Students from group eight of Eindhoven primary school Rapenland received a special prize on Tuesday: a Chinese lesson from the unsurpassed Mrs. Li.
“Ni hao!” the teacher, whose name is Mrs. Li, says in greeting. Most people know that word. But soon the material becomes more difficult. The digital whiteboard is full of Chinese characters and you can pronounce the word ‘Ma’ in five different ways. The class repeats everything in unison, just as Ms. Li requested.
Group eight won the prize after participating in a quiz. The lesson is offered by Stedelijk College (urban college), the Eindhoven school that has internationalisation as a spearhead. Chinese has been offered here as an optional subject for ten years.
“It’s quite interesting”, a boy in class, with a special German first name, says. “I’ve never been to China, but if I do go there, I now at least know what to say”.
Papiamento
The fact that internationalisation is making good progress on Rapenland primary school is noticeable in the classroom. “Which of you doesn’t speak Dutch at home?”, the teacher asks. A lot of fingers go up in response. Portuguese, German, Russian, Kurdish and Papiamento: students who only speak Dutch at home are almost in the minority.
The class can easily master the Chinese lesson. There are even students who stand up, introduce themselves out loud and then count to ten in the new language. Is it because of that internationalisation? Or by Ms. Li’s teaching style? After each correct answer, she looks as if she has won the lottery and makes the whole class applaud.
Fortune cookies
As a reward, Chinese fortune cookies are handed out at the end of the lesson. And this time the cultural diversity throws a bit of a spanner in the works. Because the fasting month of Ramadan has just started and most children are fasting, only a few can open and eat the fortune cookie.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
