Australia in Asia: Building bridges | ACERinteractive

According to the Australian Government?s Australia in the Asian Century white paper, we need to ?broaden and deepen our understanding of Asian cultures and languages, to become more Asia literate,? and students need ?to undertake a continuous course of study in an Asian language throughout their years of schooling?, and gain ?significant exposure to studies of Asia across the curriculum to increase their cultural knowledge and skills and enable them to be active in the region.?
Two articles in Curriculum Leadership Journal explain how those goals might be pursued through school partnerships. Cheryl Ballantyne and Michael Singh describe the Western Sydney-Ningbo Partnership, an initiative that began in 2008 as a partnership between the University of Western Sydney, the New South Wales Department of Education and Communities, and the Ningbo Municipal Education Bureau in China. Nearly seven per cent of the Western Sydney Region?s primary school population is now learning Chinese.
Hamish McDonald describes a partnership between Leongatha Primary School in Victoria and Pondok Labu 11 Primary School in Indonesia. The partnership is one of 60 formed under the BRIDGE program of Melbourne University?s Asia Education Foundation since 2008. Building on the partnership model, Pondok Labu 11 is developing an environmental program with schools in Japan, South Korea and the United States, while Leongatha Primary is developing an exchange program with a school in Suzhou, China.
In the latest issue of Babel, meanwhile, Martin East, Constanza Tolosa and Helen Villers look at reciprocal role peer tutoring ? where additional languages students are paired with students overseas who speak the target language as a first language, and who, via technology, interact in ways that facilitate tutoring in the additional language.
East, Tolosa and Villers conclude that reciprocal role peer tutoring has some potential, but the reciprocal relationships of the peer language learners needs to be managed carefully.

Read more about the Western Sydney-Ningbo Partnership here.

Read more about the Leongatha and Pondok Labu 11 partnership here.

Babel is the journal of the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations, available to members. Find contact details for the state and territory Modern Language Teachers Associations here.

Read the Australia in the Asian Century white paper here.

According to the Australia in the Asian Century white paper, to ensure goal 10, that ?Every Australian student will have significant exposure to studies of Asia across the curriculum,? ?All schools will engage with at least one school in Asia to support the teaching of a priority Asian language, including through increased use of the National Broadband Network.? To ensure goal 11, that ?All Australian students will have the opportunity, and be encouraged, to undertake a continuous course of study in an Asian language throughout their years of schooling,? ?All students will have access to at least one priority Asian language; these will be Chinese (Mandarin), Hindi, Indonesian and Japanese.? Is increased use of the National Broadband Network a panacea and ought the white paper to make specific reference to the provision of appropriately qualified Asian language teachers in support of Goals 10 and 11?

Source: http://interactive.acer.edu.au/index.php/2012/12/australia-in-asia-building-bridges/

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