20 June 2011
Students discover Chinese language options
More than 60 secondary school students attended a Chinese Language and Culture Immersion Day at RMIT University.
Some of the visitors, with their hosts.
Related links
Related stories
- RMIT helps schools speak their language 27/11/2012
- The power of role models 18/07/2012
- Students enjoy special holiday Diet 27/06/2012
- Indonesian Consul-General praises program 30/05/2012
- RMIT news in brief 23/05/2012
- RMIT news in brief 12/01/2012
The students are pioneers of studying VET Chinese (Certificate II) as a VET in Schools pathway program.
They were hosted on the day by full-time RMIT students of Chinese.
The event was part of the National Asian Languages Studies in Schools Program project funded by the Department of Education, Employment and Work Relations.
Guosheng Chen, Head of the Language Discipline at RMIT and her colleague, Xiaowen Fan, Chinese Program Coordinator, welcomed the students.
Oliver Theobald, a third-year RMIT student and President of the Australia-China Youth Association, addressed the students.
He said that, like many VCE students, he nearly dropped out of learning Chinese language during VCE as he was not clear on the benefits.
Since then, he has spent three months studying in Tianjin as part of the RMIT Young Australian Ambassadors program.
"If you learn Chinese, it doesn't matter what you study - law, architecture, engineering - there's opportunities out there."
Amy Sellars, a first-year student who recently won the Excellent Performance Prize at the Chinese Bridge - Chinese Proficiency competition, also spoke.
She advised students to take any opportunity to travel to China. "The best thing you can do is be in the country and speak the language."
The audience then heard from students from Eltham College, Mount Clear College and Werribee Secondary College.
