Tuesday, January 31, 2023
  • Chinese
  • Newspaper
  • Palmary
  • About Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Register
New Zealand Messengers
  • Home
  • News
  • Travelogue
  • People
  • Cuisine
  • Leisure
  • Community
  • Feature
  • Local Election
  • Chinese
No Result
View All Result
SUBSCRIBE
New Zealand Messengers
  • Home
  • News
  • Travelogue
  • People
  • Cuisine
  • Leisure
  • Community
  • Feature
  • Local Election
  • Chinese
No Result
View All Result
New Zealand Messengers
No Result
View All Result
Home Community

Helping hand for parents of Chinese students in NZ schools

September 17, 2019
in Community
0 0
0
Helping hand for parents of Chinese students in NZ schools
0
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

For the majority of parents, our morning school drop offs, the hi and bye with our class parents, the quick catch-up with the teachers as we wave goodbye to our little ones, the reading of the school notices, are things we never think about.

You might also like

New Zealand South Island Chinese community calls for assisting novel coronavirus control

Pretty Invasive

Day Two of The New Zealand Agricultural Show

For parents new to New Zealand however, these tasks can be a mammoth endeavour that language and cultural barriers make almost impossible to achieve.

A group of Chinese parents is aiming to change this for their community. Shane Zhan, a father of three and resident in Auckland for over 30 years, has set up an online community “新西兰育儿教育交流群” or  “New Zealand School Parents Community” for Chinese speaking parents in the Chinese Social media platform – Wechat.

“I am lucky to be in a position where understanding school newsletters and accessing news and information about education and health is easy. However, many of my Chinese parent peers do not,” says Shane.

“They have little-to-no understanding of how the schooling and early childhood system works; what NCEA is or Cambridge; that there is the existence of educational and support resources from the Ministry of Education such as incredible years, and S.K.I.P resources.”

It was a set of recent encounters that really highlighted the severity of the problem and prompted the idea to do something about this, Shane recalls

“I recently spoke to some parents who were taken aback by the current measles epidemic, and one was shocked to learn that early childhood centres are not mandated to announce to all parents if they had children who are not immunised.

“These were parents who could speak basic English, so imagine the depth of the problem for those who had no English abilities,” says Shane.

One of the problems is the language and culture. Without fluency in English, it is very hard for parents to stay on top of news and current events, especially in our digital age where everything is based on social media. Very few younger generation Chinese read the Chinese newspapers or listen to the Chinese TV or radio stations.

Then there are the cultural and social aspects.

“Chinese parents are terrified of upsetting teachers and having their child ostracized by the teacher. So it is very rare for Chinese parents to raise concerns with their teachers because in their experience, you do not want to upset the teachers and cause disadvantages to your child,” says Shane.

This can mean that even for innocuous things, such as not understanding something, parents will nod along and act like they do to prevent adding ‘trouble’ and causing a burden to the teacher. When it comes to more serious issues, this aversion is compounded and magnified – often to the detriment of the child.

Shane gives the example of a parent he once knew who had an eight-year-old girl who was being picked on by others in the school. 

“We encouraged her to talk to the teacher and dean of the school. However, the parents had very little English and was terrified that she would get a black mark against her name – so she did nothing. Things escalated to the point where the child refused to go to school. It was only then, and with support of another English-speaking Chinese parent that the mum agreed to talk to the teacher to help her child with this problem.”

Shane and the other parents in the group hope to solve these three problems for the Chinese parents with the Wechat community where parents can share information, create socialisation and friendship opportunities for the children, seek help, ask questions and ultimately help those parents and their children integrate better into New Zealand.

“We would be really grateful if schools can jump on board to help us help the parents and children in your school.” says Shane.  

