Bilingual Education in New Zealand and Enlightenment on Bilingual Language Educa

Abstract：Since 1970s， New Zealand government has made comprehensive reforms to Maori education and achieved a lot. The reforms， not only have protected the endangered Maori， but also the diverse culture. Now， in New Zealand， English and Maori are both official languages. The success of bilingual education in new zealand has inspired the bilingual teaching in China： one is the bilingual teaching in minority groups， teaching both minority language and Mandarin; the other is the bilingual teaching in China's coastal cities and big cities， teaching both Mandarin and English. This paper intends to learn from New Zealand's experience and improve the bilingual teaching situation in China. For the minority groups， government should pay more attention to protecting the minority languages and society should pay more attention to valuing the minority languages. For China's coastal cities and big cities， schools should help create a more English learning friendly environment.

Key Words： New Zealand; Bilingual Teaching; China; enlightenment

1. Introduction

1.1 New Zealand’s bilingual Teaching

The whole population of New Zealand is 4，242，048 （according to the 2013 New Zealand demographic census）： Europeans account for 74.0%， Maori account for 14.9%， Pacific peoples account for 7.4%， Asians account for 11.8%， peoples from Middle East， Latin America and Africa account for 1.2%， other ethnicity accounts for 1.7%. Maoris have the second largest population in New Zealand. Since the beginning of 1960s， Maoris gradually realized that Maoris’ language and culture were fading away， so the movement of national revival started. According to Treaty of Waitangi， Maoris demanded the government to treat Maori people equally. With the fight of Maori people and appeal of some far-sighted white people， New Zealand government eventually decided to abide by the basic spirits of the treaty and make relevant policies for Maori people. Since the beginning of 1970s， New Zealand government has made huge reforms for Maori education （Li Jing， 2006）. It not only has made great achievements， but also has obtained world-class reputation and set a great minority education example for countries all over the world.

1.2 China’s Bilingual Teaching

Professor Bao Tianren pointed that bilingual teaching appeared in 1960s in some immigrant countries of North America or multicultural countries to help foreign immigrants and refugees to adapt to the local society more easily （to dismantle the language barrier on employment and education）. In China， bilingual teaching originally means a way of teaching in ethnic minority areas- making sure that students learn China’s main language - Mandarin while keep the minority languages. In recent years， bilingual teaching appeared in places where English learning is thought very highly of， but there is no good way to learn English well. The objective of bilingual teaching is to improve students’ English level through exposing students to English as much as possible （Philip Hoare， 2007）.This phenomenon mainly appeared in coastal cities and big cities inland. Its scale is not big， and it is mainly carried out in primary and middle schools. Bilingual teaching has been experienced in some places， but most of the places do not follow through. All in all， this kind of bilingual teaching is still at its beginning stage in China.

Bilingual teaching is a way to learn language， which means using mother tongue and second language to teach students in schools， whose main aim is to help students learn and master the dominant language and eventually be able to use dominant language to learn all the other subjects. Abroad， bilingual teaching means learning English and other dominant languages; in China， bilingual teaching means that ethnic groups or foreigners whose objective is not to learn Chinese take foreign Chinese teaching. It is hard to carry out bilingual teaching in China with the objective to learn English.

2. Bilingual Teaching in New Zealand： Taking Maori Education for Example

In New Zealand， Maori， as a unique state resource， has been officially acknowledged and legally protected. Besides encouraging Maoris to learn Maori， New Zealand government has also promoted Maori in schools. Ministry of Education provided the major capital and gave education program supports for Maori revival. Between 1993 and 1994， the cost of Maori education and radio was three hundred million New Zealand dollars. In 1991， New Zealand had more than twenty Maori radio stations. In July of 2002， the first Maori television channel was on and mainly played Maori television programs， music and Maori radio programs from national network. New Zealand government is still engaged in Maori education promotion （Chen Yongming， Zhao Hui， 2006）.

