Your stories

Bournemouth School first added lessons in Mandarin Chinese to the curriculum two years ago and the school's modern language department plans to further expand the subject in September.

The grammar school's Head of Modern Foreign Languages Katie Gillen explained why they started teaching Mandarin Chinese:

"With a changing world and globalisation, we decided we wanted to be pro-active and to enable our students to take advantage of the opportunities brought about by the increase in trade with China."

Thirty pupils each year have been studying for Asset Languages, a European-wide recognised qualification.  From September the school will be offering GCSEs in Chinese.

Fast-growing economy

Students are taught by locally based Chinese teachers and one member of staff of a Chinese schools on sabbatical in the UK.

Learning how to use chopsticks

With 1.2 billion people around the world speaking Chinese, knowing the language is increasingly important in the job market:

"China used to be the sleeping giant, but now it's the fastest growing economy in the world, the biggest global market and important for British exports as well."

"With globalisation,  it's important for us to be aware and recognise the differences in Chinese culture which are enormous.  Traditional Chinese culture is a big influence throughout East and South East Asian."

To help the students learn more about Chinese culture, Bournemouth School has linked up with a 'twin school' in Jin Hua province where pupils have been exchanging emails, learning about the differences and similarities between growing up in China and the UK.

Tones

Rui Yan Tam, is one of the teachers at the school.  She says children find it interesting but challenging to learn as the pronunciation is based around four tones.

Chinese lessons

To understand the tones used in speaking Mandarin, the pupils use different arm movements to help to make it fun to learn.

Rui Yan has taught in schools in China and sees the differences between lessons in the UK and in China:

"In class here, children are encouraged to ask questions and be more challenging.  In China, the teacher has more a a leading role, is shown more more respect and children expect teachers to give the model answers."