Chinese Whispers™ Project
The Chinese Whispers™ project is the Confucius Institute’s award-winning project (Higher
Education Academy – Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence 2016).
OVERVIEW
The Chinese Whispers™ Project embraces culture and creativity. Its intercultural agenda
focusses on developing awareness, competence and citizenship in local members of the
community (children and adults) and facilitating respectful interaction between people from
different cultural backgrounds. Its creative agenda promotes the learning of language and
culture through creative practice, such as through choir singing. The Chinese Whispers™
Project celebrates its activities in annual public concerts that are hosted by the Confucius
Institute at the University of Hull. The concert involves students and staff from the School of
the Arts in the University as well as children and adults who have participated in the Chinese
Whispers™ Project.
Background
Chinese Whispers™ Project began in 2016 through an interdisciplinary collaboration led by
Professor Marina Mozzon-McPherson (Modern Languages) and Dr Simon Desbruslais
(Music). It involved entering a choir of students from the University of Hull –who learned, in
the short timeframe of three months, a programme of new choir music, in Mandarin
Chinese–into the Manchester Chinese Song Competition (April 2016). The project was
supported by the Confucius Institute, who funded a choir director in Beijing to visit students
during rehearsals to teach them to sing in Chinese. Moreover, students were introduced to
aspects of Chinese culture and provided with traditional Chinese outfits for their
performance. The choir was awarded second prize in the competition and broadcast on
Chinese national television and BBC Radio Humberside. The project received recognition
with a Collaborative Award in Teaching Excellence. To continue the momentum of the
Chinese Whispers™ Project, the University of Hull awarded three PhD studentships to
enable research enquiry and development about the project.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Trademark
-Trademark obtained for Chinese Whispers™ brand (Intellectual Property Agency,
2018)
Tour to TNU
Chinese Whispers™ Choir Tour to Tianjin Normal University (TNU, 2017)
Concert series
Chinese Whispers™ Concert Series (hosted by the Confucius Institute, from 2017)
Award in teaching
Collaborative Award in Teaching Excellence (Advance HE, 2016)
PhD Cluster Award
Three fully funded PhD scholarships awarded (Collaborative Award for Teaching
Excellence 2016)
Research
A team of researchers is currently pursuing three strands of enquiry about the ChineseWhispers™ Project:
-
- Educational: To engage native English speakers in learning Mandarin Chinese through song. A “singing curriculum” will be produced to facilitate the learning of language through song for primary and secondary school children as well as adult community members.
- Psychological: To investigate cultural, emotional and experiential aspects of learning Chinese in the context of music-making, especially choir singing. The results of a survey will be published about people’s emotional and experiential perspectives on learning a foreign language through singing. The results of a comparative study will be published to explain whether or not learning a language through singing significantly improves the scores of school children in language tests.
- Creative: To explore issues of translation and cultural fusion through music composition. A folio of original compositions will be produced that demonstrates Eastern and Western translations and fusions in electronic music
The research team plan to disseminate their work in the following ways:
5. Psychological: To investigate cultural, emotional and experiential aspects of learning Chinese in the context of music-making, especially choir singing. The results of a survey will be published about people’s emotional and experiential perspectives on learning a
- Research theses
- Published articles and conversations
- Online singing curriculum
- Original music compositions
5. Psychological: To investigate cultural, emotional and experiential aspects of learning Chinese in the context of music-making, especially choir singing. The results of a survey will be published about people’s emotional and experiential perspectives on learning a
Outcomes
Singing curriculum
A singing curriculum has been produced Yanyi Lu, an education researcher who has worked with schools for more than eight years and is a native Mandarin speaker. The singing curriculum is written for beginner Mandarin learners, with the music scores, phonetic translation, and learning notes for each of the songs. This is suitable for both children and adults.
Mandarin teaching videos
Teaching videos have been created alongside the singing curriculum. It aids students who wish to acquire some aspects of Chinese culture and Chinese language, with or without the help of the teachers.
