A Research Of New Zealand Mandarin Language Assistants Cross-cultural Adaptation

Since 2004,based on the promotion of the language experience of the United Kingdom,France,Germany and Spain,China has proposed the construction of the Confucius Institute,which aims to promote Chinese language and culture overseas.Since then,Chinese language and culture have a better platform to "go out".Students from various universities across the country have been selected by Hanban as an important part of the Confucius Institute to participate in promoting Chinese language and culture.Different from the Mandarin Language Assistants in other countries,New Zealand Mandarin Language Assistants are arranged to stay at the locals' homes,so they experience cross-cultural communication most of the time in work and daily life.New Zealand is a multicultural country,and its local Maori culture has a great impact on work and life which increases the challenge for MLAs to adapt to cross-cultural communication in New Zealand.After the selection of Hanban and the Confucius Institute at Victoria University of New Zealand,the author conducted Chinese language teaching from February 2017 to December 2018 at Edgecumbe College and three nearby primary schools in the Bay of Plenty,New Zealand.The cases selected in this paper is based on the author's authentic experience in cross-cultural communication in New Zealand.In this paper,a total of 34 typical cases were selected.At the same time,the author analyzes the cases in cross-cultural communication based on J.S Black's multi-structural model,which was used to from three aspects:life adaptation,job adaptation and communication adaptation.Among them,life adaptation includes aspects such as food,clothing,housing and transportation;Work adaptation includes the handling of cross-cultural communication in New Zealand's educational philosophy,work environment,classroom management,etc.;Communication adaptation includes work interaction,teacher-student interaction and daily interaction.At the same time,this paper analyzes the reasons for the cross-cultural communication problems of Chinese language teacher volunteers in New Zealand from the perspective of subjective and objective.Finally.the author also proposed strategies to enhance cross-cultural adaptation for New Zealand Chinese language teacher volunteers,including adjusting psychological expectations,enhancing cross-cultural sensitivity,and actively obtaining more social support.At the same time,I also hope that the pre-employment training for New Zealand MLAs from Hanban will be more targeted and provide more practical in formation.