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Chinese learning celebrated in New Zealand

Confucius — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 00:05:33 +0000

New Zealand Chinese Language Week: Promoting a wider understanding of Chinese culture

Chinese learning celebrated in New Zealand

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Originally reported by Owen Poland, CGTN, Auckland

It’s Chinese language week in Auckland, New Zealand. Many teenagers are participating. Owen Poland has this report.

A traditional lion dance signalled the start of New Zealand’s Chinese Language Week before high school students from several major cities demonstrated their skill speaking Mandarin.

For many winners of the regional speech competitions, like Anna Riley, it’s also an opportunity to show a wider understanding of Chinese culture.

ANNA RILEY Student Wellington High School “It’s always been something very new and very interesting to me just because it’s so different to what western culture’s like, so yeah, I was just really interested in like broadening my knowledge of the world.”

New Zealand’s Chinese Language Week is now in its eighth year, and there’s growing support for an event that bridges the cultural gap.

JO COUGHLAN Chairperson, New Zealand Chinese Language Week Trust “Well, I think sharing a language just enables people to be ultimately more tolerant and inclusive, just leads to greater understanding.”

Chinese cross-talk injects humour into the conversation, and has added benefits for school friends William and Joshua.

WILLIAM SOK Student Rotorua Boys High School “We’re able to practice our Chinese speaking abilities in more ways than one, you know, because we have to engage with an audience, make sure that they laugh, which is pretty hard to do in a language that we’re not completely familiar with, right?”

Among the audience was China’s Ambassador to New Zealand who was suitably impressed by the various performances.

DR. WANG XIAOLONG Chinese Ambassador to New Zealand “I was so amazed by the level of proficiency achieved by some of the boys and girls.”

And for many students it’s an opportunity to build the foundation for a future career.

JOSHUA SMITH Student Rotorua Boys High School “I definitely want to work overseas as a businessman, so Chinese will be a very useful skill to have, especially with talking to more people.”

And as New Zealand celebrates 50 years of diplomatic relations with China in 2022, the Ambassador says Chinese Language Week lays a foundation for the next fifty years.

DR. WANG XIAOLONG Chinese Ambassador to New Zealand “With the knowledge about the language and the culture with the friends they make, I think they will make wonderful ambassadors of the people between the two countries.”

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Long-serving CI director retired with lasting legacy

Confucius — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 00:10:55 +0000

CI Auckland celebrated its 10-year anniversary

Long-serving CI director retired with lasting legacy

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Following a long career at the University of Auckland, including seventeen years serving as the director of Confucius Institute in Auckland, Nora Yao announced her retirement from the CI and University effective this week.

Nora graduated from Shanghai International Studies University in China and moved to New Zealand in the early 1980s. After receiving her MA at UOA, she joined the Arts faculty and started a career as senior tutor in Chinese. In the past thirty years, she provide courses like Advanced Modern Chinese, Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, etc., and is the co-author of the Chinese language textbooks, Fundamental written Chinese (2009) and Fundamental spoken Chinese (2009). She is the council member of the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching （世界汉语教学学会）and a member of its expert panel of International Chinese Teaching Materials Development.

In 2005, the University of Auckland signed an MOU with China’s Ministry of Education to establish the country’s very first Confucius Institute on the campus. Nora has been taking the role of director since then, which made her the longest-serving CI director world-widely. Under her leadership, the Confucius Institute in Auckland has been recognized as one of the best CIs in the world and a Global Model CI, with numerous awards and many pioneering projects in facilitating Chinese language learning in New Zealand. Her contribution has been acknowledged with a ‘Distinguished Teaching Award’ from the University of Auckland and ‘Valued Contribution to the University Award’ by the Vice-Chancellor of the University twice, and an ‘Outstanding Contribution Award’ by Confucius Institute Headquarters. She was awarded a ‘Good Citizen Award’ and a ‘Medal for Distinguished Women in Auckland’ from the Mayor of Auckland for her local community service.

Nora Yao has been a legend for her contribution and achievement in the field of Chinese language teaching in New Zealand, also a bridge-builder in fostering dialogue and mutual understanding between the peoples of New Zealand and China.

Her legacy will continue. The Chinese language teaching in New Zealand will flourish.