The major measures are：

2.1 Continue increasing Maori educational appropriations.

New Zealand government allocates extra subsidies to Maori language education in preschools， primary schools， high schools and colleges. Between 1995 and 1996， Ministry of Education provided following subsidies： language nest movement， bilingual teacher training， Maori consultant and resource teacher， teacher training for language nest， teaching resources， Maori language scholarship and research grants， Maori nationality colleges and also the 1995 Maori language teaching program， which aimed to train six hundred teachers within three years. The government will also increase the funds for Maori teachers’ in-service training， bilingual teacher training and Maori national business college.

2.2 Train teachers.

Until 1995， a total of thirty eight normal colleges listed Maori as a compulsory course. Ministry of Education provided in-service training for language teaching assistants of bilingual classes and Maori classes in primary schools and helped these teachers become qualified Maori teacher.

2.3 Strengthen the environmental construction of Maori.

For example， build Maori television and radio stations; publish Maori newspapers， magazines and periodicals， Maori novels， poems and short stories; cultivate fluent Maori teacher; request teachers to be fluent in Maori; publish reference books， such as Maori and English bilingual dictionary; use Maori to develop immersion bilingual instruction; popularize Maori materials; use Maori widely in public places， like at fairs， communities， homes and Maori churches; use Maori widely on bilingual occasions， such as， government departments， health departments and schools.

2.4 Encourage Maoris to launch language nest plan.

Faced with threats of extinct mother tongue， Maori people not only fought for Maoris’ official language status， but also actively promoted language nest plan. Language nest plan developed really fast， from four language nests in 1982 to 287 language nests in 1984， 374 language nests in 1985， and 520 language nests in 1988， and enrolled a total of 8000 or so children.

The objectives of language nest plan are： full immersion teaching activities motivate students to learn Maori language， culture and spirits; all the language nest family members will encourage and support language and culture learning; in the family environment， language nest learners will study various kinds of ideas and skills of language nest; family can help develop corporate responsibility of the administration and operation of language nest plan; Maoris decide the learning contents and situations for themselves. Language nest plan motivates family to promote mother tongue and cultivate the next generation. In the language nest， children can not only be taken good care of， but also learn Maori and English when they are five or so. The nurses are females who are proficient in Maori language and familiar with Maori culture and they are supposed to look after the school children from four to eight hours a day. They only use Maori to talk to the children， tell stories and play games. Maori is the only language used in the language nest plan， and visitors and supervisors have to obey one rule and that is Mao has to be the only language that children speak and hear. Before children are admitted to school， most of the children do not speak Maori. After three or four years in the language nest， these children can speak Maori. Building a language nest is good to protect Maori.

2.5 Promote Maori through full Maori immersion classes or bilingual classes.

Government encourages communities to set up Maori and English bilingual primary schools and Maori only primary schools. Government demands schools to follow New Zealand curriculum outline， supervise the schools and offer grants for them （Zhang Qiusheng， 1996）. Bilingual primary school courses can be divided into three categories： Maori language teaching program： teach Maori songs， Maori greetings， and easy and simple Maori， but Maori is not a separate subject. Maori class： Maori as a separate subject and students can take it selectively. Maori as the medium of instruction： in class， teachers sometimes use English and Maori and sometimes adopt the full immersion program so they can use Maori only. Among these three types of teaching， the last one is the most efficient. Unsatisfied with bilingual classes in mainstream， Maoris set up Maori immersion programs. This kind of primary school is similar to language nest， and also obtains government recognization and subsidies. In 1985， the first Maori complete primary school was set up. Practices prove that full immersion program worked really well. Schools have made great achievements in Maori revival， promoting racial harmony， cultivating bilingual speaker in Maori and English， and developing students’ self-esteem and confidence. Students hold positive attitudes towards schools and they are able to acquire two languages， and do not have negative effects on the other subjects. One thing that we need to note is that New Zealand language objective is not only for Maori and English， and it is also designed for many other languages. Languages， as resources， have significant social， political and economic interests. In order to adapt to the changes of international trade， New Zealand has also paid attention to Asian languages and cultures. Although English is the dominant language， New Zealand has attached great importance to multi-language phenomenon.

