Welcome to the FREE Beyond the Panda online learning resources exploring China, its language, culture, geography, giant pandas and other Chinese wildlife. Beyond the Panda is also a science specialist Confucius Classroom and all materials link to Curriculum for Excellence experiences and outcomes in science, topical science, social studies, language and literacy.
*Virtual session available linked to this topic
A comparison project of China and Scotland, which looks at the similarities and differences between the habitats and animals of each country. The game also includes cultural items from China and Scotland. Linked virtual session is available. Please email srobb@rzss.org.uk for details.
Partnered with JASS, this can fulfil part of the 'Me and My World' section. This can further involve actions to help save endangered animals, for example: making bird feeders, bug hotels, raising money for RZSS projects in the wild.
[Professionally printed packs are available to purchase at cost price.]
The China/Scotland pack is aimed at P4-P7 and consists of:
This project is supported by
the Junior Award Scheme for Schools - JASS and can be used as part of the scheme.
These are character recognition activity stories. It is not expected that the children will understand the full Chinese sentences. The story books contain large pictures to help the children either count the items or see the colours. The number and colour cards are for the children to point to the correct characters and it is suggested that each child have a card while the story is being read.
This pack covers a range of activities to learn about the giant panda, simple classification of vertebrate animals and to reinforce Mandarin numbers and colours. Some of the boards within this pack have been split into two. This is to enable printing at A3 (or A4) but to create an A2 (or A3) poster by joining the two sections. For these files there is also the option to download the single page picture.
The P1-P3 pack consists of:
This pack covers a range of activities to learn about the giant panda, including the history of giant panda conservation, classification of vertebrate animals, habitats and regions of China. Some of the boards within this pack have been split into two. This is to enable printing at A3 (or A4) but to create an A2 (or A3) poster by joining the two sections. For these files there is also the option to download the single page picture.
The P4-P7 pack consists of:
This pack covers a broad range of activities in science, art, history and culture.
The S1-S2 pack consist of:
This is an advanced endangered species pack which includes a Mandarin case study for qualification level.
The Secondary Endangered Species pack consists of:
Teacher training video on how to play
*Virtual session available linked to this topic
These packs have similar content to the P1-P3 (Level 1) and P4-P7 (Level 2) panda packs but have been designed as individual pupil workbooks instead of the group game activities which were in the panda packs. The panda folder is designed to be printed in booklet format, providing a double page spread for the maps and diagrams. If you cannot print in booklet format, the double spread pages are also provided as full pictures. Linked virtual session available currently for level 2. Level 1 virtual session will be available shortly. Please email srobb@rzss.org.uk for details.
[Professionally printed booklets are available to purchase at cost price.]
It is advisable to download the following sound files after 'The giant panda P4-P7' virtual session. The context of these sound files are relevant to the virtual session. To book the virtual session, email srobb@rzss.org.uk
These online books simulate some of the content which was delivered by the expert visits and outreach sessions.
Currently expert visits & outreach are postponed but some virtual sessions are available. Please contact srobb@rzss.org.uk for details.
The following online books link to the P4-P7 China/Scotland pack. Please note a virtual session is available for this topic and is different but linked to the content within these books:
The following online books link to the P4-P7 panda packs and Level 2 panda folders. Please note a virtual session is available for this topic where the pupils can experience investigating skulls and skeletons.
The following are an online book version of the Nursery number and colour stories:
The following online books link to the P4-P7 Chinese Endangered Species outreach session:
The following is an online book linking to the P4-P7 China's animals and habitats session:
Zoo Fun with Mandarin is our family and community course. Currently outreach sessions and sessions which were held at Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park are postponed. However there are still lots of fun resources. These resources are also suitable for schools to use.
There are PowerPoint with sound files included and pdf versions with separate sound files in case you don't have PowerPoint or if you find the Chinese characters do not work properly on your system.
The additional resources section has a number of resources which are useful for all age groups and they also cover a wide range of subjects.
A fun matching game looking at ancient and modern simplified Chinese characters. There are four sets which are identical but with the different colours are provided should you wish to split the class into different groups.
Collating together some of the facts which can be learnt through the panda packs and other resources on this website.
RZSS has also partnered with
StampIT to produce a Mandarin language game and a China language competition.
Links take you to StampIT's website to download the files.