We wish Nora all the best and happy retirement!

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Nora Yao‘s CI Journey

Journal of Confucius Institute VOLUME 64 | NO.5 Sep. 2019

Welcome Dr Xuelin Zhou – New CI Director

Dr Xuelin Zhou has been appointed as the new director of the Confucius Institute by the University of Auckland. As Nora’s successor, he has started his new role this month.

Xuelin is an Associate Professor in Media and Screen at the University of Auckland. His research interests cover popular culture in East Asia and Chinese-language film. A brief bio of him is available on Our Team page.

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Foreigners’ Chinese skills get new gauge

Confucius — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 23:41:24 +0000

Foreigners’ Chinese skills get new gauge

Nine-level proficiency standard to be implemented globally from July 1 2021

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Originally published on China Daily by Zou Shuo.

China has issued a Chinese language proficiency standard for international learners to evaluate their Chinese language skills and levels in an all-around way and meet the expanding demand for Chinese language learning.

Issued by the Ministry of Education and the State Language Commission, the Standard for Chinese Proficiency in International Chinese Language Education will be implemented from July 1, the ministry said on Wednesday.

The international Chinese language circle had been calling for a set of norms and standards that were scientific, standardized, inclusive, open and easy to implement, to guide all aspects of Chinese language learning, teaching, testing and evaluation, and to improve the quality of education and teaching results, the ministry said in a news release.

The standard classifies the Chinese proficiency of international learners into three stages and nine levels, using four basic elements of the Chinese language: syllables, characters, vocabulary and grammar to evaluate the learners’ abilities, including their listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating and interpreting skills.

Each grade has specific requirements for the amount of syllables, characters, vocabulary and grammar the learner should grasp, as well as requirements for their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.

For the lowest grade 1, learners should master 269 syllables, 300 characters, a 500-word vocabulary and 48 grammar points. They should also be able to understand an 80-character conversation, know basic oral expressions, read 100-character material and write 100 characters.

For the highest grade 9, learners should know 1,110 syllables, 3,000 characters, have a 11,092-word vocabulary and 572 grammar points. They should also understand 800-character materials at a normal or relatively fast speed, have accurate pronunciation, read 240 characters per minute, write all kinds of essays, including dissertations, and be capable of professional translating and interpreting.

The standard applies to learning, teaching, testing and evaluation in international Chinese language education and provides a normative reference for all kinds of schools, institutions and enterprises, the ministry said.

It will become the basis of international Chinese language examinations, provide reference for the curriculum design, textbook compilation, classroom teaching and testing of international Chinese education around the world, and provide an important basis for the construction of various new models and platforms of international Chinese education, it added.

The Chinese language has been incorporated into the national education systems of more than 75 countries, according to the ministry’s Center for Language Education and Cooperation.

More than 4,000 overseas universities now offer Chinese language courses and some 25 million people are learning Chinese outside China, the center said.

The HSK exams, a test of Chinese language proficiency organized by the center, were transferred online last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and were taken by more than 70,000 people, the center said. The six levels of exams will be expanded to nine to reflect the new standard, the center said.

In 2019, 7.5 million people took different Chinese language proficiency tests, up by 10.3 percent from a year earlier, data from the center showed.

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Standard for Chinese Proficiency in International Chinese Language Education《国际中文教育中文水平等级标准》

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The first Confucius Classroom in Waikato launched

Confucius — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 22:27:26 +0000

The first Confucius Classroom in Waikato launched

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Fairfield College and Hillcrest High School, two high schools in Hamilton, started to co-host the country’s latest Confucius Classroom, also the very first one in the Waikato region. On 22nd September, the new CC was officially launched by Pat English, board member of the CI in Auckland, and principals of the two schools, Richard Crawford and Kevin Whiting.

The histories of Chinese language teaching in both schools are less than ten years. With the visions to educate young generation Kiwis with global awareness for the future, the schools started their Chinese programmes from scratch. Now, the Chinese language has become one of the most popular subjects among the students. Led by two dedicated teachers, Christina Howard-Shi and Bei Wang, both schools are providing NCEA Chinese from Year 7 to 13, and various extra-curriculum activities, like study tours, competitions, cultural groups, sister-school exchanges. The Confucius Institute also provides supports for schools to help the schools to develop a sustainable language programme, with resources, PD workshops, Mandarin Language Assistants, China study camps, etc.