New Zealand government thinks highly of language teaching and it has the following goals： cultivate various kinds of international languages， provide service in other languages besides English and Maori and assist new immigrants in adapting to new life and acknowledge sign language as a language. New Zealand’s language policy and language teaching are becoming more and more diverse.

3. Bilingual Teaching in China’s Minority Groups and Learning from New Zealand’s Experience

3.1 Bilingual Teaching in China’s Minority Groups

China is a multi-ethnic country with fifty five minority groups. Among the fifty five minority groups， fifty three minority groups use their own languages and the number of the minority languages is more than eighty. Among the minority groups， some minority groups have two or three their own languages， such as Xibe people， who not only use their own language， but also use Uygur， Kazak， Mongolian， and Russian. Research shows that there are about sixty four million people speaking their own language among one hundred million minority group people. After People’s Republic of China was founded， government helped the Dai， Yi， Zhuang， Miao， and Hani to create or improve characters to promote the development of minority culture and education （Lou Xiaoyue， 2006）. There are twenty two minority groups who are using twenty eight kinds of characters， and there are about thirty million ethnic citizens using their own ethnic language. Primary and middle school students from twenty one minority groups of thirteen provinces and autonomous regions use twenty nine characters to study （including Chinese characters）. Every year about three thousand kinds of primary and middle school teaching materials are complied and published. Although the development of our country’s minority languages is huge， there are still some problems that can not be overlooked， for example， only thirty million minority people write in their own ethnic characters， which is less than thirty percent of the whole minority population; though sixty percent minority people speak their own ethnic language， with the development of urbanization， many minority groups choose to live in the city while the construction of minority language in the city falls behind.

With development of economy and society， the opportunities for the minority groups to learn Mandarin are increasing while the ethnic languages are gradually ignored. At present， in some minority groups， Mandarin is thought highly of and their mother tongues are neglected. Some parents do not want their children to go to ethnic language teaching schools because they are concerned that it will be hard for their children to go to universities， find jobs and study overseas. The situation of protecting ethnic languages is urgent and we really need to do something before they become extinct.

3.2 Learning from New Zealand’s Experience

3.2.1 Language educations is the soul of a nation and government should take lead in protecting them.

Language is the carrier of a nation’s culture and spirit. Valuing and protecting a nation’s language is a government’s duty and obligation. New Zealand’s Maori education has set a great example for us： first of all， government should increase legislative protection for ethnic languages and cultures and give legal status to ethnic languages and cultures. Secondly， actively absorb what New Zealand government did. In ethnic communities， set up ethnic language schools and give opportunities for ethnic groups to learn and compile textbooks for ethnic minorities. Thirdly， learn New Zealand’s education methods and encourage ethnic families to provide language learning environment and develop children’s language skills. Finally， in non-ethnic communities， add ethnic language and culture into teaching materials of primary and middle schools and set up ethnic language as a selective course （Li Guinan， 2001）. It is convenient for children from ethnic groups to learn their own ethnic language and culture and it is also convenient for children from other ethnic groups to learn other ethnic languages and culture and increase the communication between the ethnic groups.

3.2.2 Changing mainstream society’s view on ethnic groups from conscious level is the essence of ethnic education.

Promoting the development of ethnic education not only attaches great importance to material levels and institutional levels， but also conscious levels. New Zealand has reflected on the past， and sees itself as a country composed of white people and Maoris and acknowledges that Maori culture has its unique existence value and also tries to make Maori culture as New Zealand’s host culture. Under government’s efforts， nowadays， Maori birds’ names， plants’ names and geographic names are in general use in New Zealand. From stationery to high-level decoration designs， people can see Maori patterns everywhere. In international forums， Maori culture and artistic images are the representatives of New Zealand. Schools encourage students to maintain their own traditional cultures，learn other cultures and take ethnic languages as a selective course， respect and tolerate other cultures.

Ethnic culture is a very important part of Chinese culture. Our society should change their view about ethnic cultures and languages and begin to embrace them with an open heart. Schools should encourage students to learn more about ethnic cultures and languages and motivate students to become the representative of their cultures. Ethnic cultures are equal to Han culture， and all their traditions and cultures should be handed down to the next generation. Only if society valued ethnic languages， they would have a chance to be protected and preserved.

