BEHIND THE SCENES - MEET THE MANDARIN CHINESE LANGUAGE ASSISTANT, MISS YUEJUN CHI

July 1, 2024

As part of our new blog series, Behind the Scenes, we have decided to interview Norwich School's Language Assistants to get a sense of their role in the everyday working's of the School. Below Meet, Mandarin Chinese Language Assistant, Miss Yuejun Chi, answers the following questions...


How long have you worked at Norwich School?

I came to Norwich School in October 2023. Due to visa issues, I arrived two months later than Jonas and Anna.



What does your role at Norwich School involve?

I am a Chinese language teaching assistant at Norwich School. My role involves collaborating with Jing to deliver mandarin lesson and I assisted L6 and U6 students in preparing for their A-level Chinese exams. Additionally, I organized Language Club activities for lower school pupils, hosting more than 20 cultural events to immerse them in the joy of Chinese language and culture. Together, we engaged in activities like paper cutting, calligraphy, and discussions about Chinese traditions.


What attracted you to the role?

What attracted me to the role was my passion for teaching Chinese and sharing my culture with others. The opportunity to work at Norwich School allows me to engage with students who are enthusiastic about learning Chinese, and to contribute to their understanding of the language and culture. Additionally, the collaborative environment with other teachers, like Jing, Humphrey, Vicky, Lucy. Especially my mentor Jing, she is a super lovely person, always encourage me and inspire me. I really want to be the teacher like her. Norwich School provides a great platform for professional growth and development in my teaching career.


What does the day-to-day life of a language assistant look like?

As a language assistant, my day-to-day life involves a variety of tasks and responsibilities aimed at supporting students in their language learning journey. A typical day includes:

Lesson Preparation and Delivery: Collaborating with the lead teacher, Jing, to plan and deliver engaging lessons that cover different aspects of the Chinese language, mostly for speaking.

Pupil Support: Providing one-on-one or small group tutoring sessions for L6 and U6 students to help them prepare for their A-level Chinese exams. This often involves explaining complex grammar points, practicing conversation skills, and reviewing past exam papers.

Cultural Activities: Organizing and participating in cultural activities and events that help students immerse themselves in Chinese culture. During the Chinese New Year, we organized two school assemblies and activities such as dumpling-making, Chinese cuisine cooking lesson, and traditional costumes dressing.

What's your favourite part of your role?


My favourite part of my role as a language assistant is the opportunity to directly interact with pupils and witness their progress in learning Chinese. I find it incredibly rewarding to see students develop their language skills and gain confidence in speaking Chinese. Additionally, I enjoy sharing Chinese culture through various activities and discussions, which not only enriches the students' learning experience but also allows me to share a part of my heritage. The collaborative aspect of working with colleagues like Jing and the supportive environment at Norwich School also make my job enjoyable and fulfilling.


Is there anything you're looking forward to? 

At Norwich School, I am particularly looking forward to seeing the pupils I work with succeed in their A-level Chinese exams. Watching their progress and knowing that I have contributed to their academic achievements is incredibly fulfilling. Additionally, I am excited about the various cultural events and activities we have planned, which will give students a deeper understanding and appreciation of Chinese culture. I also look forward to further professional development opportunities, collaborating with my colleagues, and continually improving my teaching skills in this supportive environment.


How else do you get involved with Norwich School life?

In addition to my responsibilities as a language assistant, I actively get involved in various aspects of Norwich School life. I participate in extracurricular activities, such as helping with the language Club in Lower School, where pupils can engage in activities like calligraphy, cooking traditional Chinese dishes, and learning about Chinese festivals. I also join in Scouts with Lower School pupils, learning a lots of useful skills. Furthermore, I enjoy attending school assemblies, sports events, and other community activities, which allow me to connect with students and staff outside the classroom and become a more integrated member of the school community.


8. Do you have any future aspirations? 

Firstly, I plan to return to China to complete my master's degree in Teaching Chinese to the speakers of other languages. After graduation, I aspire to work overseas. If possible, I would love to apply to return to the UK as a language teaching assistant or a formal Chinese teacher.


Below is a photo of the language assistants from Christmas.

Tom Little KC, ON 82-91, Returns to Norwich School

By Sonja Mitchell • September 26, 2025
We are very grateful to Tom Little for being our guest speaker at Prizegiving this year.

Professor Charles Forsdick, ON 78-87, on the Role of Languages to Build a Better World.

By Sonja Mitchell • September 26, 2025
We were delighted to hear Professor Charles Forsdick speak about the importance of languages in society at a recent Norfolk Cambridge Society lecture at Norwich School.

Girls Mentorship Programme Returns for New Academic Year

September 24, 2025
The school's first female peer-mentoring meeting of the academic year brought together fourth form students with sixth form mentors in an initiative designed to promote sisterhood and establish a strong sense of community within our female cohorts. During the session, younger students shared their academic and personal goals for the year in small discussion groups, with sixth form mentors offering guidance and encouragement drawn from their own experiences. The collaborative atmosphere allowed students to explore practical strategies for achieving their aspirations while building meaningful cross-year relationships. The session concluded with discussions surrounding the name of the programme, with students proposing to honour an inspirational woman who holds significance for them. This programme aims to foster positive female role models within the school while empowering students to support one another's growth and success. Regular meetings throughout the year will continue and this initiative represents the school's ongoing commitment to developing confident and brave young women.

