Keynote Speakers

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Leonie McKeon China-Educated Strategist, International Author, Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD), Business consultant.

Leonie will share her insights and experiences of how Mandarin Chinese teaching for school teachers has a positive impact on the Chinese-Australian relationship, how to promote Mandarin Chinese in Australia schools, ways to create interesting learning programs to engage students and strategies to assist parents understand how learning Mandarin Chinese will have a positive impact for the future career paths of their children. About the keynote speakers Leonie lived in the Greater China Region for several years where she immersed herself in Chinese culture. She is competent in Mandarin Chinese and has university qualifications in Mandarin, Anthropology and Business. As well as an expert in teaching negotiation skills for dealing with Chinese people and negotiating in any business environment, Leonie has developed a unique online learning course to teach Western people how to pronounce everyday Mandarin Chinese words and unfamiliar names such as Xu or Zhang or Cao correctly.

Marnie Foster Head of Languages at Newington College, NSW, Australia and the Languages Convener at The Association of Independent Schools of NSW.

Teaching Chinese is becoming more and more complex. While expectations of student achievement and engagement are high, we are faced with competing demands and often less time and resources to help us manage them. We have increased learner diversity, higher expectations in tracking student data, limited time on task and the constant need to 'sell' our subject in order to compete with other exciting and easier elective subjects. The need to make learning meaningful and personal for our students is greater than ever. In this presentation, Marnie will suggest ways in which we can engage our learners, meet all their diverse learning needs and help every student achieve and take ownership of their own Chinese learning journey. About the keynote speaker Marnie has taught Chinese in both South Australian and Northern Territory, as well as being one of the writers of the original Australian Curriculum: Chinese. Marnie currently teaches Chinese from Years 7-12, including IB and HSC courses. Her particular areas of interest include differentiation, meaningful assessment and feedback.