To teach the writing of Chinese characters to foreign students is always a challenge for teachers of Mandarin. Ms Hu, from SSAT Confucius Classroom at The King's School in Grantham works hard to find interesting ways to help her English students overcome their difficulties. She also wants them to understand the art of drawing Chinese characters and to appreciate them through interesting activities.

For example, Ms Hu brought in a Chinese traditional game of writing "Chinese character"(the character meaning "king")at the China Club. This activity really appealed to the boys. It involved one student writing the character "Chinese character" while the other students quietly crept up behind him, trying to touch him and then run away. Meanwhile, the student continued writing "Chinese character" as quickly and correctly as possible so that he could turn around to catch the boy who touched him. In short the quickest student will win. To Ms Hu's surprise, every boy could write "Chinese character" accurately and with speed, after playing the game for several minutes. At the end of the session, one boy said to Ms Hu: "Writing Chinese characters is so interesting, and I like it! Ms Hu, Please teach us how to write some more Chinese characters! "

The game of writing "Chinese character"

Getting close to you quietly

At the Kesteven Grantham Girls' School, Ms Hu led the girls to appreciate and practice Chinese calligraphy to arouse their interest in Chinese characters, because the girls were quiet and patient. At the very beginning, they didn't do very well. However, they made gradual progress as they understood more. If you saw how seriously they do Chinese writing, you must be moved and couldn't help praising them.

Practicing Chinese calligraphy

This is my Chinese calligraphy

Calligraphy transmits the friendship

The Chinese teacher and the boys of the King's School

The Chinese teacher and the Girls of the KGGS