The Scotsman –
LUCINDA CAMERON
“The classrooms support Scotland’s 1+2 languages policy, which aims to allow every child the opportunity to learn two languages in addition to their mother tongue by 2020. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the expansion in Beijing while meeting 80 Scottish school pupils benefiting from a summer learning exchange programme in China. She said: “We want our young people to be better prepared for life and work in a multicultural, global marketplace and Mandarin is one of the world’s most widely spoken languages. “Evidence shows that early language learning improves literacy and that young children learn languages more easily. “Extending the Confucius Classroom learning programme to primary schools will improve language learning opportunities to more Scottish pupils, in addition to the 20,000 who already benefit.”(more)