迪林勋爵(Lord Dearing)所倡导的“教育从娃娃抓起”理念，已经得到了曼彻斯特女子高中(Manchester High School for Girls)的认同——在这里，未来报考该校的学生（7岁至9岁儿童）正在饶舌地学习一门未来的语言：中文普通话。

The “get ’em while they’re young” approach advocated by Lord Dearing finds ready acceptance at Manchester High School for Girls, where the exam takers of the future – children aged¹ seven to nine – are getting their tongues around one of the languages of the future: Mandarin².

自去年9月以来，这所私立女校小学部3至4年级的所有56名学生，每周都必须上一节中文课，其中包括学习复杂的汉字书法。该校还为此增加了一位教师和一名助教，突显出它在中文课程上的决心。

Since September all 56 pupils in years three and four of the preparatory department at the private girls’ school have had a lesson a week in the Chinese language, including learning the complicated calligraphy³ of writing characters. A teacher and a teaching assistant have been added to the staff, underlining the school’s commitment to the language classes.

小学生们已经开设了法语课，而曼彻斯特女子高中的校长克里斯汀?李-琼斯(Christine Lee-Jones)表示，学校开设普通话课程，显然是为了让孩子们在今后的生活中拥有一项优势。

Primary-age pupils have already been learning French and Christine Lee-Jones, headmistress of Manchester High, says Mandarin is an obvious step to try to give her pupils an edge in later life.

“作为一名校长，你需要经常检查你的课程……研究整个世界的发展趋势，我惊讶地发现，我们的女孩子学习普通话可能会大有用处，”她表示。“如果她们进入商界，即使她们只会很少的中文词汇，这对她们而言也是优势。”

“As a head you constantly review the curriculum . . . looking at the way things are developing in the world it struck me that it would be useful for our girls to learn Mandarin,” she says. “If they are going into the world of business, even if they only have a small vocabulary in the language it will give them an advantage.”

李-琼斯表示，校董们很支持这个计划。该校校董包括曼彻斯特著名中餐馆羊城大酒楼(Yang Sing)的老板。她说：“校董们对此很热心，并对我们处于领先地位感到高兴。这些当地名流和商界人士认为，女孩子们居于时代前沿、尽可能获取优势，这一点非常重要。”

Mrs Lee-Jones says school governors, including the proprietor⁴ of the Yang Sing restaurant, a Mancunian institution, welcomed the plan. “Governors were enthusiastic and pleased that we are at the cutting edge – these are local people and business people who recognise that it is so important for the girls to be at the forefront and get any advantage they can,” she says.

“人们对此议论纷纷。女孩子们自己也非常得意。”

“It is a real buzz for the girls. They are so pleased with themselves.”

最终，这所学校年龄最小的孩子们（4岁）也将开设普通话课程。李-琼斯表示，迪林勋爵的报告提倡给小学生开设语言课程，这一点“绝对正确”。她说：“如果你想教好语言，就必须乘着他们还小的时候。这个年龄段的孩子就像海绵一样，吸收能力很强。”

Eventually the youngest children in the school, aged four, could get Mandarin lessons. Mrs Lee-Jones says the Dearing report is “absolutely right” in advocating language teaching for primary pupils. “If you want to teach languages well, you have to start when people are young. They are like sponges at that age,” she says.

“有很多的学校将语言课程排除在核心课程之外，如此骇人听闻的现象，真是对我们教育制度的莫大指控。”

“It is an appalling⁵ indictment⁶ of the education system that so many schools have dropped languages as an element of the core curriculum.”

在该校中学部，作为一门课外活动课，70个女孩子正在学习普通话入门课程。明年，普通话将作为第二现代语言，出现在该校8年级女孩子的课程中。以汉语为母语的人也可以前来上课，此外还有针对父母和老师的成人课程；除此之外，曼彻斯特女子高中还将与北京的一所学校进行文化交流。

In the senior school 70 girls are taking Mandarin beginners’ lessons as an extra-curricular class and next year Mandarin will be offered as a second modern language on the curriculum to girls in year eight. Native speakers can also get lessons and adult classes are offered for parents and teachers, while Manchester High is setting up a cultural exchange with a school in Beijing.