If any schools are interested in helping, please spread word among your Chinese parents and post the following message in your newsletter or on your bulletin boards:

新西兰育儿教育交流群

本群旨在给宝爸宝妈们提供一个交流育儿和孩子教育的平台并分享经验和建议。群友间也可以约亲子活动或举行聚会。

我发现很多我们华人家长其实并不是很了解新西兰的教育体系,除了问身边的朋友也找不到其他途径去了解,因此我建了这个群,希望能为大家在新西兰的中小学教育方面的疑问解惑。

也非常欢迎幼儿园学生的家长。

请勿在群内发广告。

大家请扫描我的二维码,我拉你进群。

我的二维码:

 

 

 

微信:shanezhannz

New Zealand School Parents Community

This group aims to provide a platform for parents to share parenting and children education and experiences and suggestions. We encourage everyone to setup play dates and social.

I have found that many of our Chinese parents don’t really understand New Zealand’s education system. The only way for many parents to get knowledge was to ask friends who themselves may not know. Therefore, I built this group and hoped that we can share information and find answers to questions about primary and secondary education in New Zealand.

Parents of children in early education are also welcome.

Please do not advertise in the group.

To join, please scan my QR code and I will pull you into the group.

My QR code:

 

 

 

我的二维码: shanezhannz

ShareTweet

Recommended For You

New Zealand South Island Chinese community calls for assisting novel coronavirus control

by NZM
January 29, 2020
0

By Li Huizi   The Chinese communities in Christchurch and other cities of New Zealand’s South Island on Tuesday called on local Chinese people to donate money and...

Read more

Pretty Invasive

by anplictersymee
December 17, 2019
0
Pretty  Invasive

New Zealand manages pretty but invasive "pest plant" Russel lupin by Li Huizi It is time for the blossom of Russel lupins in New Zealand’s South Island, which...

Read more

Day Two of The New Zealand Agricultural Show

by anplictersymee
November 13, 2019
0
Day Two of The New Zealand Agricultural Show

Day Two of the Show is Here…and it’s set to be a big one  The skies may have been slightly moody for the first day of the show,...

Read more

Jason Marsden: Making the Hub Hornby multicultural

by anplictersymee
October 5, 2019
0
Jason Marsden: Making the Hub Hornby multicultural

Jason Marsden: Making the Hub Hornby multicultural By Li Huizi A special Moon Festival carnival event focusing on Chinse culture was held at The Hub Hornby on 12...

Read more

Strawberry growers vote for levy for industrial protection

by anplictersymee
July 23, 2019
0
Strawberry growers vote for levy for industrial protection

Strawberry growers have voted in favour of paying a commodity levy for their fruit. Photo: 123RF There are about 150 growers in New Zealand, who collectively handle about 15...

Read more
Next Post
Jason Marsden: Making the Hub Hornby multicultural

Jason Marsden: Making the Hub Hornby multicultural

MeadiaCO-OP

POPULAR NEWS

  • China’s Regional Cuisines — Chinese Food Types

    China’s Regional Cuisines — Chinese Food Types

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Sam Yau: A voice for migrant communities

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The 8 Most Popular Chinese Dishes, Tasty Chinese Food

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Andrew Zhang: My investment story could be everyone’s

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Presentation of Souvenirs by Pakistan Army to National Army Museum, Waiouru, New Zealand

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Follow us on social media:

Categories

  • 2019 Election
  • Business
  • Community
  • Cuisine
  • Culture
  • Essay Competition
  • Feature
  • Leisure
  • News
  • People
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Travelogue
  • Uncategorized

Recent News

  • Six fallacies and truths about China’s epidemic control
  • CIIE serves as bridge to Chinese market for Silver Fern Farms: CEO
  • CIIE boosts future development of Fonterra, says Greater China CEO

Copyright © 2022 New Zealand Messengers Ltd. All rights reserved |

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Travelogue
  • People
  • Cuisine
  • Leisure
  • Community
  • Feature
  • Local Election
  • Chinese

Copyright © 2022 New Zealand Messengers Ltd. All rights reserved |

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?
error: Alert: Content is protected !!