Dear Members

This weekend we heard of the sad passing of respected colleague Anita Chong, OAM. On behalf of members of the Modern Language Teachers’ Association of Western Australia, I send our condolences to her family during this difficult time and to many of our members who were close friends and colleagues. We pause to reflect on Anita’s enormous contribution to Languages education and on her outstanding achievements throughout a career that spanned decades.

Anita taught Mandarin at Mount Lawley Senior High School and was a founding Member, President and Life Member of the Chinese Language Teachers Association of Western Australia (CLTAWA) and the Chinese Language Teachers’ Federation of Australia (CLTFA). Anita also contributed widely to community language groups such as Chung Wah. As a long-standing member of the MLTAWA, Anita was the recipient of the highest prize for language teachers in WA, the Hilde Dixon Award in 2012 and in 2015 was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her service to the profession.

In 2014, the CLTWA proudly celebrated its 30 year anniversary, a duration that has seen considerable growth and progress in the teaching of Mandarin. Anita’s contribution to such growth cannot be overestimated and her passing will be a huge loss to the language teaching community.

Kate Reitzenstein