Meeting the new MOE foreign language requirements
As of 2008, New Zealand schools are required to offer a second language to all students from Year Seven onwards. Language Bite provides an immediate, innovative and cost-effective solution to this new requirement by bringing a native-speaking Chinese language teacher into your classroom.
Our courses are digitally delivered offering a high degree of flexibility for teachers and motivation for students in this digital age.
The E-learning resource
The Language Bite Mandarin for Schools - Level 1 course consists of 21 high-quality, fun online video lessons which stream directly from our website. Each lesson has an associated MP3 file for students to download as well as a PDF summary of lesson content for later review.
Why introduce Chinese?
With increasing contact between China and the rest of the world, Chinese Mandarin is rapidly becoming one of the most sought-after second language skills. Traditionally many New Zealand teachers have been hesistant to attempt to teach Chinese as it is often perceived as a difficult language to teach due to its apparent differences to English. The Language Bite Mandarin program was specifically designed to break down barriers to learning the language by presenting it in manageable chunks or 'bites'. Each 3-minute lesson introduces just one or two pieces of new information and the curriculum has been carefully constructed to allow students to gradually build on what they have learnt in prior lessons.
Where does this fit within the Curriculum?
The Language Bite Mandarin for School - Level 1 course fits within the Level 1 "Emergent Communication" Chinese Curriculum guidelines for speaking and listening acheivement objectives. The course focuses on getting students started with conversational Mandarin therefore while reading and writing of traditional Chinese script isn't covered, students are introduced to the romanized Pinyin script which is commonly used to aid English-speakers wiht Mandarin pronunciation.
As a teaching resource, the program can either stand alone as an introductory Mandarin program (overseen by any teacher) or be used as a supplementary resource for an existing Mandarin program. It is also a valuable resource for teachers who wish to learn Mandarin themselves.
Advantages of the Language Bite Method
- A positive first experience in learning a language. This fun, interactive course gets students speaking Chinese immediately and provides an excellent introduction to the sounds and structure of the language
- Students are able to control their own learning times and speed. Lessons can be repeated or 'caught up' at home or in the classroom. Students can share their learning with their parents or caregivers.
- Any teacher can use the course to introduce Chinese to their class - a non-native speaking teacher can learn alongside his/her students.
- Digital delivery with downloadable mp3 files makes the course relevant to this generation of learners increasing motivation to use the program and learn!
How do we sign students up?
Schools provide a list of students they wish to enrol on the program; we assign login details and away they go. Because each student has their own individual login to the site they can access their lessons at school or at home. Monitoring of each student's progress through the course can be provided.
Technical requirements
Broadband internet access is required to view the videos.
Permissions in school firewall settings sometimes required.
For more information simply email us at info@languagebite.com or NZ customers can call us on 0800 LANGBITE (526424). (Customers outside New Zealand, please email us with contact details and we will get back to you as soon as possible)
