Schools import China's teachers for lessons in 'language of tomorrow'
By Richard Garner, Education Editor
All the country's 250 specialist language schools have been told by a
government adviser that they should put Mandarin on the curriculum as
"the language of tomorrow".
Sir Cyril Taylor, chairman of the Specialist Schools and Academies
Trust, said it should be seen as the key language for future
generations to learn - replacing European languages.
The trust, which represents 90 per cent of England's 2,950 state
secondary schools, has clinched a deal with the Chinese government,
which will send 200 teachers a year over to the UK to teach Mandarin
in schools. Pupil exchanges are also being arranged, Sir Cyril
revealed at a meeting of the Commons Select Committee on Education
yesterday.
He told MPs: "I want all language colleges to be teaching Mandarin.
It is a strategic world language. The difficulty in the past has been
getting Chinese teachers. However, exchanges between our schools and
Chinese schools will help to change that. We learn from them and they
learn from us."
...
The Independent, May 24, 2007
http://education.independent.co.uk/news/article2578493.ece
