It's about Chinese for these excited Glenbrook students

Glenbrook Public School students have the opportunity to enrol in Mandarin language lessons and increase their exposure to Chinese culture through a new initiative organised by Mr David Brown, principal of the school. Glenbrook Public School is the only school in the Blue Mountains using the Hua Xia Chinese Language and Culture School based at the University of Western Sydney.

Mr Brown said, "It's a wonderful chance for Glenbrook public school students to learn a language that is spoken by a fifth of the world's population without leaving their own school grounds. The children enjoyed their first lesson and I'm looking forward to hearing and seeing their good manners expressed in Chinese and English."

In the first lesson, the students were treated to an introduction to the language. The six basic strokes to writing Mandarin were shown to them via dancing, before playing a game to learn some essential words such as "hello", "goodbye", "thank you" and "teacher".

Dr Dacheng Zhao is the Principal of the Hua Xia Chinese Language and Cultural School. 

He said, "Language is a powerful tool for developing our social and cultural capital. Our school was founded in 2002 and is a community language school supported by the Department of Education and Communities. We are happy that a Blue Mountains school has taken interest in this program we have been running elsewhere in the Sydney region since 2002."

Penny Smith is a parent of two Glenbrook students enrolled in the class. "I am really pleased that my kids have the chance to learn a language that has the potential to be really useful to them in the future. I like them to be exposed to other cultures and languages. Actually, I hope they teach me some of what they learn."

Glenbrook Public School students are set to be enjoying the Chinese language and culture

into the future.