With the launch of the Confucius Classroom, the schools will become school-based hubs for Chinese teaching and learning beyond their own communities. We have the confidence to expect a growth of interest in Chinese learning in Hamilton and the Waikato region, especially in the fast-changing post-COVID world. The CC launch is also a part of the celebrations of the New Zealand Chinese Language Week.

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Paul Clark: Let’s Get Real on China

Confucius — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 00:27:31 +0000

Paul Clark: Let’s Get Real on China

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Before we start cowering under our beds for fear of a vast international conspiracy being directed from Beijing by the Chinese Communist Party, a little realism would help.

Some people would have us believe that speculation, innuendo and the mere existence of Chinese organisations in New Zealand add up to evidence of Chinese government interference in New Zealand’s way of life. A brief visit, for example, by a prominent New Zealander to one of China’s top art academies, which is affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army, in this view somehow becomes a suggestion of unseemly collusion with China’s armed forces. This approach really amounts to making two plus two equal five, six or seven. Evidence of actual intervention or success in such activities is noticeably lacking.

China does indeed have a vast and complex apparatus aimed at projecting Chinese soft power around the world. Part of that effort is influencing and monitoring what overseas Chinese are doing in places like New Zealand. But the existence of this state or Party apparatus and plans does not in itself prove anything. It merely shows that China is anxious to be respected and have influence, as are most countries, including New Zealand. The US, France, Germany, Japan, Korea and other countries all make similar efforts to shape our views of them.

Moreover, a realistic assessment of Chinese efforts suggests that despite decades of hard work the global projection of Chinese soft power has been a remarkable failure. China has had success in influencing emerging nations with weak institutions, such as in the Pacific Islands. But in long-established democracies like our own success eludes Beijing.

However, conspiracy theorists remain ever keen to find reds under beds, as the old Cold War saying went. (That sub-mattress space is getting a bit crowded with some of us cowering there as well.) They draw attention to the Confucius Institutes in New Zealand, for example. Given my professorship, I am on the board of the Auckland Confucius Institute, a trilateral partnership between the Chinese body charged with promoting the study of Chinese language and culture (Chinese International Education Foundation), Fudan University in Shanghai and the University of Auckland.

I am proud of the huge increase in the number of young Kiwis studying Mandarin in schools across the country that the Confucius Institutes have enabled since 2007. The Alliance Française, the Goethe-Institut, and the Japan and Korea Foundations for decades have all sought to help young New Zealanders study their respective languages.

Through the auspices of the Confucius Institutes, New Zealand teachers work alongside young, enthusiastic language-teaching students from China (when pandemic border controls allow – sadly not in 2020). They engage with a generation of Kiwi youngsters for whom China will be an even more important factor in their future careers and prosperity than it is for us now. The schools are in charge of what is taught in these Chinese classrooms.

At the university level, the teaching of Chinese studies is entirely a matter in the hands of the academic staff who in Auckland’s case have been teaching these subjects for almost sixty years. This work in schools and universities is helping to future-proof New Zealand.

The conspiracy theorists also like to draw attention to the behaviour of wealthy Chinese immigrants and organisations making donations to political parties. Our donations regime sorely needs reform in many dimensions. But we don’t need conspiracies to explain these Chinese donations. As I pointed out to a parliamentary select committee last year, many of these wealthy migrants bring with them to New Zealand a mindset shaped by how they had achieved success in China. There, personal connections loom large in a society where institutions do not work well or are subject to abuse.

In China, personal links with Party leaders and other influential people are a way to cultivate success. In New Zealand, our institutions (courts, financial authorities etc.) work well and are independent. Recent migrants tend to assume otherwise, hence the push to be photographed standing with a prime minister or even a lowly backbencher.

We need to educate or induct new migrants more effectively into Kiwi ways of doing things and how our systems work. Civics education, covering the position of tangata whenua, the Treaty of Waitangi and how government listens to the people, is long overdue to help build a confident country that takes its own, independent stands on global issues. We need to work across borders, not put up walls. Conspiracy theories are a concern because at best they are misleading. At worst they spread disinformation and muddy the waters for a realistic and constructive relationship. Scaremongering is not the way to get real about China.

