Ni hao: Mike Baird says hello to kids’ Chinese lessons

Thousands of schoolchildren will be learning an Asian language in the next few years as NSW prepares for rising Asian influence.

L to R..Rouse Hill Kindergarten students..Keshia McCormack, Benji Little, Elliot Fang, teacher, Elva Lee and Lily Brian learn Mandarin. NSW Premier, Mike Baird wants all NSW kids to learn an Asian language and plans to introduce it in to the state curriculum. It is going to start with kindergarten kids and then be rolled out across all years. Rouse Hill Primary School already has Mandarin lessons for its kids. Under Baird's plan, teachers from China will come to NSW and teachers from NSW will go to China.

Thousands of NSW primary-school pupils will be learning an Asian language in the next few years as part of a plan by the Baird government to prepare the youngest generation for the rising influence the Asian region has on Australia.

In Beijing, Premier Mike Baird met the capital’s mayor, Wang ­Anshun, last night and discussed the plan to introduce a teacher ­exchange program as part of the policy to have more children learn a foreign language.

The plan was an election policy and is expected to be put in place in the new few years.

The government’s language advisory panel is due to meet again on Monday and will deliver its ­recommendations to government early next year on how to roll out greater foreign language learning across all schools in NSW.

As part of the policy, 15 NSW teachers will travel to China soon while two Chinese teachers will visit the state for a year to advise on the best practices to teach ­Mandarin.

Mandarin and Japanese are ­expected to be the languages taught most in NSW’s city and ­regional schools in future.

“In simple terms, there’s no doubt that the growth in opportunities in Australia is strongly tried to the Asian region,” Mr Baird told The Australian in Beijing. “The question is how do we equip our next generation to take advantage of that, and clearly ­language is a critical part of the equation. If you look at the ­figures, only 10 per cent of our HSC students are learning a foreign language.”

The government plans to introduce language lessons to kindergarten-age children before rolling it out at primary schools statewide.

“The earlier we start children, the better that the outcome will be,” Mr Baird said.

“We are considering what ­actions we can take. I want to see thousands of students learning an Asian language; it should be a key part of our curriculum.

“It is going to require a significant amount of resources and we need to work out what’s the most efficient way to deploy those resources.”

Under the policy, remote schools will be able to hook up with Chinese schools, children from both nations interacting ­online.

NSW has signed a broad-­ranging memorandum of understanding with Beijing to streng­then business and diplomatic ties ­between the two capitals.

Mr Baird said he believed ­Australia was at risk of losing its international competitiveness in dealing with Asia because the ­nation did not embrace the relationship as quickly as it should have. “I think there’s a real risk and part of the reason why we are ­focusing on this so much is that we want to make sure that our kids have an opportunity to compete with the rest of the world,” he said.

“I want our kids to have the ­opportunity to get the best job that they can. It needs to be done and I think the country has been too late to recognise this.”