Learning Chinese is new craze at American schools

Last updated at 5:58 PM on 21st April 2011

Chinese is now the language du jour for parents who want their children to learn a second – and sometimes third – dialect.

The sudden rise is likely due to the economic growth of the country as parents want their children to have limitless opportunities in a global economy bringing Asia, the U.S. and Latin America closer together.

A lot of children who learn Chinese are often trilingual, due to one or maybe both Spanish speaking parents.

Children sit at desks marked with their name tags in Chinese at Broadway Elementary School in Venice, Los Angeles, which launched one of only two English-Mandarin Chinese dual-language immersion programmes in the Los Angeles Unified School District in 2010

School districts have expanded Chinese language programmes due to the rise of China in the global economy and students from a wide range of backgrounds have joined them.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1379312/Learning-Chinese-new-craze-American-schools.html#ixzz1KGzjpmDv