Mandarin at Gillespies

On Monday 12 November I attended the first Scottish China Education Network (SCEN) China Youth Summit at Gleneagles with Cat Macdonald and Leanne Bell, two of our S6 students. Both Cat and Leanne are two of our seniors who have opted to study Mandarin as part of their sixth year. As their S6 leadership project they have chosen to develop   Chinese Studies at Gillespie's.This is their account of the day.

Although we were a little nervous to be speaking in front of so many people – we later learned there were over two hundred delegates! – we were reassured by listening to the students who spoke first. Fortunately, it turned out that presenting was not so bad after all. We told the audience about our own personal connections to China, and explained the difficulties we had faced in studying Chinese at high school. When we mentioned the problem of finding a teacher, there were many rueful nods among the students in the crowd!

We heard so many interesting stories from other high schools. One presentation was given by students from Crieff High School and Morrison’s Academy, who had travelled together to Hong Kong to run the Wilson Trail, a gruelling and mostly uphill trek across Hong Kong. This trip was organised and partly funded by a former pupil from Morrison’s Academy who is now a successful businessman based in Hong Kong. The students had all loved their trip, and it was fantastic to hear them talking about their new found enthusiasm for learning Chinese.

Of course, Gleneagles Hotel provided an excellent spread at lunchtime, which was lovely. Leanne and I took the chance to get to know some of the students from other schools that were attending the conference. We even met a Scottish student with the same tastes in Chinese music as us! As well as other students, we also talked with the convener of Young Chinese Professionals, who had some good advice for us.

A particular highlight for me personally was the opportunity to meet Lord Wilson, former governor of Hong Kong. He was a very well-respected figure in China, and it was fascinating to hear his insights into the current and future importance of the country. We talked to him about our experiences in China, and he was interested to hear about our plans for introducing Mandarin in our school in the future.

Both Leanne and I really loved attending the conference, and we really learned a lot from listening to various people speaking. We came away with many useful contacts for the future, as well as a list of new ideas to further our goal of introducing Mandarin at Gillespie’s. 

During the conference both Cat and Leanne were rewarded for their efforts in promoting Chinese Studies by being appointed as SCEN ambassadors. Both girls intend to continue with their Mandarin studies when they begin at university in Autumn 2013.