French News
PM wants NZ children to learn more than one language
During her trip to South America in November 2001, Prime Minister Helen Clark is reported to have expressed concern that most New Zealanders speak only one language and stated her belief that the country needs to look at a national language strategy that would emphasise learning languages at school and in the curriculum.
"It's going to be good for us commercially and good for us in terms of building our ties with the rest of the world", Ms Clark said. "In a sense, it doesn't matter whether that language is Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French or Italian. The key thing is that we make an effort to communicate in other people's languages."
Working Holiday Visas
The "Agreement on a Working Holiday Visa Scheme" between
France and New Zealand was signed on the second of June 1999.
The scheme worked so well during the first year of operation
that it has been decided to double the quota from 100 to 200
per year. This applies to all young kiwis aged between 18 and
30 wanting to work in France and they are allowed to study at
the same time should they so desire.
Anyone wanting more information can fax: 04 384 2579 or consult the
French Embassy's website.
NCEA news
Support for NCEA.
If you are looking for support for the implementation of NCEA, please note that your first
port of call should be the school support services
in your region. These are usually based at the Colleges of Education and in
the northern part of the country are known as "Team
Solutions". These groups are funded by the Ministry of
Education to provide NCEA support to teachers, while such
support does not come under the brief of the languages
advisers, at least not in the initial period anyway. That
said, as is the case with any matter related to French
teaching, if you are stuck, I am more than happy to help you
track down the appropriate help if I cannot provide it
myself.
NCEA website
Some of you may not be aware that an all-in-one, single-stop, new, improved NCEA
website has been created. I have found it really useful when
trying to track down information as it gives you access to all
the existing sites through a single site. Its address is:
www.ncea.govt.nz and I head straight
for the "For Education Professionals" zone.
Unit Standards for French
As NCEA begins to take over from
the traditional exams, all our attention has been focussed on
the change to Achievement Standards. It is worth remembering,
however, that it is still possible to offer (or continue to
offer) Unit Standards in conjunction with the Achievement
Standards.
Click to view
French for Industry
If you are looking at
alternative courses and/or assessment opportunities for your
students, you may be interested to look at the substantial
number of French for Industry Unit Standards that have
recently appeared on the Qualifications Framework.
Click to view