International News
Malaysian Teachers Training in NZ
Thursday, 25 February 2010
New Zealand will be a home away from home for the next two years for a group of teacher trainees from Malaysia who have just arrived at the University of Otago in Dunedin. Other Malaysian groups are studying at Victoria University of Wellington, and the University of Auckland.
(via Otago Daily Times) 56 trainees will study at the University of Otago College of Education before returning home to complete their qualifications and become specialist English teachers. They will be joined at the University next year by another group of about 60 students, who will remain here until the end of 2012.
The scheme is part of a major push to introduce English as an official second language in primary schools, the students said yesterday.
Malay is the first official language for the country of 24 million people.
In total, about 600 students have government scholarships to study at five overseas universities, including Otago, Auckland and Victoria in New Zealand.
English is already widely used in schools in urban centres, but the Malaysian Government wants the language taught throughout the country, Sailaja Jayamani said.
She and her friends been together for two years already, she said.
All had completed foundation studies and the first year of a bachelor of education degree, specialising in teaching English as a second language, at a college in Kuching, East Malaysia.
The university's Malaysian Students Association have provided buddies and mentors to help the group settle in, college academic co-ordinator Sharon Young said yesterday.
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