I am finally able to go to China and apply all that I have learnt here, I will have the opportunity to advertise the wonderful goal that Macquarie Mandarin has of spreading the wonders of Chinese language and culture to anyone keen to learn.
Anika Popovic
Melbourne & Brisbane Staff Development Meeting
From late October to early November, Macquarie Mandarin manager, Temple Xin and IT manager, Yu Shen travelled to the newly opened Macquarie Mandarin schools in Melbourne and Brisbane to participate in the staff development meetings.
Teachers in Melbourne and Brisbane shared their teaching and management strategies and Temple presented a unique Pinyin tutorial to the teachers.
Immersive Drama Workshop
Created and directed by Temple, the teachers at Macquarie Mandarin immensely enjoyed the creative Immersive Drama Workshop at their regular development meeting. The short immersive drama was entitled ‘Catch Mr. Yu’, where staff designed their own origami styled masks and performed a game to enhance pinyin recognition. The aim of this workshop was to inspire their classroom teaching activities.
Mid Autumn Festival Activities
Macquarie Mandarin students and teachers had a week long celebration for the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival.
Various classes from Mandarin Level 1 to Advanced students enjoyed the candle lit functions, with drinks, moon cakes and refreshments after their regular evening classes. Saturday students and teachers had morning tea with delicious sushi platters and a variety of moon cakes.
