ABC Kids to offer preschool programs in Mandarin

The ABC will offer four popular preschool television shows in Mandarin as part of a 12-month trial on ABC iview.

The announcement:

ABC is excited to announce that four of our most popular preschool programs will be available in Mandarin as part of a 12-month trial on ABC iview and ABC KIDS iview to celebrate the Year of the Rooster.

Starting Saturday January 28, Mandarin speaking families and families with an interest in developing Mandarin as a second language, will be able to enjoy watching Mandarin language versions of the Australian/Chinese co-production hoopla doopla! plus ABC KIDS favourites Peppa Pig, The Octonauts and Peter Rabbit.

Almost a quarter of Australian’s speak a language other than English at home, with Mandarin the most popular. Mandarin is also now firmly established as an important part of the language curriculum in Australian schools.

Seven Mandarin episodes of each title will be available at launch, with new episodes added daily throughout February. In addition, three Mandarin episodes of hoopla doopla!will be available on broadcast as part of our TV Education service for schools, with supporting education resources online.

The English versions of each episode will be offered simultaneously with the Mandarin program on ABC iview and ABC KIDS iview. The Mandarin episodes will have a 中文 (‘Chinese language’) icon on each episode image for easy recognition.

Rebecca Heap, ABC Head of Programming and Digital said: “We are thrilled to be able to extend our trusted ABC KIDS service to new audiences and to offer our existing families a whole new way to engage with their favourite programs. ABC KIDS aims to provide Australian families with trusted programming that reflects the world around them. Mandarin is one of the most popular and fastest growing languages and we can’t wait to see how Australian preschoolers engage with our trial on ABC iview and ABC KIDS iview.”*

Based on audience feedback, and subject to program availability, ABC KIDS hopes to trial preschool titles in additional languages throughout 2017.

Source: ABC

topics ABCABC iviewABC Kidshoopla dooplaMandarinPeppa PigPeter RabiitThe Octonauts

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Comments: 3

Jeanette Wallis 25 Jul 17

I guess our population is multi culteral now so it will be of benefit to some. However if migrants move to Australia shouldnt they be expected to learn English to assimilate. Surely this would be better learnt at a pre school age.

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Liam Lambkin 5 Mar 19

You would think so… I don’t see the benefits to pre-school kids having Australian produced programs in another language other than the language of country that they are in. Consistency is key for young brains to develop quickly.

Reply

Josh 18 Jul 19

My one year old son enjoys watching Playschool. It’s great for his English language development. It is the best show in this age group because it has 2 real people interacting with each other so one year olds learn the most from this sort of show as opposed to cartoons. My wife speaks Mandarin Chinese. She spends a lot of time away from home and I don’t speak Chinese. To help my son continue his Chinese language development I put on abc kids mandarin shows, but they are not nearly as beneficial as playschool because they don’t have two real people interacting with each other showing real actions and facial expressions. I’m wondering if I can suggest the ABC also have Mandarin Chinese episodes. Why not? There are libraries in Sydney that have mandarin speaking programs so why can’t the ABC do mandarin speaking Chinese episodes of playschool too? I think there are many mandarin speaking children in Australia and many that want to learn so I think this would be hugely successful.

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