Mandarin Language Assistant Programme

CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE

Helping to promote the learning of Mandarin in NZ schools

As part of the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries, the New Zealand (NZ) and Chinese Education Ministries agreed that Mandarin Language Assistants (MLAs) were to be placed in NZ schools for an academic year. The MLA’s role is to help promote the learning of Mandarin and to raise the quality of Mandarin language provision in NZ schools. The programme also provides MLAs with an opportunity to improve their English and to work collaboratively with experienced NZ teachers.

In 2008, the Ministries have partnered with the Office of the Chinese Language Council International (Hanban) in China and Confucius Institute (CI) in Auckland (at the University of Auckland) to implement this initiative. The Confucius Institute selects eligible schools, provides an orientation programme for the incoming MLAs and monitors progress during the school year.

The Confucius Institute in Auckland oversees the programme, ensuring that the host school and MLAs are operating in line with expectations and requirements.

In 2010, six Mandarin Language Assistants were placed into NZ schools for the first time. Since then, the initiative has successfully promoted the learning of Mandarin and raised the quality of Mandarin language provision in NZ schools. Before the outbreak of COVID-19, in 2019, Confucius Institute in Auckland has assigned 47 MLAs to nearly 120 schools in Auckland, Northland and Waikato regions. Meanwhile in the whole country, in collaboration with the Confucius Institutes in Victoria University and Canterbury University, there is a total of 150 MLAs working in New Zealand schools.

You will find more information about the MLA programmes from the MLA Review Report files below.

Currently, with the COVID-19 border restrictions, no MLAs from China are allowed to enter New Zealand. Our MLA programme has been suspended since 2020, so are the Chinese language teaching programmes in many local schools. As soon as the border restrictions are lifted, the programme will be resumed and revised, in order to meet the demands for Chinese learning and the changing world in a post-COVID age.

CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE