Canberra Chinese Club School
Narrabundah College
10.15 am -12.30 pm, Saturdays during term
$55 per term (members) $65 per term (non-members)
The School was established in 1982, with a US$1000 start-up fund provided from Taiwan. This weekend school started in a family home, then moved to the Migrant Resource Centre. Subsequently, as student numbers increased, it was moved to Turner Primary School, then Narrabundah Primary School. In 2006, there are five classes, held in Narrabundah College (Jerrabomberra Ave, Narrabundah) each Saturday morning from 10.15am to 12.30 pm during term time, including an adult class.
A series of textbooks (Books 1 to 12) are used for teaching Chinese characters in the non-simplified style. These books, with accompanying exercises and matching video tapes, are donated by the Commission for Overseas Chinese Affairs, Taiwan, as are some video tapes on learning Chinese language, arts and crafts, culture and history. Children in each class usually stay with the same teacher as they progress through the textbooks.
Pronunciation is taught in ‘Han-yu pin yin’, the standard phonetic system widely used in mainland China and South-East Asia and well suited for speedy search for characters in modern dictionaries and for Chinese word processing. While our textbooks are obtained from Taiwan, our teachers are from both mainland China and Taiwan.
To encourage students to speak Chinese and to appreciate Chinese culture, we hold a cultural show once a year, usually on the day before Mothers’ Day. In this, children and adults may take part in a play, in reciting poems, singing, dancing or playing musical instruments. Occasionally, we also have teachers from overseas to teach dancing, arts and crafts.