A recent report by the Royal Society of New Zealand said that more than 160 languages are spoken in New Zealand. We have a large diversity of cultures and languages in our country.

　　However, we are not doing well with language learning in schools. The report said that we need more people who can speak Asian languages if we want our country to succeed internationally. Australia is starting to add Asian languages to the school curriculum and we should do the same, especially Indonesian. Indonesia is our nearest Asian country, it has the 4th largest population in the world and it has a fast growing economy.

　　Vocabulary

　　?diversity – variety, many differences (it has a positive meaning)

　　?school curriculum – subjects that are studied

　　Questions

　　What do you think “succeed internationally” means? Does it mean sell our exports internationally? Does it mean become important politically? Does it mean to attract more international students?