The following resources were funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training under the National Asian Languages and Studies in Australian Schools Strategy (NALSAS).
| Chinese onlineThis Chinese language resource is suitable for students in years 5–8 and includes culturally relevant stories, exploration of Chinese society and culture, space voyage games and teacher notes.
| |
| Japanese onlineThis Japanese language resource is suitable for students in years 5–8 and includes culturally relevant stories; exploration of Chinese society and culture using hiragana, simple kanji and katakana; and space voyage games. | |
| Indonesian Reader for the Middle YearsThis Indonesian language resource is an online reader of 30 texts for students in years 5-8 including teacher notes. |
Read the AEF responses to ACARA Australian Curriculum consultations.
In reframing the Languages Curriculum in terms of an Australian story in an Asian context, Andrew Scrimgeour, Research Fellow, University of South Australia, argued that:‘The initial development of Asian languages, in many ways, was tacked onto the back of a European construct. This is the one opportunity to distance ourselves from our past – our thinking about Asian languages in schools and to reformulate the approach based upon the realities on the ground.'
Andrew challenged the audience to explore how Australian identity has been and is being shaped by proximity to the Asian region and its peoples and the role of Asian languages within the curriculum as a whole.
Read his paper: Asian Languages in the Australian Context
'It fits well into the school philosophy.' - Phil Irvine, Campsie Public School
Video: 2:21
'The message...of the importance of languages is being lost out in schoolland.' - Chris Wardlaw, DEECD Victoria
Video: 2:30
'Having people embedded to your operations who are comfortable with the language and cultures of China and the wider region is … an investment worth making.' - Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd.
Video: 4:19
This Asia Society video, which reflects of the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to the White House, argues for a wider view of language learning.
Video: 3:21
Zon is an unique interactive multiplayer online role playing game for learning Mandarin Chinese. By interacting in the Zon environment students will be exposed to Chinese language and cultural knowledge in a new and exciting way.
'Having people embedded to your operations who are comfortable with the language and cultures of China and the wider region is … an investment worth making.' - Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd.
