China Daily USA – HUA SHENGDUN
“Governor Jack Markell announced a China summer abroad program for high school students studying Mandarin earlier this month, signing an agreement with Wanxiang Group, China’s leading auto parts manufacturer, for students to study at the company’s facility in Hangzhou, China…”Graduates who enter the job market without the ability to speak a world language other than English are at a significant disadvantage,” said Markell…To equip Delaware’s students with trans-cultural skills in the global economy competition, Markell put his ideal of shaping “the most bilingual state” into statewide practice with the World Language Expansion initiative in 2012. “World language capacity is crucial to Delaware in order for the state to maintain and strengthen its domestic economy,” Markell wrote in a state document, proposing a robust language education plan starting at early ages. Chinese and Spanish were the state’s top choices.”(more)