This article is first published in the New Zealand Herald on 30 July 2020. Here the post is the original version, including the title, provided by Professor Clark.

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Mandarin Language Assistant Yanwei’s debut on TV in New Zealand

Confucius — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 00:26:01 +0000

MLA on TVNZ Breakfast

Mandarin Language Assistant Yanwei’s debut on TV in New Zealand

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CI Mandarin Language Assistant Hou Yanwei had her TV debut in New Zealand on 5 February, the first day of the Chinese New Year of the Pig.

Requested by the leading morning TV show, Breakfast, Confucius Institute recommended Yanwei to talk with Hayley Holt and Jack Tame in the TVNZ studio. Although being in Auckland only for two weeks, Yanwei already has a lot to share with the anchors and audiences. She talked about the meanings of the Chinese Zodiac animals, and how Chinese people celebrate the Lunar New Year.

As she was born in Year of the Pig, Yanwei is eagerly looking forward to the New Year, maybe a little bit anxiously as well. Her journey in New Zealand just started. It will be a year with challenges for her and other Mandarin Language Assistants. It will not be easy for them being abroad to work and live in another country. However, it will also be a year with exciting adventures and experiences for all of them.

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Model Confucius Institute officially launched in Auckland

Confucius — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:22:50 +0000

Auckland, the global Model Confucius Institute

Model Confucius Institute officially launched in Auckland

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Model CI plaque unveiled by Chinese Consul-General Xu Erwen, Fudan University President Xu Ningsheng, and UoA Chancellor Scott St John and Deputy VC Jenny Dixon.

On behalf of the University of Auckland, Chancellor Scott St John welcomed the Fudan University President Xu Ningsheng, Auckland Consul General of the People’s Republic of China Madam Xu Erwen, Confucius Institute Board Members, and other guests to the Model Confucius Institute on 6th November.

“The origins of this relationship stretch back more than a decade and culminated in 2007 when then Prime Minister, the Rt Honourable Helen Clark launched this, New Zealand’s first Confucius Institute.” Mr St John said, “That deepening relationship has been built on greater understanding and knowledge, people-to-people connections, cultural experiences and language. This is at the heart of the work of the Confucius Institute.”

Since 2007 the Auckland Confucius Institute has sent 140 school leaders to China, brought 250 Mandarin Language Assistants to the Auckland region and provided Chinese cultural and language teaching to more than 130,000 school children across the city and beyond.

The Institute has encouraged language and cultural understanding through programmes targeting businesses. It has promoted the dynamic Chinese culture through events that have enriched the diverse civic life in Auckland and New Zealand.

It is a significant achievement to be recognised as one of the most successful Confucius Institutes globally and to be awarded the status of a Model Confucius Institute, the only Model Institute in Australasia. With the funding support from the Confucius Institute Headquarters, this Auckland Council-owned heritage building, Pembridge House, has been refurbished to be the premises for the Model Confucius Institute.

A delegation led by President Xu Ningsheng attended the ceremony. As a strategic partner of UoA, Fudan University has been supportive on the Confucius Institute since its very beginning. Alongside the launch of the Model CI, the two universities also signed the MOU to establish the Fudan-UoA Centre for China Studies in Oceania. The Centre will foster multi-disciplinary collaborations between academics at Fudan and Auckland while at the same time working together to collaborate with universities in the Oceania region and in China.

In his speech, President Xu remarked, “Fudan University will consistently support the development of the Confucius Institute and the Centre. Firstly, Fudan University will connect top scholars and academic newcomers in China, with those in Oceania, to build up the center’s academic networks and form a high-level, interactive and collaborative research community that promotes theoretical research and the cultivation of a vibrant academic environment. Secondly, Fudan university will integrate the academic, financial and human resources accumulated through cooperation between Fudan University, its co-founded Confucius Institutes and other overseas centers to facilitate academic knowledge transfer and collaboration.”

