Portuguese School | 20 years: Parents association proposes improvements to Mandarin teaching

The president of EPM’s parent’s association (APEP), Valeria Koob, believes that the Portuguese school should impose a multi-hour regime for children to learn the Mandarin language.

According to Koob, the association has been claiming that Mandarin teachers should adopt a more practical teaching approach by taking students outside of the school as much as possible, in order to use the language in a real environment.

“The teaching of the Chinese language is a complex question. In fact, it requires a completely different methodology from that used for the other languages, since Chinese learning is mostly memory-based,” said Koob.

It has been two years that Koob has led the association. Interviewed by the Times, she recalled that APEP, along with EPM had achieved a number of goals, including the improvement of its canteen services and a higher degree of supervision and guided activities during the students’ break time.

“In addition to that, since the school has been receiving more students with special needs, EPM has started investing more and more in specialized staff,” she told the Times.

“The increase in the number of students, especially students whose mother tongue is not Portuguese, is a clear sign that Macau society holds EPM and its educational project in high regard,” Koob added.

Further, the association pledged that it will continue to develop its activities in the areas of environment, volunteering and Chinese language. LV

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