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乐成的社区以让成员们在学习体验中感受融合世界的“国际化”氛围而称著。植根中国，融汇国际，在刚刚过去的中秋和国庆节，ECC幼儿园的孩子们在老师的带领下动手制作月饼；小学部和中学部的师生在花灯制作，扇面设计，古诗与书法练习中体验节日文化。不同学习活动让每个人从不同角度增添了对中华文化的感悟。在乐成中，对中国文化的探索远不止于节前活动与课堂学习，我们被从学生视角下讲述的中国故事所深深地吸引......

中秋前夕，中国故事学生俱乐部（BCIS China Story EA) 编辑部收到了12年级的成员Luo的故事投稿。作为天文爱好者，Luo由中秋赏月联想到《天宫书》中的细节并进行了有趣的个人解读。“我会用望远镜观察月海和环形山，联想到各种天文现象” 而Luo还说起对赏月这项传统民俗的情感，“千里共婵娟; 今月曾经照古人，当我想到与苏轼李白共赏同一轮明月时，文化传承和历史的延续让我的心中充斥着强烈的震撼。”

12年级的Steven，作为中国故事学生俱乐部的发起人说道：“传统节日贯穿我的成长，我不是社区中唯一一个热爱并对其有情结的人，我想我们能有分享感兴趣文化并寄托情感的方式。” Steven自八年级创办了这一组织，从最初组织线下故事分享活动发展到目前已拥有多个编辑的自媒体平台，他们在全社区间征集中国故事。

中国文化，在乐成的社区中，围绕它的学习不仅是由老师主导，新年集会，中国集市，中国传统艺术体验周......这些活动的资源协调，时间规划和舞台表演大多都由学生们主导策划。“我们希望摆脱人们对中国文化感到无聊的刻板印象，希望用新颖的方式来呈现历史。”作为中国故事学生俱乐部编辑之一的Selina说道。‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

在中国故事公众号的学生文章中，有名胜游览、历史人物解读、中国艺术欣赏、中国气象、星相学等有趣的内容。Steven表示，自成立以来，团队成员们不断丰富着“中国故事”的定义。“中国文化不仅有传统节日、民俗风情，还包括历史、艺术、现代文明等。” 编辑组成员提到审稿、写作、排版的过程都丰富了他们对中国文化多元性的理解。

Selina回忆道，“Felisa曾写过一篇青花瓷的文章，文章发表后，瓷器和古玩领域的教授对文章进行了评论并与我们分享了知识。” 审稿的过程丰富了编辑团队对瓷器文化的理解。对历史感兴趣的8年级成员Selena说道“撰写关于曹操的专栏文章让我重新审视这一历史人物，甚至多次重读《三国志》，了解人物的复杂性以及小说文本与真实历史之间的交织。”在阅读中，Selena主动学习了文言文知识：“如果不能读懂文言文，我会错过阅读三国等原版小说的机会，文言文背后的文化脉络和语言之美是白话翻译无法传达的。”在编辑之一的Bella眼中，中国故事总是激励他们了解更多中国文化相关内容，激发他们的文化认同感和无尽的探索欲望。

从讲述中国故事中汲取多元的中国文化与文学知识，如中学部中文语言习得课程老师Ruby说到的学习方法一样：“语言”学习不只是教授汉字和文法常识，更融入了全方面的历史常识、文化和日常生活、文学欣赏等学习理解的过程中。在Ruby任课的非中文母语学生的班中，总是能够听到各种肤色的学生熟练的中文表达。

正如非英语母语的学生们学习英语一样，课程分为不同单元，如饮食习惯、中西差异等，语言学习与其他学习同时进行。而体验传统节日是学习的绝佳时机。无论是写对联还是讲故事的特殊形式，都拓展了学生对中国文化的认识，也进一步训练了他们的语言系统。同时，对于中文为母语的学生们来说，中文的学习也体现在不同的形式中。Bella提及：“中文老师会带我们玩飞花令，允许我们用古诗编曲，在人文课中我们可以通过多种项目形式呈现中国文化和中文学习主题。”

中国故事学生俱乐部的成员们提及 “在乐成，我们得以浸润在不同文化中， 也让我们更好地了解、热爱并传递自己民族的文化。” Steven说道：“我们在学习和活动中认同自己的身份，中国文化和语言扎根于我们的身份之中。我们自然而然地对它产生了信念和热爱，愿意传承和发扬。”

