This article in newspaper ‘The Australian’ is about teaching Chinese language in NSW. We’ve reproduced the article below:
Ni hao: Mike Baird says hello to kids’ Chinese lessons
Thousands of NSW primary- school pupils will be learning an Asian language in the next few years as part of a plan by the Baird government to prepare the youngest generation for the rising influence the Asian region has on Australia.
In Beijing, Premier Mike Baird met the capital’s mayor, Wang Anshun, last night and discussed the plan to introduce a teacher exchange program as part of the policy to have more children learn a foreign language.
The plan was an election policy and is expected to be put in place in the new few years.
The government’s language advisory panel is due to meet again on Monday and will deliver its recommendations to government early next year on how to roll out greater foreign language learning across all schools in NSW.
As part of the policy, 15 NSW teachers will travel to China soon while two Chinese teachers will visit the state for a year to advise on the best practices to teach Mandarin.
Mandarin and Japanese are expected to be the languages taught most in NSW’s city and regional schools in future.
“In simple terms, there’s no doubt that the growth in opportunities in Australia is strongly tried to the Asian region,” Mr Baird told The Australian in Beijing. “The question is how do we equip our next generation to take advantage of that, and clearly language is a critical part of the equation. If you look at the figures, only 10 per cent of our HSC students are learning a foreign language.” The government plans to introduce language lessons to kindergarten-age children before rolling it out at primary schools statewide.
“The earlier we start children, the better that the outcome will be,” Mr Baird said.
“We are considering what actions we can take. I want to see thousands of students learning an Asian language; it should be a key part of our curriculum.
“It is going to require a significant amount of resources and we need to work out what’s the most efficient way to deploy those resources.” Under the policy, remote schools will be able to hook up with Chinese schools, children from both nations interacting online.
— SCOTT MURDOCH CHINA CORRESPONDENT, EXCLUSIVE
Source: SCOTT MURDOCH (6 November 2015). “Ni hao: Mike Baird says hello to kids’ Chinese lessons”, The Australia.