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| May 2001 |
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Chinese school within a school
In the school grounds is the Chinese Resource Centre and housed in that building is the Rewi Alley Chinese School. It is no accident that the centre became sited at Wharenui School as Rewi Alley’s father was Wharenui’s first headmaster and Rewi, who was to become a highly revered New Zealand son of China, attended the school. Wharenui was the first New Zealand State school to offer Chinese as a subject and pupils today take Chinese language lessons each Monday. Some of the children even attend the Saturday Chinese lessons given by the Rewi Alley Chinese School which are held in the Resource Centre. This symbiosis-like arrangement might sound complicated but it really works in its simplicity. Lessons in Chinese for Wharenui pupils started in 1998 and they were offered later to all pupils. Last year the Chinese community obtained a $75,000 grant from the Christchurch City Council, and with other funds, bought the surplus temporary Fendalton Service Centre building. This was placed in the grounds of Wharenui and is the site of the Resource Centre and the Chinese School. The Chinese community still has to raise plenty of money to finish paying for the building and for the landscaping around it. The centre has four classrooms and at the weekends children and adults attend classes from all over the city. A dozen teachers (one Kiwi born) offer three courses at weekends. The most popular is Chinese taught in English, and then Chinese taught in Mandarin and Chinese taught in Cantonese. Modern, standard Chinese, which is Mandarin, is taught and teaching goes on all-day Saturday in 17 separate classes. On Sunday three classes are held. About 10 to 12 are in each class. In time the resource centre will house a library for community use. In the meantime a newsletter is produced each quarter in English and Chinese with a leaning towards Chinese culture. The Chinese community takes part in many city events, the last being the opening of the City Council’s Sister Cities’ Gardens. The Chinese were involved because of the Gansu Province sister-city relationship with Christchurch. Every year a delegation from China visits the school, especially because of relationship with Rewi Alley. Next month the secretary-general of the Gansu province will be leading a delegation to the school. Asia 2000 Foundation’s chairman, Philip Burdon, said recently that people who could speak Chinese were needed in many parts of the New Zealand economy. The principal of the Christchurch Chinese School, Qiangfu Jin, agrees and his work, along with that of a large band of enthusiastic volunteers at the Chinese Resource Centre, is testimony to that push. More than 70 New Zealand high schools teach Chinese, six in Christchurch — along with Wharenui. |
