Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa

Ko Kunyu te maunga

Ko Bohai te moana

Ko Han te iwi

Nō Yantai China ahau

Ko Zhai tōku whānau

Ko Wendy tōku ingoa

Nō reira, tenā koutou, tenā koutou, tenā tatou katoa

After several years teaching English and Mandarin in her hometown of Yantai, China, Wendy Wenming Zhai came to NZ in 2016 and completed a master’s degree in Applied Linguistics at Waikato University. During her years of study and teaching there, Wendy taught Mandarin as a foreign language to intermediate students and English to senior Chinese immigrants. From 2018 to 2021, she also worked as an interpreter for the New Zealand Translation Centre, interpreting to and from Mandarin, mainly in legal settings.

In Hamilton, Wendy teaches migrants for English Language Partners, and for the Waikato Institute of Education (WIE), she teaches senior Chinese immigrants.

In 2017, Wendy volunteered in the Red Cross Pathways to Resettlement Programme, sup-porting refugee families for their first 3 months as they settled into Kiwi life in Hamilton.

With three boys (ages 10-11) to care for, Wendy is very familiar with the needs of Chinese families in the Hamilton area. Her husband graduated from Waikato University with a degree in mechanical engineering and works for a local engineering company.