Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says that currently there is only one South African teacher who is qualified to teach Mandarin in the country.<\/p>\n
The revelation came in the form of a reply to a DA parliamentary question earlier this week, in which Motshekga noted that there are already 15 schools across the country which are offering Mandarin using the CAPS (Second Additional Language) curriculum.<\/p>\n
“To date, two new teachers have been brought in for the pilot programme. Three more teachers are currently in the process of being brought into the country,” the minister said.<\/p>\n
Motshekga said that in the next five years, it is envisaged that 500 schools will offer Mandarin as a Second Additional Language.<\/p>\n
The department aims to train up to 100 teachers annually over the next five years, while 100 teachers will be sent to China “for purposes of methodological and cultural enrichment”.<\/p>\n
Gavin Davis, DA shadow minister of basic education said Motshekga\u2019s plan appears to be ill conceived.<\/p>\n
“As part of her plan, minister Motshekga promises to send 100 South African teachers to be trained in China per year. Experts, however, estimate that it takes up to six years of full-time training to become a proficient Mandarin teacher.”<\/p>\n
He said that while there is nothing wrong, in principle, with giving children the choice of studying Mandarin, serious questions need to be asked over the feasibility and desirability of Minister Motshekga\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n
These include:<\/p>\n
Emma Chen, a Chinese language expert told the Mail & Guardian<\/a> that the language is difficult to master with little common ground between Mandarin and English.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s such a different philosophy in terms of structure of the language. For example, we don\u2019t really have alphabets but characters. You have to start straight into characters [when learning it],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Chen said it could take at least 10 years of part-time training for someone to become a proficient Mandarin teacher. \u201cIt could take about five to six years if it\u2019s full-time learning. I think it\u2019s a bit difficult.<\/p>\n Davis called on Motshekga not rush the rollout of Mandarin, until proper consultation has taken place in Parliament, and with stakeholders in the education sector.<\/p>\n Education minister outlines Mandarin progress in SA schools<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Mandarin in South African schools moves forward<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nMore on education in SA<\/h3>\n