Victoria University’s engagement with schools in Wellington and the lower North Island has resulted in 38 Chinese graduates joining the Victoria University Confucius Institute's Mandarin Language Assistant programme this year.

Victoria University’s engagement with schools in Wellington and the lower North Island has resulted in 38 Chinese graduates joining the Victoria University Confucius Institute's Mandarin Language Assistant programme this year.

The Mandarin Language Assistants completed an orientation programme at Victoria last week and were welcomed at Parliament by Education Minister Hekia Parata, who expressed her strong support of the initiative. The teaching assistants will spend the next ten months working in 84 schools in the region in support of Chinese language teaching.

“The Confucius Institute's Mandarin Language Assistant programme is popular and immensely successful with schools in our region,” says Confucius Institute Director, Wen Powles. “It has substantially boosted the number of Kiwi students learning Chinese in both primary and secondary schools, and bodes well for Chinese studies at tertiary level.”

Ministry of Education Press Release

New Zealand China Council Media Release

Watch the story on increasing popularity of Mandarin teaching in New Zealand primary schools at 3 News.

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