只有认同与理解自己的文化，才能更好体验不同的文化情境，行走在不同文化间，成为包容不同文化的世界公民。中国故事成员之一的Catherine讲到，“学习中国文化和历史就像在一个屋子里观察室内物品，而乐成希望我们成为全球公民，意味着我们要站在更宽广的视角来看整个屋子。我们学习中文以了解屋子内部，同时了解屋子外部世界的知识又帮助我们理解不同文化的起源和演变。”

小学老师Michael表示：“中文，中国文化跟国际化的学习并不是彼此孤立的。优秀中国传统文化像是一个宝贵的图书馆，IB的教学方法像是一种新的整理打开这个图书馆的方式。它能让学生更好地发现传统文化的宝贵之处，更好地理解和欣赏它。”

Celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival and China’s National Day in our Early Childhood Center, Elementary School, Secondary School, at home and on holiday, we have all enjoyed the seasonal delights of mooncakes, lanterns, flags, stories of Chang’e and dressing in traditional costumes. 

But exploring, understanding, and respecting Chinese culture carries deeper significance than mere enjoyment of food, festivals, flags and fashion. Chinese language and culture is embedded deeply within the BCIS curriculum and Enrichment Activities program. We asked a couple of BCIS Chinese language teachers and some Secondary School students to share their thoughts on why understanding Chinese language and culture is so important.

Michael - Elementary School Chinese language teacher: Chinese language and international studies are not mutually exclusive; they coexist harmoniously. This combination empowers students to better appreciate the value of traditional culture, fostering a deeper understanding and genuine appreciation for it. Culture forms the bedrock of our identity, making the study of traditional culture an indispensable component of our educational mission.

BCIS employs personalized teaching methods, tailored to students' existing proficiency levels in listening, speaking, reading, and writing Chinese, as well as their personal interests. These methods include a mix of indoor and outdoor activities, collaborative group exercises, and interactive language activities. This personalized approach ensures that foreign students make meaningful progress in their Chinese language acquisition.

Ruby - Secondary School Chinese language teacher: In modern society, many elements of traditional culture have been lost or are no longer common in daily life. Therefore, we want our students to experience the process of traditional cultural communication through our programs. We celebrate important holidays such as Chinese New Year, and we set aside time to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day. I like foreign students to be actively involved in our Chinese curriculum activities. Perhaps they help us decorate the school, learn why we put up spring couplets, and then take these traditions home and tell their families how the Chinese celebrate these holidays. In this way, their families will also be able to better understand the Chinese culture, even though they may not be able to do traditional activities themselves. At the same time, they will be able to practice their language, and feel that they are getting better and better at pronouncing Chinese and are able to say the same things in more expressive ways that can be more easily understood by others. This sense of satisfaction and fulfillment is something that simple Google Translate can't provide and is very much needed. 

In our mother-tongue Chinese classes, we focus on teaching students Chinese through literature and helping them to analyze how the historical context of a work affects the way the author expresses his emotions. This approach allows students to gain a deeper understanding of Chinese language and traditional Chinese culture, and therefore most students show a high level of interest in it.

Understanding Chinese language and culture is not limited to understanding the past but is highly relevant in preparing our students for the future. China is one of the world leaders in international trade and development in areas such as clean energy and advanced technologies. China’s importance as a geopolitical partner is set to increase in years to come with the expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). 

We asked some Middle School students why Chinese language and culture is important to them. Freya (G6) explained that “it's important to know the culture of the country you live in so that you can respect it and appreciate it.” Lowell (G8) added that “it's important to understand the culture that we're living in right now. And it’s important for the future having Chinese language because it could help you to get a job.” XiXi (G8) expanded, “it could also help you get into universities, especially if you're a foreigner and you understand another language, it's easy to understand the culture and you get a head start in other things in the university.”

Chinese language and culture features prominently in our BCIS Enrichment Activities program. One enthusiastic group of Secondary School students has established their own student-led culture club. “China Story” is their dedicated WeChat platform where they publish and share their stories of Chinese culture with a much wider audience.

