CHINESE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE(Mandarin Beginner)
Beginner Mandarin course is designed for students with very little or no previous Mandarin instruction. The course content includes learning and mastering a phonic system (Pinyin) to help build oral skills fi rst. For grade seven, the topics include the phonetic system, saying hello, numbers, family, school and classroom, and body parts. For grade eight, the topics are: introduction to China, greetings, counting, school objects, my family members, animals, countries and languages, sports, friends and describing people, and foods. For grade nine, the topics include date and time, daily routines, house, directions, clothing, color, money, shopping and fruit. Culture introduction and appreciation are also part of the curriculum. This course takes place three times a week for the whole year.

CHINESE (Mandarin) LANGUAGE ARTS
The Bilingual Mandarin course is designed for students who have successfully completed the Mandarin Bilingual Program in elementary or who have fl uency in both speaking and writing Mandarin. The course content includes a broad scope of themes and activities in order to further enhance students' listening, speaking, reading and writing abilities through instruction in Mandarin. Some of the main focuses during these three years are vocabulary building, using proper conjunction words to construct compound and complex sentences, applying various reading strategies to improve reading comprehension, narrative writing, individual or group oral presentations, self or peer assessment by using assessment criteria to improve student's own work, etc. This course takes place three times a week for the whole year.

CHINESE BILINGUAL MATH
We have increased our Mandarin instructional time to meet the curriculum requirement set by Alberta Education. Grade 7 mandarin bilingual students at Londonderry are currently studying Math in Mandarin. We use the regular Math textbook (Mathpower) and the assessments are all in English. The instructional language is both in English and Mandarin. Students are performing well above the acceptable standard and continue to demonstrate their excellence in knowledge and application of mathematics.

THE CHINESE CHESS CLUB
The Chinese Chess Club offers a great opportunity for the students to meet new friends, to learn about the culture, and to learn the strategies of this fun traditional Chinese game. The club runs from October to March, twice a week at lunch time. It does not matter if you are a very strategic player or have just heard of the game, everyone can join! There is usually a tournament toward the end of March, as well as parties to celebrate the time the members spend together to learn and play.

CHINESE YO-YO CLUB
Londonderry Junior High Yo-Yo club welcomes participants of all levels. A number of our club members are advanced players. They are always ready to teach new comers to play. Come and join us! Have fun and make friends! Chinese Yo-Yo is a game of balance, timing and creativity. There are many wonderful tricks that can be performed by using your hands, fi ngers, legs, neck and even the waist. Beyond developing basic skills, playing Chinese yo-yo hones the ability to focus on tasks and can improve learning outcomes in other fi elds. Practicing yoyo teaches physical and spiritual discipline, and can help temper one's personality.

CHINESE DANCE CLUB
Enjoy soothing Chinese music and swift and graceful dance movement? This club is for you. You don't have to be in the Mandarin programs to join this club. Everyone is welcome. We usually practice one to two times a week after school from 3:30 to 4:30. During the past few years we have performed for many local communities throughout the city. Our busiest performance time is during Chinese New Year celebration month. We also perform for Londonderry's and M.E. LaZerte's Open Houses. There is no fee to join this club; however, you need to purchase a costume which is yours to keep.

EXCHANGE PROGRAM WITH BEIJING 57 MIDDLE SCHOOL
Londonderry School has established a partnership with the Beijing 57 Middle School. Each year, we send students and teachers to each other's school for three to four weeks. The goal for this program is to provide our students with an opportunity to be immersed in the total language environment and experience the Chinese way of life. Participating students will attend regular classes with the host students in the morning and go to various special activities arranged by the school in the afternoon. During the weekends they will visit the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace and other historical and culturally signifi cant sites surrounding Beijing. The costs for the participating students are their air tickets, their personal spending money and to host a Chinese student when they visit Edmonton. This program is open to all Londonderry students.