Pupils in five UK state schools are going to study Chinese in their schools, helped by a project sponsored by Hanban, China’s equivalent of the British Council. The five schools are to become ‘Confucius classrooms’, which is dedicated to promoting the study of Chinese culture and language, the Independent reports.

All five schools, which include grammar and comprehensive schools and privately sponsored academy, were chosen by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. The schools have already started teaching Chinese. The new project means more resources for the Chinese teaching. Hanban is giving each school £3,000 to help the project off the ground.

Next week 175 pupils and their teachers will leave UK next week to attend a summer camp in Beijing.

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority is redrafting the syllabus of GCSE Chinese exam so that it can be learnt as a foreign language in the same way as French or German. This is believed will help the Chinese teaching in schools.

Richard Garner wrote in The Independent:

Confucius, the 6th century BC Chinese philosopher, always told his disciples to study the outside world in detail. So he would have been delighted by the announcement yesterday that five state schools in the UK are to become “Confucius classrooms” - dedicated to promoting the study of Chinese culture and language.

For the schools, it will mean extra money to spread the study of the subject throughout their regions and the chance for their pupils to go on exchange trips and summer camps to China itself.

The first 175 pupils and their teachers will leave the UK next week to attend a summer camp in Beijing.

The project is being financed by Hanban - China’s equivalent of the British Council - which aims to promote Chinese culture throughout the world. Hanbean is giving each school £3,000 to help get the project off the ground.

All five - which include a selective grammar school in Wirral, a comprehensive serving one of east London’s most deprived areas and a privately sponsored academy in Nottingham - have already started teaching Mandarin. The five were chosen by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, which now represents 2,600 of t he country’s 2,950 state secondary schools and was itself awarded Confucius Institute status to spread the teaching of Chinese culture.

Read the full story.

  Digg! del.icio.us