4. Bilingual Teaching in China’s Coastal Cities and Learning from New Zealand’s Experience

4.1 Bilingual teaching in China’s coastal cities and big cities

Bilingual teaching mainly means a language policy in multicultural countries and it is more than a teaching method. Canada， Singapore， Luxembourg and New Zealand are one of the countries which have carried out bilingual teaching successfully. These countries are either bilingual or multilingual countries. In these countries， it is easy to carry out bilingual teaching because of the favorable language environment， which is one of the reasons why bilingual teaching is so successful in these countries （Herriman， Michael & Burnaby， Barbara， 1996）.

Compared to this， bilingual teaching in China is congenitally deficient. First of all， China is a non-immigration country， in terms of type of language teaching， China’s English teaching is foreign language teaching. Secondly， the bilingual teaching in America is mother tongue and second language teaching at the same time， whose main objective is to make non-English speaking children learn and master mainstream language-English. While China’s mainstream language is Chinese， carrying out bilingual teaching for the purpose of learning English， which violates language acquisition law. In addition， Chinese belongs to Sino-Tibetan languages and English belongs to Indo-European languages and these two languages are vastly different. It is difficult for Chinese to learn English as a subject and it is even harder for Chinese to learn English through bilingual teaching. In mainland China， it is impractical to carry out bilingual teaching while English is only a foreign language.

4.2 Learning form New Zealand’s experience

Maori is a weak language in New Zealand and once was endangered. With the cooperation of government and communities， Maori is able to be preserved and promoted in classes in the form of immersion bilingual instruction or bilingual teaching in Maori and English. In addition to government policies， environment is also a very important factor （Chen Yongming， Zhao Hui， 2006） . After Maori children are born， they will be immersed in language nest. Whether you are parents， nurses or relatives， you have to use Maori to communicate with children. After children go to school， whether it is Maori school or bilingual school， there is a good language learning environment. Besides， with Maoris’ efforts， radios， televisions， newspapers and even the shop signs are in Maori or bilingual languages. These language environments are good for weak Maori to survive and develop.

The success of Maori bilingual teaching inspires us that when we learn and promote English， we need to create a rich language environment （Wang Binhua， 2003）. English is a strong language in the world， but a weak language in China. If we want to promote English， we have to consider language environment. In schools， we can： （1）. create a hard environment for English learning. For example： write bilingual slogans in classrooms， hallways， and blackboards. Using bilingual slogans makes students immersed in bilingual languages; set up English libraries and reading rooms to increase students’ reading quantity; set up an English school website with English website links to global learning websites; set up English radios and closed-circuit televisions. We can also learn from western countries’ experiences to set up reading corners and knowledge corners in classrooms. Reading corner in China is often filled with Chinese books， magazines and newspapers and few English reading materials. In order to cooperate with English course study， schools should provide students with more illustrated books in English version and simple English books. Teachers can prepare the books and students can bring books from home and exchange them with other students. In his way students can increase their vocabulary and broaden reading range. Classrooms can be decorated with motivating and inspiring language banners to encourage students to work hard， be honest and love mother land and schools. In order to create different environment for students， different knowledge corners can be set up in classrooms and arranged with different themes， so students can communicate and exchange ideas. （2）. Create a soft English learning environment. For example， set up English corner， communicate with foreign teachers， bilingual teachers and students; use English in daily communication; use English to organize morning meetings or class meeting; hold English Week activities， English speech contest， English composition contest; watch English movies.

5. Conclusion

With government’s help， New Zealand’s bilingual education has made great achievements both at home and abroad. China’s bilingual teaching， whether it is ethnic language and Mandarin teaching in minority groups or English and Mandarin teaching in coastal cities and big cities， they can both learn from New Zealand’s experiences. China’s bilingual teaching is still at its beginning stage and we still have a lot to do and learn.

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作者简介：

宋燕（1972.08-），女，山东省泰安市人，山东科技大学外国语学院教授，硕士生导师，主要研究方向为应用语言学。