This article from Australia news.com is sure to provoke some debate as you can see from some of the comments. Whilst I agree that having a greater focus on a second language is a sound policy, I'm not so sure about making it mandatory. We would love to know what you think so please leave a comment on our Facebook page.
Mandarin Blog
Ni hao!
The Asia Education Foundation are looking for parent advocates who can help them work with their school community in supporting and building demand for the study of Asian languages in schools.
According to the foundation, ‘The project will establish a network of parents who can work collaboratively with school leaders to build student demand for knowledge, skills and understanding of Asia and increase opportunities for them to be exposed to high quality and sustainable teaching programs. Learning about Asia is an increasingly important part of the personal, social and academic development of all young Australians. Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia is a cross-curriculum priority in the new Australian Curriculum.’
If you are interested in being a Parent Advocate, please see the link below for more details:
http://www.pual.org.au/APCO%
Note that the application deadline is FRIDAY 18th NOVEMBER.
The Little Linguists Club at the University of Western Sydney MARCS Auditory Laboratories, at the Milperra campus, is investigating how babies learning English and Chinese understand words compared to babies who are learning one language. They need babies of up to 12 months from both Chinese and English backgrounds.
Read the article
