Delhi students to flaunt their Mandarin before Wen

NEW DELHI - Nearly 50 students and teachers from a city school will showcase their proficiency in Mandarin to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Wednesday when he arrives here on his three-day India visit.

Wen will interact with students of Tagore International School during a talk on Mandarin, Chinese culture and calligraphy.

“The school has been running an exchange programme with Jinyuan Senior High School in Shanghai the past four years. It’s going to be a 30-minute talk on tai-chi calligraphy, Mandarin pronunciation, yoga and Chinese culture, school principal Madhulika Sen told IANS.

The visit will go beyond the realm of learning by strengthening the traditional ties between the people, Sen added.

The school has been running exchange programmes, calligraphy and yoga classes through video-conference under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed with Jinyuan school, ranked amongst the best language schools in Shanghai, Sen said.

The school was chosen for Wen’s visit due to the enduring Chinese fascination with Nobel laureate poet-philosopher Rabindranath Tagore.

“Our students will also be performing in Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary celebrations in Shanghai next year. It’s going to be a colourful mix of culture, dance, music and tradition, Sen said.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has already announced plans to introduce Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language in its 11,000 affiliated schools from Class 6 onwards next year.