Once a week, Jinzhi Zhou, a tutor from the University of Central Lancashire, visits Ulverston Victoria High School to teach pupils Mandarin. Classes started after Easter and 17 pupils, from across all school years, have been learning the basics of the language, from personal information to greetings and the correct pronunciation of the alphabet. The group meets every Monday lunchtime and after school as well. Denise Brown, subject leader of modern foreign languages, said the students had taken to the language extremely well. She said: “The classes are so popular that we have two new classes starting up in September. Miss Zhou said she’s never taught a class which has made such progress so quickly. “She said their pronunciation is brilliant and she’s made far more progress with them than she has with other schools that she’s been to. The students love it. “Because Miss Zhou is a native speaker, they’re learning about her background and culture. They find it fascinating to learn about China as well as the language.” Mrs. Brown also believes learning the language could be a great head start for the pupils’ future careers. She said: “Everyone is aware of how useful the language will be in the future, given the amount of trade the country does with China. When businesses are looking out for people to do business with China our pupils are going to be ahead. “Even though it’s such an important language, it’s not widespread in this country yet because there is a difficulty in finding Chinese speakers. So we’re very lucky that we have someone who is willing to travel.”