From kindy to Year 12: NSW provides access to Asian languages

NSW’s first virtual high school Aurora College will now offer Korean and Japanese to HSC students, making the key Asian languages more accessible to students in regional and rural NSW, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced.

Ms Berejiklian made the announcement overnight at the Seoul National University Elementary School.

“We want NSW students to have access to these key languages as we prepare them for the jobs of the future,” Ms Berejiklian said. “This will allow HSC students to learn the languages of two of our strongest trading partners and will also help forge more cultural understanding, no matter where they live in NSW.”

Aurora college allows students in rural and remote areas to remain in their local school and community while studying specialist subjects that their school cannot offer. Students connect with their peers and their teachers through lessons delivered virtually, through technology and personally during residential schools held twice each year.

Speaking at a live-link from Seoul National University Elementary School to Chatswood Public School, Ms Berejiklian praised the innovative ways schools were using to teach key Asian languages.

“It was incredible to see first-hand Australian Year 1 students speaking Korean so fluently with their friends in Seoul,” Ms Berejiklian said. “We are giving more interactive options for school children to learn new languages, from kindergarten to Year 12.”

The Premier also announced a new international startup exchange program linking the Seoul and Sydney Startup Hubs at a meeting with the Mayor of Seoul, Mr Park Won-soon.

The announcements bring Ms Berejiklian’s five-day mission to Japan and Korea to a close – her first official overseas trip as Premier.