For Education Unlimited trainer Amanda Zhang the power of ‘Xin’ is irrefutable.

The root of physical and mental life, Xin sits at the heart of Chinese culture. Want to achieve your goals? Xin is your greatest ally.

“Xin means to believe, to trust and be confident,” says Amanda. “Not only is it my life philosophy, but it is also incredibly relevant for our learners. Before you can achieve anything, you need to believe it – if you don’t believe, it will never happen.”

Amanda has drawn on the concept of Xin constantly in recent years. Originally from Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu Province, she moved to New Zealand with her Kiwi husband and twin daughters in 2020, just as Covid-19 took hold.

“Moving from China to New Zealand was a massive life change for us – I felt like a transplanted flower! As well as arriving at the start of the pandemic, I had to adapt to a whole new culture, and try to figure out what I could do - and what I wanted to do - career-wise.”

With a major in English education, and years of experience mentoring, supporting and educating kids in China, teaching was an obvious choice - and with her husband Steven Tong already working as an Education Unlimited trainer, transitioning into adult education was a natural next step.

“Steven encouraged me to get involved in adult education and luckily for me Education Unlimited has been great, supporting me to gain my NZ Certificate in Adult Literacy and Numeracy.”

Since joining the team last year, Amanda has delivered a Money Confidence programme to staff at Ghella Abergeldie JV, the Education Unlimited ‘Write Up, Speak Up, Be Safe’ micro-credential workplace communication and health and safety course for Oxcon.CLL and 3D, and a Money Confidence and dedicated youth programme to a group of 15 – 18-year-olds through ARA Charitable Trust.

“I found all the programmes incredibly rewarding. Because groups are small you get to know everybody really well and I loved the diversity within each group.”

But it was working with the teens that struck the biggest chord.

“The 15 – 18-year-olds are at such a critical point in their lives as they transition from dependent kids to independent adults, and they benefited so much from the Money Confidence training and also the relationships we developed throughout the programme. I think with adult education, building relationships with your learners is one of the most important aspects.”

Amanda is not shy to admit that when it comes to relationship building, she is a learner too.

“For me, the very first challenge I had to navigate in New Zealand was learning how to make small talk!”

Luckily though, she has her Chinese heritage and the power of Xin to draw on.

“With self-belief, confidence and trust you can achieve anything.”