In all Grades, we offer a range of languages on different pathways according to the varying needs of our students.

Chinese Language Course Routes

The level descriptors for the Chinese ILR scale referenced in the diagram above, as well as in the information below, can be found here.

In Grades 7 and 8, students follow an in-house Foundation IGCSE curriculum.

• In the 1st Language pathway, we offer a variety of options. Firstly, we offer Chinese. This is designed for students who have attained Level 6 and above in the admissions test for new students or common assessments (equivalent to ILR level 4 and above).
• For those students who have another home language, there is the option of participating in our parent-funded Home Language Programme. We are currently offering Japanese, French, Korean and Thai in this programme; however, we aim to increase the number of offered languages. Please contact the Mother Tongue Co-ordinator Ms. Upshall (kathryn.upshall@sji-international.com.sg) for further information.
• In the 2nd Language pathway, we offer Chinese, Tamil, and Hindi. For Chinese, this pathway is designed for students who have attained Level 4 and above in the admissions test for new students or common assessments (equivalent to ILR level 3 and above).
• In the Foreign Language pathway, we offer Chinese, Spanish, Malay and Indonesian. Spanish is a course for beginners, and this Chinese pathway is for students whose level of prior experience is not sufficient for the 2nd Language class. There is also the opportunity to study a language as a Foreign Language as part of the Home Languages Programme for students who already have prior experience studying the language, or in order to fulfil the Mother Tongue Language-in-lieu requirements set by the Ministry of Education.

These courses then lead to the following examination courses in Grade 9 and 10:

• 1st Language examinations
  • IGCSE First Language Chinese (for 1st Language Chinese classes); and
  • IGCSE Bahasa Indonesia (aimed at students for whom Indonesian is a language of everyday use).
  • Examinations for other Home Languages as appropriate (depending on the language studied).
• 2nd Language examinations
  • IGCSE Chinese as a Second Language (for 2nd Language Chinese classes);
  • IGCSE Hindi as a Second Language; and
  • GCE O Level Higher Tamil, or Tamil (or B Syllabus, subject to approval)
• Foreign Language examinations
  • IGCSE Mandarin Chinese (for Foreign Language Chinese classes);
  • IGCSE Spanish;
  • IGCSE Malay;
  • IGCSE Indonesian

Please click here for more information about the nature of the various IGCSE examinations for Chinese.

For the IB Diploma Programme in Grades 11 and 12:

• In Group 1, we offer Chinese A, Indonesian A, Japanese A, and any other Home Language A as required. Students whose first language is not English, Chinese, Indonesian or Japanese will have full support from the school to continue developing language skills in their mother tongue and culture, and we will support students to ensure they fulfil all the requirements of the Language A: Literature school supported self-taught course as set by the IB.
• In Group 2, we offer Chinese B (SL/HL), Malay B, Tamil B, Hindi B, Spanish B (SL/HL) and any other Home Language A as required as a continuation from IGCSE.
• We also offer ab initio (beginner) courses in Spanish, and subject to demand, French, Indonesian, Japanese (parent-funded) and Chinese.

For more information on English A and English B courses, please see the English Faculty webpage.

Our philosophy is to maximise the benefits of both ‘teacher-centered’ and ‘student-centered’ learning. In the former, we design language lessons and activities that provide for systematic learning so as to prepare students for practical language use and an appreciation of literature and cultures. In the student-centered approach, students are engaged through a wide range of activities in the classroom such as role-play, presentation, debate, games and singing. To support both approaches, we use a wide variety of teaching and learning resources such as textbooks, documentaries, movies, song lyrics, online video clips, mobile apps, literature texts, newspapers, and magazines. Assignments and assessments are varied so that our students are aware of their strengths and areas for improvement.

In line with the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) programme introduced in 2017, students' learning has been enhanced through the use of Google Apps such as Docs, Sheets, Slides, Maps, and Forms. This also allows for collaborative learning amongst the students. Other online portal and platforms such as Quizlet, Kahoot, LucidPress, Zoom-US are used to further enhance and enrich students' learning experience.

For Chinese, we have a streaming system in place to ensure that students are placed in the course that is best for their level of language competency. For all languages, differentiation is used to ensure that students of different language levels are able to reach their potential.
We also organise peer support for students who need extra help: Grade 11 and 12 Chinese

A students help their juniors with their Chinese during lunch hours. We offer a Conversational Chinese CCA: an activity led by our teachers, designed to provide extra support to those students who have almost no foundation in Chinese but are eager to learn. Spanish Club and French Club CCAs are the main platforms through which peer mentoring takes place for these languages. In Semester 1 of 2020, the school has supported the introduction of a German CCA and a Korean CCA, both of which are led by our Home Language Programme teachers.   

To enhance our curricular provision, the Languages Faculty organises visits within Singapore to Chinese, Malay and Indonesian restaurants and heritage places, trips to Indian art performances and Chinese theatre shows, and the annual Malay Youth Seminar for G11 & G12 Malay B students. Students use the target language when asking questions during the trip, complete specific tasks and share their findings in different forms after the trip.

We furthermore offer language immersion and cultural trips to China and Spain annually or every two years depending on student demand.

 Our students learn about and appreciate other cultures through a range of activities every year. Celebrations of traditional festivals are extended into lesson time: for example, during Chinese New Year, students from Chinese classes will learn paper-folding and paper-cutting, Chinese calligraphy and how to make glutinous rice balls. We also present four assemblies for different festivals: Lunar New Year, Vesak Day, Hari Raya Puasa and Deepavali. Our students and teachers participate in co-curricular activities to develop their interests, skills and passion beyond the classroom. For example, students learn how to play the Gamelan, perform cultural dances, sing various folk songs, and produce a Chinese online magazine, Sky.

Every year we organise inter-house Chinese competitions for Chinese classes from Grades 7 to 11. Our aim is to raise students' interest in Chinese language and culture, as well as to give students a platform to display their talents and abilities. There are different types of competitions for different levels, for example, a Chinese handwriting competition and an essay-writing competition. Our students also participate in various external Chinese competitions, such as in public speaking.

The Languages Faculty is led by Mr Ronak Punjabi.