24 Sep 2018

Mandarin Chinese lessons in hot demand

From Morning Report, 8:45 am on 24 September 2018

It's Chinese Language Week and teachers are increasingly in hot demand in the regions, as more people of all ages enrol for Mandarin classes. It follows a nationwide trend of primary and secondary students learning the language, which reached record levels last year. There are now 65,000 Year 1 to 8 students learning Mandarin around the country - a three-fold increase in the last five years. But as Jessie Chiang reports, community classes for the public, particularly in the Bay of Plenty, are growing too.