President Xu Ningsheng and Chancellor Scott St John cut the ribbon to open the Pembridge House

From left, Nora Yao, Helen Nicolson, Danny Chan, Jenny Dixon, Scott St John, Xu Ningsheng, Paul Clark, Xu Erwen, Pat English and Bing Zhou

Since the launch of Confucius Institute in 2007, New Zealand has strengthened political, foreign policy, trade, business, cultural and education connections that have seen China become not only our country’s largest trading partner, but also our ninth source of direct foreign investment, single most important source of international students and our second largest market for tourists.

“The success of the Confucius Institute is an example or a model of the bilateral relationship and cultural exchanges between China and New Zealand,” said by Mme Xu Erwen, Consul-General of the People’s Republic of China in Auckland, “The Confucius Institute is an important platform for the world to understand China and an important channel for promoting mutual understanding and cooperation between China and the world.” She also expressed her congratulations and best wishes to the institute, “I hope that the people of our two nations, China and New Zealand, will take the advantage of the Confucius Institute as a platform to further promote the existing friendly relations between China and New Zealand, and help New Zealand to better take part in the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, to build a community of human destiny and harmonious world! I hope that the two high-level world-class universities, The University of Auckland and Fudan University, can also use the platform of the Confucius Institute to further enhance their academic researches and academic reputations!”

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CI celebrated its 10-year anniversary

Confucius — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 22:36:56 +0000

CI Auckland celebrated its 10-year anniversary

风雨十载，不忘初心：
奥克兰孔子学院喜迎十周年庆典

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This news report is in Chinese.

十载櫛风沐雨，铸就今日辉煌。2017年10月16日，新西兰奥克兰孔子学院在奥克兰博物馆会议中心举办盛大庆典，隆重庆祝孔院成立十周年。

奥克兰孔子学院于2007年2月正式成立，是新西兰第一家孔子学院，也是“全球示范孔子学院”之一。学院由新西兰奥克兰大学与中国国家汉办、复旦大学联合创办，以汉语教学和传播中国文化为宗旨，致力于增进新西兰社会各界对中国语言和文化的了解，推动新中友好关系与人文交流，共同促进多元文化发展。

成立十年来，奥克兰孔子学院积极致力于在新西兰开展汉语和中国文化推广工作，在国家汉办/孔子学院总部的支持下，在中方合作院校复旦大学的大力配合下，奥克兰大学将孔子学院作为大学拓展对华合作交流的一个重要平台，认真地将它作为自己的一项事业来投入和建设。奥克兰孔学院在全球500多所孔子学院中，独具特色、成绩斐然，先后五次被评为年度先进孔子学院，也是“全球示范孔子学院”之一，是仅有的十所获得孔子学院“开创者奖”的孔院之一，姚载瑜院长和狄珍妮(Jenny Dixon)理事长还先后获得了“突出贡献奖”和“先进个人”的荣誉。

十年来，奥克兰孔子学院在新西兰汉语教学和中国文化推广中始终走在前列。目前下设12所孔子课堂，覆盖34所中小学，共为近150所中小学支持和提供了汉语课程项目，还在位于南岛但尼丁市的奥塔哥大学建立了分部;目前在校学习汉语的人数共逾3万人，在岗“汉语助教”近50人。

在孔院的推动下，正有越来越多的新西兰中小学将汉语纳入教学计划，越来越多的新西兰中小学生开始学习中文，孔子学院的汉语推广已成为新中两国人文交流中最令人瞩目和骄傲的一项成果。

在庆祝活动中，中国驻新西兰大使馆屈光洲政务参赞代表王鲁彤大使致辞，肯定了奥克兰孔院“十年来在推动汉语教学和中国文化传播中做出了积极重要的贡献”，称赞其“为新西兰孔子学院、孔子课堂的发展提供了许多有益的经验和做法，发挥了开拓和引领的作用。”

国会议员杨健博士在致辞中谈到，国家党政府最近推出了支持外语学习的政策，斥资1.6亿元将外语学习作为必修课纳入小学和初中课程体系，正是认识到了包括汉语在内的第二语言学习对于新西兰年轻一代的重要性。十年来，新西兰学生通过孔子学院在汉语学习中展现出了良好的势头和蓬勃的潜力，仅在奥克兰一地，就有超过十万学生通过孔院获得了汉语学习的机会，这也为政府决策提供了重要的依据和保证。

