Girls at Wilmington grammar school chosen for government Mandarin programme

PUBLISHED: 15:54 15 November 2017 | UPDATED: 15:54 15 November 2017

Pupils at Wilmington Grarmmar School for Girls have been selected for a national Mandarin programme

Archant

Students will spend an average of eight hours learning more about the language

An intensive language programme to teach fluent levels of Mandarin is coming to a Wilmington school.

Wilmington Grammar School for Girls has been selected for the Mandarin Excellence Programme.

The initiative has been drawn up by the Department for Education to help students learn the most world’s most widely spoken language, keeping future generations globally competitive in the future.

Mandarin has nearly one billion native speakers worldwide, with the programme of eight-hour weekly sessions expected to help around 5,000 pupils nationwide reach fluent levels of understanding.

Ben Stainer, Mandarin teacher at WGSG, said: “Being a part of the Mandarin Excellence Programme has had an uplifting effect on all Mandarin learning at our school.

“For those pupils lucky enough to be part of it the opportunity to learn Mandarin with a deeper focus on Chinese culture as well as a wider exposure to the language is incredibly motivating.”