Two native Chinese speakers have joined the Mandarin provision at Carisbrooke College this year, giving students more opportunities than ever before to develop their language skills prior to their GCSEs to ensure they can communicate meaningfully with each other in Chinese.

Trainee teacher Mr Cheng and Language Assistant Miss He have both been assisting in Year 9, 10 and 11 lessons since September, helping to lead speaking activities around the school and also offering extra support in clubs after school, specifically targeted at GCSE students.

Mr Cheng said: "I'm happy to work with the students here at this amazing school. The staff and students are supportive and there is an incredible enthusiasm for learning Mandarin. I hope that I can help to prepare them for their exams while I am here."

Miss He, who has also taught Mandarin at schools in China, South Korea and Cambodia said: "I love having the opportunity to engage with the students and help them to improve their listening and reading. The GCSEs are of course the most important thing but with Chinese New Year coming up soon we will also find time to look in detail at things like Chinese traditions and festivals."

Mandarin teacher, Mr Briscoe said: "Although the focus is on preparation for the GCSE exams in the summer, it's also really nice to see many of the students who are coming to China on the school trip next year also attending these extra sessions and making full use of the many Mandarin speakers that they have around them each day. I'm sure they'll be glad that they put all this time in when we land in Shanghai in October and they step into a completely different world"

Mandarin GCSE revision sessions take place after school on a Wednesday each week for Year 10 and 11 students, and China Club - aimed at introducing Chinese to Years 7 and 8 and assisting Year 9 students with their homework - takes place after school each Thursday.