国会议员霍建强在发言中，著重介绍了于当日同时启动的“新西兰中文周”活动。这也是于2014年习近平主席访问新西兰期间发起的倡议，是在西方国家第一个民间发起成立的全国性“中文周”，孔子学院将与新西兰全国各界一起，在中文周期间开展形式多样、内容丰富的汉语和中国文化主题推广活动。

奥克兰市副市长比尔·凯希摩尔(Bill Cashmore)、奥克兰孔院理事英派特(Pat English)、新中贸易协会主席马丁·汤姆森(Martin Thomson)等嘉宾也在致辞中盛赞孔子学院的成就与作用。ACG Parnell College的学生贝明础(Mitchell Brett)、Holy Cross School孔子课堂的中文老师詹妮·布斯(Jenny Booth)、St Heliers School校长克雷格·麦卡特尼(Craig McCarthny)，作为代表上台为孔院献上了真挚的祝福，引起了全场来宾的热烈共鸣。

活动现场还同时布置了孔子学院十周年图片展，举行了本年度汉语桥中文演讲比赛、“大使杯”中文写作比赛、孔院十周年生日视频大赛和新西兰优秀汉语教师奖等多个奖项的颁奖仪式，展示了近年来新西兰汉语学习日益高涨的热情和盛况。孔院下属孔子课堂和教学点的中小学生还在现场进行中华才艺的展示和表演，十位现任汉语助教老师也带来了精彩的传统歌舞和太极表演，引来了现场不断的掌声和喝彩。

担任当晚庆典活动主持人的陈兰娜(Allanah Mason)和白吉鹏(Luke Butler)，都是从奥克兰孔子学院一路成长起来的汉语学习的佼佼者和成功范例。他们两人都是在中学阶段就开始接触中国文化和学习中文，通过孔院举办的“汉语桥”演讲比赛崭露头角，进一步坚定了继续学习的信念;在大学期间，又都先后凭借出色的语言能力和文化才艺获得了代表新西兰前往中国参加世界大学生“汉语桥”决赛的资格，并有机会通过孔子学院奖学金赴华留学。如今，中国的语言和文化已经成为推动他们事业和学业不断进步的重要因素，如陈兰娜深有体会地说道：“学习中文给了我很多的机会，所以我相信，更多的新西兰学生应该学习中文。”

庆祝晚会进入尾声阶段，伴随著大屏幕里传出的生日快乐歌曲和全场嘉宾热情的祝福，姚载瑜和周兵两位院长与学生代表萨拉一起切开了生日蛋糕，全体共同祝愿孔子学院事业迎来更加美好的未来!

Further Links



Download the CI 10 Year Anniversary Booklet



Virtual Birthday Greetings to CI Auckland

A brief visual history of the 10 years

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Early start on Mandarin opens doors to wider world

Confucius — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 01:54:11 +0000

Early start on Mandarin opens doors to wider world

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Originally published in Education Gazette (ISSUE: VOLUME 96, NUMBER 15)

New Lynn Primary students are studying Mandarin language and Chinese culture as part of an approach to celebrate and normalise diversity.

Mei Hanxue, Mandarin language assistant, with students in the Mandarin class at New Lynn Primary School in Auckland.

When a group of Chinese Navy sailors visited a west Auckland primary school recently, children as young as six were able to test their newly acquired Mandarin conversation skills in a group chat.

Every student at New Lynn Primary is studying Mandarin language and Chinese culture for one hour a week as part of the school’s celebration of cultural diversity and support for language development. They learn about diverse subjects such as Chinese opera, dance, painting and acrobatics and kung fu, and periodically the classes host visitors from China – including musicians and artists, as well as the recent visit by Chinese Navy personnel – which lets the budding young linguists try out their new vocabulary on native speakers.

The school is one of 30 junior schools around New Zealand at which all the students are learning a Chinese language. More than 52,000 students are learning Chinese in New Zealand primary schools.

School principal Greg Roebuck says it has huge benefits.

“Learning Mandarin and Chinese culture is just one part of a bigger approach to experiencing other cultures. We want to make that diversity visible, and to normalise it. It’s important for their future lives for young people to have experiences beyond their own culture and to connect globally.”

The school has 356 students from 15 nationalities, and only 5 percent are from Chinese families.

