Chinese in Columbia

We saw this item in the school system's internal "Inside Howard County Public Schools" newsletter:
Three Columbia high schools will be offering Chinese language classes in the coming year.

Wilde Lake offered the class for the first time last session and there was enough interest at Long Reach and Oakland Mills to start classes there.

Long Reach has even formed a partnership with Beijing #22, a school in China. Administrators, teachers and students spent part of last year exchanging visits and e-mails. According to the school's Web site the China school's orchestra and basketball teams may pay a visit in the coming school year.