With a Changing World Comes An Urgency to Learn Chinese

Yet even as U.S. educators are being pushed to expand Chinese programs, they are running into obstacles. It is difficult to find people qualified to teach.

Only a few universities in the United States offer teacher certification programs in Mandarin, according to Levine, of the Asia Society. Last year, George Mason University added a program to certify Mandarin teachers, but only two people have enrolled.

That's why exchanges such as the one that brought the 10 Chinese teachers, as well as two Arabic instructors from Jordan, to the United States are so critical, said the State Department's Farrell.

"This will help us get a jump-start," he said. The initiative to bring foreign teachers here will be complemented by a similar effort to send Americans overseas for language training, he said.

Still, some fear that school systems -- particularly those that serve mainly poor and minority children -- might not be willing to make the investment in adding language classes because they are focused on pushing students to meet reading, writing and mathematics goals required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The Chinese government, however, is trying to do what it can to promote Chinese language. Hanban, or the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, a nongovernmental organization funded by the Chinese government, has been instrumental in providing materials and in some cases helping school systems recruit teachers from China.

This summer, Hanban worked with the National Association of Independent Schools, a group representing U.S. private schools, to send a nine-member delegation to China that recruited 19 teachers for 16 schools.

Hanban has also forged a partnership with the College Board, the organization that administers the SAT and Advanced Placement exams. This fall, the College Board will begin offering AP Chinese courses in select schools. Hanban will help the organization recruit instructors from China to help teach the courses.

For their part, the Chinese teachers who trained in Dupont -- still full of energy after a long day of lectures on "The Culture of the American School" -- were eager to share their language and traditions with U.S. students.

Said Shijun Chen, a high school teacher from Beijing: "We feel very excited and very lucky to bring our culture here. It will be a really good challenge for us."