Localising Chinese language curriculum construction: A case study in an Australian primary school

Abstract Chinese is now the second most commonly spoken language in Australia. There is a growing interest in learning Chinese in local schools. However, it is reported that the principally English-speaking learners in Australia have great difficulties and challenges in learning Chinese. The high dropout rate in Chinese courses demonstrates this. This paper presents a case study conducted in a local public school in New South Wales. The purpose of this study is to explore and employ the local students’ daily recurring sociolinguistic activities, performed in English at school, for creating suitable learning content. In this way, a localised Chinese curriculum is constructed in the Australian educational environment. The case study shows that the local students’ translanguaging aptitudes between English and Chinese are developing and becoming influential, as they have engaged in learning Chinese in the form of a local practice – playing chess, which is a typical instance of their daily recurring sociolinguistic activities in school. Therefore, in the process of such contextualised learning practices, not only can Chinese be made learnable for them, but also the specific vocabulary learnt can be the basis for their wider learning of Chinese in the future.