Pupils from the Friedrich-Leopold-Woeste-Gymnasium Visit the Close

By Eleanor Lewis • September 22, 2025
On Monday 15 and Tuesday 16 September, 28 pupils from the Friedrich-Leopold-Woeste-Gymnasium visited Norwich School as part of their Languages trip to Norwich. On Monday, they were treated to a tour of the school in German by our U5 GCSE class and on Tuesday, the two classes were excited to see each other again and spent the afternoon speaking German and English to each other at a Language cafe in UKS, where they ended the afternoon by playing board games together. The pupils enjoyed getting to know each other and speaking each other's languages. They will keep in contact privately now that the German group has departed. Quotes from pupils are as follows: 'We were laughing with them the whole time!' 'We made some strong connections with them and will talk with them online' 'It was very nice to meet them and make some new friends!' 'It was very enjoyable and a lovely opportunity to practise our German and make new friends.' 'It was nice to meet and talk to them while practising our German.' 'We went to the city with them and loved it!' 'We learnt so much about their home in Germany.'

On the Front of the Book - An Assembly from Rev Child

By Eleanor Lewis • September 19, 2025
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:25-27) There’s a saying that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Years ago I met someone who doesn’t like that saying very much. That’s because his job is to design book covers. I watched him lead a really interesting seminar where he showed us some of his designs. He explained how his artwork was trying to sum up – on just one piece of laminated, folded paper - the message and themes of all the other pages in the book. Just occasionally, some book covers do this by choosing a key phrase from the book and putting it in large letters on the front. A famous example is Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, where some editions had a cover that read: ‘Big Brother is Watching You’. If you know the story then you’ll recognise that as the sinister propaganda message that no-one can get away from. Some copies of the Lord of the Rings had printed on the front ‘One ring to rule them all’. And The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams had just two words on the cover of some editions – ‘DON’T PANIC’. It begins to make sense when you discover that some of the characters in the story are using a space travel guide (the Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) which is designed to help you through any difficult situation. And what makes the guide so successful and popular is that its first principle is on the front cover. Whatever happens – DON’T PANIC. Have a look at the cover of your hymn book for a moment. What do you think? We’ve gone for a pretty classic look. The name of our school in gold embossed lettering, and the school crest complete with a motto in Latin for a classy finish. Sometimes I wonder – entirely hypothetically – how we might redesign the cover. If you were going to put a few words on the front, one essential message that everyone in the school was going to see at the beginning of every day, what would it be? Here are a few suggestions I got from people around the school, some more serious than others: · “Show Love” · “Shine Bright!” · “Treat others as you would like to be treated” · “Do some work in your study periods” · “Wake Up!” Actually, I think the words ‘DON’T PANIC’ might work here too. I hope you’re realising, now that we’re a few weeks into term, that panicking is never worth it – and if you’re tempted to panic then sharing your problem and talking to someone almost always helps. Maybe that would be good to remember at the start of the school day. This also reminds me of one of my favourite passages from the Bible, the words of Jesus we heard just now: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? … Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”  I’ve had times myself where those words from the Sermon on the Mount have given me some perspective. Perhaps part of that passage would work well on the front of our hymn books – that wouldn’t be a bad thing to keep remembering. We’re not about to reissue the school hymn books with a new cover any time soon. But there’s nothing stopping you imagining a message on the front of the hymn book – whatever you need that message to be. “Don’t panic.” “Do not worry.” “Show love.” Why not have a few helpful words in your mind’s eye every time you pick up these blue books in the morning?

Air Raid Shelter Open to Visitors

By Sonja Mitchell • September 19, 2025
As part of Heritage Open Days we were delighted to open the Air Raid Shelter and Norwich School Chapel to visitors this month.

Contemporary Arts group Entranced by Collaborative Artists in Blake Studio

By Eleanor Lewis • September 18, 2025
Creative Arts are strongly supported at Norwich School, and this was very much in evidence with the return to site of the well-respected local Creative Arts group, the Norfolk Contemporary Art Society (n-cas). For many years we have hosted their ground-breaking talks in the Blake Studio, and we were delighted to welcome them back on 18 September 2025. Our talk was introduced by Lisa Newby, recently appointed Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Norfolk Museums, based at the Castle. She introduced us to Essex-based multimedia artists Daniel & Clara . Since meeting in 2010, the pair have dedicated themselves to a shared life of creative experimentation, working across moving image, photography, performance and ‘mail-art’ to explore the nature of human experience, the natural world and our perception of reality. With work recently on display at Norwich Castle Museum, this was a welcome trip to Norfolk for them and one which saw them entertain an audience of pupils, staff, alumni, n-cas members and local creatives with a visually arresting talk, including some striking images and poetic prose accompaniment. Of great interest were the selection of their short films that showcased their love of the natural world through landscapes, intriguingly crafted taxidermy imagery and appealing sound archives. In the ensuing Q&A the audience seemed very taken by their reflections on how up-and-coming creative artists, such as themselves, have to work hard to earn a living through constant innovation and multimedia versatility. Working with Norwich Castle and commissions from n-cas were undoubted highlights, readily acknowledged by Daniel & Clara. N-cas host regular talks at Norwich School. Their next talk is on 14 October – see: The Mike Toll Film Archive - three short films featuring David Jones, Michael Chapman and Oliver Creed — ncas . All those interested in the creative ats are welcome.  The next talk on site in our culturally enriching series of lectures with partner organisations sees the welcome return on 07 October of the Royal Geographical Society. Major General (Retired) Rob Thomson CBE DSO of The HALO Trust, the world’s largest mine-clearing NGO, will discuss how a changing geopolitical order marked by great power competition, increased conflict, and the retreat of multi-lateralism is affecting human development and security. See: Clearing a path through the new world disorder . All those interested in the natural world and geopolitics are very welcome.

