Four NSW primary schools have been selected to become bilingual in Asian languages. Rouse Hill Public School, Murray Farm Public School, Campsie Public School and Scotts Head Public School have been selected to specialise in Mandarin, Japanese, Korean and Indonesian.

The NSW Government is spending $2.25 million over four years to implement the Bilingual Schools Program which would provide students with intensive Asian language programs from next year.

Young children have a far better chance of developing bilingual fluency from an early age.

Initially, the language will be taught to two classes of students in Kindergarten and Year 1 and will eventually be expanded to all grades at these schools.

By the completion of primary school, these students will have a solid foundation of the language and it’s expected they will continue their learning into high school.

Asia was a significant region and one of Australia’s most important trading partners and it makes sense to introduce a range of Asian languages into NSW schools.

The best outcomes from these bilingual schools will be shared with other schools throughout the state through videoconferencing, workshops and online learning.

The language will be taught for one-and-a-half hours a day by a specialist teacher with the support of bilingual volunteers and will involve a mix of direct language lessons and integrated learning through other subjects.

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