Linguistic PM inspires language studies
The recent election of a Mandarin-speaking Prime Minister in Australia has enthused teachers of languages at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
USC will offer Mandarin as one of seven short-course language programs planned to start in March, along with French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese and Spanish.
Course organiser Elizabeth Henzell said Kevin Rudd’s appreciation of the value of languages might lead to a greater emphasis on language studies across the nation.
“I am hoping the Prime Minister will support the move to bring back Asian languages and subjects for universities,” Ms Henzell said. “It’s been such a shame to see it fall away in the past 10 years.
“There are so many languages that are spoken so close to Australia, including European languages like French. The old adage that we can build bridges between nations with languages is quite obvious.
“I think Kevin Rudd will see that this is a really wonderful thing that we do here on the Sunshine Coast, the area in which the Prime Minister grew up.”
Ms Henzell said USC’s 10-week language courses were structured to ensure personal attention and to enable students to interact with native speakers, many of whom are international students.
Beginners’ classes in all seven languages as well as some higher-level classes will be held at USC on either Tuesday or Wednesday nights, starting March 11 and 12, from 6.30-8.30pm.
Students must register by Monday 3 March. The cost of $300 includes all materials.
Ms Henzell said the courses were fun and had a unique teaching structure.
“Weeks one, three, five, seven and nine are teaching nights with grammar, sentence structure and vocabulary building being the focus,” she said.
“Weeks two, four, six, eight and 10 are the native speaker nights when the students get to work with native speakers doing language activities.
“The ratio of one native speaker to five students ensures that students get the opportunity to fast-track their audio and pronunciation skills.”
For more details, contact Gaby Ziegann on (07) 5459 4851 or at <gziegann@usc.edu.au>.
— Terry Walsh