Chinese connections

As China is one of our country’s largest trading partners, and is now the most globally connected country in the world, what better language and culture to learn?

Since 2008, UWS has been in partnership with the NSW Government’s Department of Education and Communities and the Ningbo Municipal Education Bureau, China, working to strengthen the engagement and learning of Chinese language and culture among students and teachers in Western Sydney primary and secondary schools.

Exciting figures released suggest the project has certainly made an impact on the number of children learning Chinese at school. The number of primary school students studying Chinese in Western Sydney schools reached 4,271, while the 1,358 high school students learning Chinese represent a substantial rise of 35 per cent over the past three years.

As part of the partnership, Chinese university graduates from Ningbo are given the opportunity to enrol in the UWS Master of Education (Honours) program and are placed in Western Sydney schools to help Australian teachers develop and deliver classes on Chinese languages and culture. Each Chinese educator, known as a Ningbo Volunteer or Ningbo Ambassador, spends two days each week in schools over an 18-month period.

“As the partnership moves into its sixth year, it is seeking to ensure the study of China and the Chinese language becomes a core component of participating Western Sydney schools, supported by a high-quality language curriculum that makes learning Chinese rewarding, interesting and desirable,” says Professor Michael Singh, from the UWS Centre for Educational Research, who directs the Western Sydney-Ningbo Partnership.

While Australian students are learning Chinese language and culture, researchers are building evidence on the best methods for teaching Chinese.

This includes developing methods for exploring the similarities between the English and Chinese languages, and engaging students’ everyday uses of language as a way of reducing the cost of learning. In the process, Michael develops the Ningbo Ambassadors’ capabilities as second-language teacher-researchers.

Currently, 13 research students are involved in the project and, since 2010, there have been 27 graduates from the program.