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Australian children can speak Mandarin Chinese fluently

 

Dear first4mandarin readers, in today’s blog we want to comment on a recent story that appeared on BBC World regarding the teaching of Mandarin Chinese in a Primary school of Australia.

 

Jackie Baldwin is a five-year-old girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. After studying Mandarin Chinese with native Chinese teachers for a few months, she can now tell her name and say some daily words in Chinese to other people.

 

However, not only Jackie, but other children who are older than her can speak fluently Mandarin Chinese. They are all interested in a trip to China which is organized by their parents. They are all very passionate about this language and China.

 

The progress that children are achieving learning Mandarin is not separated from the contribution of their school - Richmond West, a primary school located in Melbourne, Australia.

 

In this primary school, children receive immersion Chinese lessons two days a week, which means that day all subjects are taught in Mandarin. They are expected to be fluent in both reading and writing of this language when they leave the school after studying for 6 years.

 

However, not all the schools of Australia have the same program as Richmond West. Many of them just have half an hour a week for students to learn this language. This is why the quantity of children that wish to learn Mandarin declined dramatically when they move to high school. They did not have enough time to practice and simply feel that this language is too hard.

 

Most Australians know the importance of building relationships with China in terms of business, intellectual property and culture, to name a few. For this reason, they all want the government to pay more attention on the Mandarin Chinese teaching which is the key to open the door to China.

 

The success achieved by Richmond West Primary School in Australia has prompted to people not only in Australia, but in other countries like UK and North America to ask for more investment for teaching Mandarin to children. Parents and society are starting to recognize what Kim Lim, the Chinese teacher at Richmond West said: ‘The younger they start learning Chinese as a second language, the easier it is for them to learn’.

 

You can read the whole article at BBC News.

 

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