[lg policy] NZ First will be the only party in Parliament to oppose National's 'own' language policy

[Harold Schiffman]

 <https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/headlines.cfm?c_id=1>
NZ First will be the only party in Parliament to oppose National's 'own'
language policy
11 Dec, 2018 2:43pm
2 minutes to read
[image: NZ First said the legislation would be]
NZ First said the legislation would be "irresponsible at a time when our
teachers are already under workload pressures". Photo / Mark Mitchell
[image: Jason Walls]
By: Jason Walls <https://www.nzherald.co.nz/author/jason-walls/>
Jason Walls is a political reporter for the New Zealand Herald
jason.walls at nzme.co.nz @Jasonwalls92 <https://www.twitter.com/@Jasonwalls92>

New Zealand First will be the only party in Parliament to oppose
legislation which would promote teaching children a second language in
school.

In a statement, the party said the legislation would be "irresponsible at a
time when our teachers are already under workload pressures".

But given the bill has the support of the rest of Parliament, it would
still progress to the select committee stage.

Former education minister Nikki Kaye won the support of current Education
Minister Chris Hipkins and the Labour caucus, plus the Greens and Act, to
progress her bill to select committee.
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But NZ First is holding out and said in the statement National left
workforce constraints and funding shortfalls in the education sector that
needs to be addressed first.

It said expanding the primary curriculum is an unnecessary distraction at
this time.
As well as this, NZ First wants to develop a similar curriculum progression
document for New Zealand Sign Language, another official language.

The bill requires the Government to set 10 priority languages – likely to
include Mandarin, Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Pacific languages and
possibly Hindi as well as official languages Te Reo Māori and New Zealand
Sign Language.

It also requires the Government to resource the provision of those
languages in primary and intermediate schools.

Hipkins said there was real value in second-language learning.

"Kids who do a second language generally tend to do better in their first
language," he said.


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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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