Māori culture and te reo Māori are also taught and integrated into everyday teaching and learning, so children at the school are gaining skills in three languages while appreciating and understanding cultural differences.

“When it comes to language, the earlier you start, the better,” says Greg.

China is New Zealand’s biggest trading partner and the links between the two nations are fast expanding.

International evidence shows learning a second language can also contribute to the development of a student’s literacy skills in their first language.

In August 2014 the Government committed $10 million over five years to support Asian language learning for all students.

As with many schools in Auckland today, New Lynn Primary is a melting pot of nationalities, so its teaching philosophy reflects the local community.

“The children value and enjoy the Chinese culture classes. It is challenging and stimulates curiosity and inquiry learning. They also study other cultures represented among the students at our school. All this opens doors to the wider world,” Greg says.

Doors of another kind are about to open for the school – new classroom doors. New Lynn is one of Auckland’s high-growth areas, with its population rising fast due to intensification, so the school is about to get a brand-new, modern classroom block.

The eight-classroom building project has been managed by the Ministry of Education and is now almost complete. The block has flexible learning spaces and 21st-century facilities. Greg says the upgrade will advance educational opportunities as well as allow for future roll growth for the school.

“The learning spaces will allow different settings that suit different learning styles and processes.

“There’ll be a strong emphasis on digital technology to empower our students to self-manage and shape their own curriculum. e-Learning skills and digital literacy are the key to lifelong learning, which is a key goal. All of our teaching is underpinned by technology.”

Confucius

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Physical Address:
The University of Auckland
Pembridge House
31 Princes Street
Auckland Central 1010

Phone: +64 9 923 9955
Email: info@ci.ac.nz

Postal Address:
Confucius Institute in Auckland
The University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland Mail Centre
Auckland 1142, New Zealand

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Aucklander selected to represent New Zealand in Mandarin speaking competition

Confucius — Fri, 30 Jun 2017 03:21:53 +0000

Aucklander selected to represent New Zealand in Mandarin speaking competition

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Originally published on Stuff by Shani Williams on Jun 30 2017

St Peter’s College’s Year 11 student Jamie Laing has been learning Mandarin for about five years.

An Auckland student who won a national Chinese Mandarin speech competition credits his success to compulsory language classes.

St Peter’s College student Jamie Laing took part in New Zealand’s national Mandarin speaking competition in Wellington earlier this month and, after taking out the competition, has been invited to compete in China in October.

The year 11 student gave a five-minute speech in Mandarin on the famous Terracotta Army, followed by a performance of the Chinese Ancient art of shuttlecock kicking.

Only students who are born outside of China, and for whom Mandarin is not their first language, can take part in the competition.

Laing said his win was a testament to the strong Mandarin focus at St Peter’s College – where more than half of students study Mandarin.

St Peter’s College was the first Auckland secondary school to make Mandarin compulsory for years seven and eight.

“St Peter’s really values Mandarin as the language of the future – I think this is important considering China is already New Zealand’s largest trading partner,” Laing said.

Associate headmaster Stephen Dooley said parents were “extremely supportive” of the policy.

The school was also the first in Auckland to have a Mandarin language classroom funded by the Chinese Government agency “The Confucius Institute”.

Confucius classrooms receive funding, student scholarships, books and teaching materials directly from the Office of Chinese Language Council International in China.

Confucius classrooms also have “brother” relationships schools in China – with annual student exchanges and camps.

St Peter’s College Mandarin teacher Bingmei Zhang said understanding Mandarin would help New Zealander’s understand their new neighbours.

“With the arrival of more Chinese immigrants and international students, more parents and students in New Zealand think Chinese is important to learn so we can bridge the cultural and linguistic gap.”

An Asia New Zealand Foundation survey, released in March, found eight out of 10 people thought New Zealand students should learn a language other than English, and more than half of those chose Chinese ahead of te reo Maori.

Director of the Confucius Institute in Auckland, Nora Yao, said there couldn’t be a more important subject for New Zealand students to be learning.

“Making Mandarin a compulsory subject in schools will spur New Zealand’s economic growth, and will open up opportunities for the younger generation in tomorrow’s world.”

Jamie and other students from St Peter’s College had a great time on a study trip to China in 2017