A special lecture entitled “Chinese Language Study in Victoria: Challenges and Prospects” will be presented by Xinran (Alvin) Zhang, at the Greek Centre, on Thursday 22 February 2018, as a part of the Greek History and Culture Seminars offered by the Greek Community of Melbourne.

With rapid growth in China’ economy, learning Mandarin as an additional language is a popular trend in the world and Australia is no exception. Over the last few years, in Victorian government schools, the number of students learning Chinese as a second language in 2016 is five times than the number of five years ago.

According to the statistics results in Orton’s 2016 report, there were around 120,505 students learning Chinese from prep to Year 12 in Australian government schools, and nearly half of them are in Victoria. This puts Chinese language education in a significant role in Victorian school education.

The purpose of this presentation is investigating the current challenges and prospects for Chinese language education in Victoria with a strong focus on the discussion of language pathways for them (VCE Chinese second language, second language advanced, and first language).

The presentation will cover the following main points: the analysis of Chinese teaching in Victoria, the difficulties of learning Chinese as an additional language, and background speakers in Chinese second language class. I hope this presentation will give you an idea about how we can do better in promoting language education in Victoria.

Alvin Zhang is a Chinese Language/Humanities teacher at Salesian College Chadstone. He was born in mainland China where he completed his foundation education. He came to Australia in 2010 and has received a B.Acc. ( RMIT ), a Dip.Ed ( Australia Catholic University) and a M.Ed. ( La Trobe University ). He is now, a PhD candidate at La Trobe University. He has five years working experience in Victorian government schools, and this includes two years in the largest Chinese program in Victoria–Bendigo Senior Secondary College Confucius Classroom.

His previous research projects include Chinese Teaching in Australian schools, Differentiation Methods in Chinese Teaching and Individualised Learning Methods for Languages, etc. His current research involves the study of the revised Bloom’s taxonomy / multiply intelligence matrix for Chinese teaching, Chinese sociolinguistics in Australia and the current challenges of Chinese teaching in Victoria.

When: Thursday 22 February 2018, 7:00pm

Where: Greek Centre (Delphi Bank Mez, 168 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne)