Using Chinese Children’s Songs In Teaching Chinese At New Zealand Primary Schools

With the improvement of China’s international status,there has been a great achievement in promoting Chinese language.More and more people in New Zealand have realized the importance of learning Chinese while more and more schools there are starting to offer Chinese language courses.Since Chinese language promotion in New Zealand didn’t start as early as other countries,there is no uniform standards for Chinese textbook and Chinese teaching syllabus with the shortage of Chinese teaching resources.The New Zealand Curriculum centers around students’ comprehensive development.Through observation,I found that singing was an effective way to help the kids with their comprehensive development,so I chose some Chinese songs to assist Chinese teaching.I conducted a survey on some students about the songs to know,for example,how much they like the songs,what kind of songs they like,why they like it and the reason.It shows that students like the songs best which have catchy tune,easy but communicative lyrics,and those with videos or actions.There is an interesting phenomenon that singing has a different influence on seniors and juniors.I also did a survey on other Mandarin Language Assistants to figure out their understanding of using Chinese songs.With teachers’ and students’ surveys,I have finally generalized the function of Chinese kids’ songs and come up with the principles to choose a song or make our own songs.