 

Steven: For me, the importance of learning traditional Chinese culture and Chinese language is that it is our roots, it is embedded in our culture and identity. It's a very ancient culture that we naturally have a belief in and a love for and want to pass on and carry on. We created the “China Story” club at school. Our club is dedicated to sharing stories about China, and these stories are not limited to history, but include a variety of diverse topics. For example, I once wrote a story about Pan Deming, who was the first person in the world to travel around the world on a bicycle, and he was a Chinese man whose story took place during the war. I learned about his story through a documentary and then wrote a story about his experiences as a historical figure. We believe that diversity is important because if we limit ourselves to writing about history, we may feel bored, and history and the present are inextricably linked, they influence each other, so we believe that they both complement each other. By understanding the past, we can understand the present more fully.

Selena: I have been very interested in history since I was a child and have avidly read various history books. But I've found that sometimes when I talk about history with people who aren't too interested, they might listen to a few sentences and then stop paying attention and leave. However, I find that when I write about historical figures that interest me, such as Cao Cao, whom I wrote about earlier, I begin to revisit him and gradually accept him, or get to know him directly. This has not only affected myself, but possibly my readers as well, as I am able to publish what I want to say on this platform for more people to hear and see.

Luo: When I was a young kid, I was fascinated by the night sky. This sparked my curiosity and passion for astronomy. Astrophysics is my favorite subject, but history is my second favorite subject. People often think the subjects are not connected, but I see many connections between them. In Chinese culture, the ancients used stargazing agencies to make calendars to tell the peasants when to harvest. I have found many traditional festivals like Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn are related to celestial events. 

I choose to go moon watching during the Mid-Autumn Festival. When I see the moon, I don't just see a beautiful celestial body in the sky, I use a telescope to look at the details on the moon, such as the lunar sea and craters. This allows me to gain a deeper understanding of the mysteries of the universe. On the cultural level, sometimes I am moved by emotions and feel that this moon is the same bright moon that Li Bai saw back then, the same moon that has shone on earth for millennia. Such moments make me feel the inheritance of culture and the continuity of history. 

I want to share my passion with others. I’m more of a scientist than a writer but I have learned that writing can be fun. “China Story” is a perfect platform to share my passion and my culture. I can speak to my readers and explain how things that were meaningful in ancient culture are still relevant to us today. 

Selina: Felisa had written an article on Celadon Porcelain, which I had no prior knowledge of. However, Felisa's article was very detailed because her family is involved with porcelain, and she was able to detail their knowledge into the article. When she was reviewing the article, she thought that we could gain some knowledge from it, so she made sure that it contained a wealth of information about this traditional culture. After the article was published, several professors in the field of porcelain and antiques also commented on it. They felt that the article was well-written in some areas, but that it might be biased or inadequate in others. In the process, teachers and elders provided valuable advice. It was also an opportunity to exchange and learn more about traditional Chinese culture.

Catherine: I think diversity is one of the most notable features on our “China Story” platform because we all have different interests and directions when choosing topics, whether it's history or culture, everyone has a unique perspective. During the editing process, we can expand our knowledge because history and stories are inherently subjective, they are never the only correct ones, there are all kinds of novel angles, and everyone has their own unique curiosity and perspective. This makes our articles diversified, challenges our previous views, and gradually creates a more eclectic body of knowledge.

 

BCIS is recognized as a model of cosmopolitan education. Located in the center of Beijing, we honor our Chinese roots and embrace the fast-paced nature of this vast modern city we call home. We celebrate diversity and empower students to engage as global citizens in an interconnected world. Through the study of Chinese language and culture, BCIS students grow to understand the historical context that underpins modern China, developing an awareness and understanding of local and global issues, sustainable development, and the differences and commonalties of others.

Steven: Global citizenship means that we are able to realize the differences between cultures when confronted with different values. But I also understand that such differences are not something that everyone will experience in their lifetime, so we need to be conscious of these differences and find ways to communicate and understand them. Understanding other cultures is a way to better understand ourselves so that we can better integrate into other cultures.

Catherine: As a Chinese citizen, we need to think about how to become global citizens and integrate our values with broader global values. There is an interesting analogy that learning Chinese history is like looking at the interior of a house, but becoming a global citizen means looking at the whole house from a broader perspective, understanding its location and the history behind it. Learning Chinese can help us gain insight into the interior, but knowledge of the outside world can help us better understand the origins and evolution of our culture.