As Chinese New Year has arrived in Wellington, so have the Confucius Institute’s Mandarin Language Assistants of 2016.   Our new group of 48 Mandarin Language Assistants have come from 16 universities and different provinces of China. They arrived in Wellington on 13^th February to begin a year’s work at New Zealand schools in support of Chinese classes.

In their first week in Wellington, the new MLAs were warmly welcomed to Victoria University where the Confucius Institute is based.  A powhiri at Te Herenga Waka Marae was held in their honour. Hospitality was extended by the Wellington-Xiamen Association and the Chinese Embassy. Mayor Celia Wade-Browne, who had hosted the farewell of the 2015 MLAs in December, met some of the MLAs. They also visited Parliament and met the Undersecretary of Education, Mr David Seymour.

In addition, prior to their posting to 112 schools around the North Island, the MLAs underwent orientation and travelled to Rotorua to experience Maori culture which is very different from their home culture.  A number of school principals and language teachers, Victoria University lecturers and others gave presentations to the MLAs on the New Zealand education system, teaching Chinese as a second language, and cross-cultural issues.

More and more New Zealand schools are interested in the support and assistance provided by the Confucius Institute to Chinese language teaching. This year the number of MLAs has been the highest since the scheme began at our Institute in 2011.

With the key task of supporting Chinese language classes and cultural activities, the new MLAs are looking forward to helping their schools and students, and in the process helping to build an even better relationship between New Zealand and China.

随着中国春节的到来，惠灵顿维多利亚大学孔子学院也于2016年2月13日迎来了新一批汉语教师志愿者，这些来自中国各地的16所高校的汉语助教将在新西兰各个学校开始为期一年的汉语教学工作。

在惠灵顿的第一周，汉语教师志愿者们受到了孔子学院所在的维多利亚大学的热情欢迎。为了欢迎他们的到来，维多利亚大学专门在毛利会堂举办了具有毛利特色的欢迎仪式。惠灵顿-厦门友好协会及中国大使馆也对他们的到来表示欢迎。惠灵顿市长Celia Wade-Browne女士接见了新一届的汉语教师志愿者们，去年12月，市长曾主持汉语教师志愿者的告别晚会。汉语教师志愿者们还参观了国会大厦并见到了教育部副部长David Seymour先生。

此外，在被派往新西兰北岛112所中小学协助汉语教学之前，汉语教师志愿者们接受了为期一周的岗前培训，数名学校校长、语言教师、维多利亚大学讲师向汉语助教们展示讲解了新西兰的教育系统，如何在此教授汉语以及一些跨文化交际案例。之后，他们前往罗托鲁瓦感受了与中国文化迥然不同的毛利文化。

现如今，越来越多的新西兰学校对孔子学院提供的汉语教学支持感兴趣。孔子学院自2011年开展此项目以来，汉语教师志愿者数量逐年增长，今年是数量最多的一年。汉语助教们肩负着助力汉语教学和推广中国文化的使命，希望他们能够帮助当地的学生学习汉语，同时能为中新两国的友谊贡献自己的一份力量。

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