At Quokka level, students work towards using spoken and written Chinese to communicate with teachers and peers. They participate in structured and routine interactions, such as using 谢谢， 再见， 请, using learnt sounds, formulaic phrases, and verbal and non-verbal responses. They learn to respond to and receive information, for example, 你好， 你好吗？ They learn to follow simple instructions, including 排队， 请坐， 不要说话. They learn to use the four tones of Chinese but not always with accuracy. They learn to respond to short predictable imaginative and informative texts, expressing simple likes and dislikes 喜欢， 不喜欢. They learn to match characters to the meanings and sounds of familiar words, including numbers (八…), colours (红…) and family members (爸爸， 妈妈). They learn to create simple informative and imaginative texts by selecting learnt characters and familiar words to describe, list, label and caption.

They learn to recognise that Chinese is a major language in Australia. They learn to recognise the tonal nature of Chinese and know that characters are formed by strokes. Students learn to differentiate between the Pinyin and characters associated with familiar objects in their immediate environment. They learn to recognise the use of tone marks in Pinyin. They learn to recognise the conventions for using Chinese to communicate with family, friends and teachers. They learn to identify themselves as learners of languages.