Lower 2 Experience Stone Age Life!

By Eleanor Lewis • September 12, 2025
Lower Twos had a wonderful Stone Age Day, immersing themselves in activities such as tool-making, fishing techniques, and learning about the hides. They built a fire, cooked fish over it, which they all then tried, and some even bravely tried the eyeballs! Using tools and instruments made from bone, the children thoroughly enjoyed the experience and are eager to continue exploring this era in their Topic lessons throughout the Michaelmas term.

The role of languages to build a better world – the scintillating return of the Norfolk Cambridge Society to Norwich School

By Eleanor Lewis • September 11, 2025
Norwich School has an established tradition of working with partner organisations to host high-quality lectures on our site. We are particularly proud of our links with the prestigious Norfolk Cambridge Society, whose long-running series of 23 lectures has been amazing. The 24 th public lecture took place in the Blake Studio on 11 September 2025 in front of a capacity audience comprising school pupils, parents, staff, alumni, and interested members of the city’s intelligentsia. It was of particular interest to the Norwich School community that the speaker was one of our own: Old Norvicensian Professor Charles Forsdick , Drapers Professor of French at the University of Cambridge and Lead Fellow for Languages at the British Academy. He has published widely on travel writing, colonial history and literature, penal culture and slavery, all reflective of his lifelong humanitarianism. His topic was “The Role of Language Skills in Building a Better World“ in which he discussed the growing importance of language skills in an increasingly complex and dangerous world. Charles is well known as an academic of great insight and erudition, combined with natural talent as a brilliant communicator, a lively sense of humour and a profound social conscience. His love of languages has firm roots in the teaching he received at Norwich School. Indeed, his hometown of East Dereham featured prominently in his talk, and his links to the school and to Norfolk remain strong, Following his talk and over refreshments a lively debate continued, discussing a wide variety of thorny issues brought up in his talk. These included the short-sightedness of monolingualism, the value of languages to improving vaccine take-up during the pandemic, our woeful language proficiency versus our European neighbours and challenges with current grade boundaries in language A Levels. It was a pleasure welcoming the Norfolk Cambridge Society and an illustrious speaker of such calibre on site for such a compelling event. We greatly look forward to next term’s lecture to take place on 5 February 2025: How AI Works and How it will Transform our Lives given by Neil Lawrence , DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge, Senior AI Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute and Visiting Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Sheffield. Booking is now open, and tickets are selling fast. See this link: Lecture: How AI Works and How it will Transform our Lives – Norfolk Cambridge Society . - Jonathan Pearson, Development Director ( jpearson@norwich-school.org.uk )

An Impressive Musical Theatre Workshop with a Trip to The Midnight Bell

By Eleanor Lewis • September 11, 2025
Middle 5 pupil, Antonia Christophi, tells us all about the dance workshop and theatre trip that took place earlier this term. On Thursday 11 September M5 and L5 pupils who had an interest in dance and musical theatre had the privilege of receiving a musical theatre workshop. This was run by Lauren she was an excellent instructor with a high level of energy that kept all of us going after a long hard-working day at school. Lauren taught us a dance from the musical ‘The Wild Party’ using the song ‘A Wild, Wild Party’. The workshop though challenging it was also an enjoyable and uplifting way to end the school day. After our workshop Miss How and Miss Smith took us all to watch the amazing dance production of The Midnight Bell, produced and choregraphed by Matthew Bourne through his company new adventures. The production of The Midnight Bell was a modern ballet inspired on the novel written by Partick Hamilton. This production was set in late 1920s in Soho and Fitzrovia London which presents the tale of several interconnected characters who are either employees or regulars at the pub ‘The Midnight Bell’. This production had an extraordinary representation of schizophrenia and other challenges that was civilians were faced with at the time; such as prostitution and homophobia. This was represented with the regulars at the pub displaying the secretiveness and hurt being attracted to those of the same gender would bring at that age period or how prostitution meant having to give your self away to keep living though other women would look down on you and men would never see you. This production was truly a life changing insight on how many people lived without being accepted or not wondering what is your consciousness or real life whilst all being communicated through precise and graceful movements that can express more than words could define. These agile movements inspired many of Norwich Schools young dancers to use more emotion to communicate through our dance.
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