Writers Help Unlock Export Opportunities in China

NOVEMBER 2017

Legendary New Zealand Children Writers Help Unlock Export Opportunities in China

One of the most interesting and potentially huge export opportunities for a New Zealand company will be officially launched in China at the end of this week as the children's books, written by legendary New Zealand children’s writers such as Joy Cowley and the late Margaret Mahy, are being made available for Chinese children to learn to read and write English.

The Sunshine Books series prepared for China is a collaboration between Wendy Pye Publishing Ltd, the New Zealand-based, international educational publisher, and the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press (FLTRP), one of China’s largest foreign language publishers. The launch will be during The Third National Symposium on EFL Reading in Schools at the Landmark Convention Centre in Beijing this Friday, November 3. Nine hundred teachers from all over China are expected to attend.

So personal is the collaboration and the process of connecting with the children in China that a personal letter from Joy Cowley telling her story of learning to read will accompany all packages and a special Sunshine logo designed by FLTRP has been developed.

“New Zealand has a longstanding reputation as a major force in early childhood literacy and our writers and our creative approach to learning to read have been recognised by Chinese educators,” said Managing Director of Wendy Pye Publishing Ltd, Dame Wendy Pye.

“Many of the titles will be familiar to children taught to read in the New Zealand education system who were exposed to these brilliant storytellers. Now Chinese children will have the same opportunity.”

Dame Wendy Pye and her team have worked through rigorous processes on the content of the books with their Chinese counterparts.

“Our counterparts in China wanted the books to retain all the creative language. This is not always usual, as many countries want words changed or simplified but FLTRP was very clear that they wanted the very best and broadest input of the English language.”

The teacher handbooks, which were prepared by FLTRP to suit their teaching environment, are also set up to ensure that teachers and students are creative during the learning process.

“The building of the relationship with our FLTRP partners in China has taken many years so it is satisfying to see the work coming to fruition. Who knows what the future holds but it is a huge market and English language learning is a priority.”

The Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press has 2,500 employees and a turnover of half a billion dollars.

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