The Chinese language is at the foundation of Chinese culture. The Integrated Chinese curriculum at HD Schools is designed to develop Chinese language capability, together with enabling students to understand the fundamentals of Chinese culture, allowing them to become globalised citizens with Chinese roots.

The Integrated Chinese Curriculum is an educational philosophy, which is based on 4 basic concepts:

• It takes a holistic approach, looking at the development of the whole person. This refers to each area of personality and mind, balancing the development of knowledge and ability, with an understanding of traditional culture and an open-minded international outlook.

• It emphasises the concept of integration and advocates a whole-body, whole-mind, all-round, all-time learning approach. The Integrated Chinese Curriculum focuses on the theme-based learning that builds a comprehensive learning context and enables children to learn using a systematic and engaging approach. 

• It emphasises borderless learning, and breaks through the discipline barriers through interdisciplinary integration, cultivating children’s broader knowledge horizons and comprehensive qualities. 

• It emphasises immersive experiential learning, focusing on the experience and feelings of children during the learning process. Through extensive language immersion we aim to develop our children’s language capability. Through real-life experiential learning, we aim to make learning a favourite part of life for our children. 

The Integrated Chinese Curriculum is a reform in teaching methods. It is a transformation of teaching methods. The aim of the transformation is to better implement the national educational goals, and to carry out the National Curriculum more effectively. 

The teaching and learning methods being advocated by the Integrated Chinese Curriculum are as follows: 

• Project based leaning. By incorporating real life problems into learning projects, children learn to solve problems through inquiry, investigation and co-operation. Through project-based learning we aim to develop their ability of independent learning and problem solving.

• Interdisciplinary integration. Under theme-based learning, we build connections across different subjects that were separated and fragmented, fostering a systematic and comprehensive way of learning. 

• Extensive reading. Based on the National Curriculum Standard, the Integrated Chinese Curriculum intensively expands and enriches the children’s reading, to cultivate language ability and in-depth understanding of Chinese culture.

Thirdly, the Integrated Chinese Curriculum is a comprehensive system based on the above-mentioned concepts, and following the National Curriculum Standards, the Integrated Chinese Curriculum has developed a number of courses. The Morning Reading Course focuses on classic reading, the Drama Education Course focuses on comprehensive qualities, and the Ceremony Course and Birthday Courses focusing on experiential learning. The Reading Course focuses on extensive reading and the Integrated Curriculum workbooks focus on interdisciplinary integration and project learning. 

The above curriculum system enriches the children’s learning and stimulates their interest and enthusiasm for learning. Integrated Chinese Curriculum books are developed with selective classic reading materials and a theme-based interdisciplinary learning approach. They supplement and enrich the National Curriculum Standards, forming part of extensive reading with the purpose of expanding horizons, enriching knowledge, and further enhancing the learning of the National Curriculum.