The 5 C's of Chinese

Chinese language and culture are beautiful and have enriched the student experience at the International School of Qingdao for over 25 years. From celebrating national holidays with traditional dress, food and song to teaching daily classes, our Chinese teachers bring their home culture to life for our students.  

The International School of Qingdao's Chinese department is driven by these five goals for students:  

• Communication – Be able to communicate in more than one language for a variety of situations 

• Culture – Interact with cultural competence and understanding 

• Community – Participate in multi-lingual communities at home and around the world 

• Connection – Connect to other disciplines to use language in academic and career situations 

• Comparison – Interact with cultural competence because of insight into the nature of language and culture 

These goals demonstrate how our teachers treat students as holistic, whole people who should develop their abilities in a variety of aspects. With an average of over 15 years of teaching experience, our teachers are able to meet each student at their individual level, determining needs based on real language ability.  

With classes as small as 3 students and rarely more than 10 students, sometimes our teachers use as many as three different books in one class based on student needs. Spending time learning Chinese culture helps our students develop our value of Connection:  "I value people, and so I invest in communication, language learning, and understanding the cultures in which I live."