Mandarin overtakes French in twinned Wirral school
Andrew Hall, head teacher of Calday Grange Grammar School on the Wirral, is proud of the ten year partnership between his school and Hangzhou Foreign Language School.
Language is at the heart of the partnership - with over 200 pupils in the UK school now learning Mandarin - and a greater number of this year's intake chosing Mandarin than French.
New resources for teaching Primary pupils Mandarin
Working with local Primaries, Calday Grange is encouraging Primary schools to teach Mandarin as well.
And faced with a shortage of teaching books, the school has produced its own.
Meet Maomao the Panda, illustrated by 13 year old Calday Grange pupil, Jacob.
Andrew Hall sees the partnership with Hangzhou as part of a wider community movement in Liverpool.
From Primary and Secondary Schools through universities into 'survival Chinese' for business use, Hall hopes that everyone who wants to learn Mandarin in the Liverpool City Region will get the opportunity.
Hall believes that the pupils who have joined Calday Grange this year will regard a working knowledge of Chinese language and culture as essential by the time they leave the school.
"This is getting embarrassing," he adds. "I'm going to have to learn it myself!"
How did they do that?
The partnership between Calday Grange Grammar School and Hangzhou Foreign Language School started with support and funding from the British Council but is now self-funded from the school budget.
Calday Grammar School is a "Confucius Classroom" , a Hanban project facilitated by the Specialist School and Academies Trust.
You can order copies of "Maomao and the Bamboo". Inspired by visiting teachers from China, Calday Grange Grammar have decided to donate £1 from each book sold to the Red Cross Earthquake Appeal.
To find out how you can twin your school email worldclass@bbc.co.uk
Please let us know if you have a partner school in China email worldclass@bbc.co.uk.
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