We received a number queries about Ma Liping lessons or textbooks, asking if ASCC would have any of those lessons.

The short answer is ‘no’ – we do not intend to open any Ma Liping class, although we have, among our teachers, read, researched and discussed on Ma Liping textbooks, rationale and pedagogue.

We acknowledge the virtue of some of Ma Liping’s thoughts and methods and consider them as her contribution to worldwide overseas Chinese teaching, that we have already incorporated into our reform of Chinese teaching. For instance, using cards to help children memorise characters and words (though this is not her invention but she emphasised it to the extent that it becomes a routine of the classroom teaching and the children’s learning). However, we do not see her textbooks and ideas drastically different from that of Dr Zhou Xiaokang’s, and we disagree some of her ideas.

For us, it is more important to have a set of teaching materials and methods suitable to children in Australia especially in Canberra, taking into account of Australian Curriculum, the most frequently used characters and words, Australian children’s lifestyle and learning arrangement and commitment, and the need of learning, retaining and ability to use Chinese language in their own life. This is why we embarked our own journal of compiling our own books from 2014, when the Australian Curriculum: Chinese was just released.

Instead of using any ready-to-use textbooks, we consulted whatever is currently available on the Chinese textbook market and take whatever proved to be effective (thanks to Chinese Textbook Centre at Trilong International). Now we have completed our first stage of compiling and started to revise and improve. You may have a look at the brief introduction of this series Standard Chinese: Australian Curriculum.

As you would appreciate, education is a long term investment, it would take a few year for the results become evident. This is true to ours as well to Ma Liping classes and any other reforms.