Classes taught through videoconference aren’t just for college campuses anymore. Two Hall County elementary schools are using the tool to learn Mandarin Chinese together.

At McEver Arts Academy, first-grade students are spending about 45 minutes a day for 10 weeks learning the language from a teacher across the county at Wauka Mountain Multiple Intelligences Academy.

The school principals are impressed by how quickly the students are picking up the foreign language.

“I couldn’t believe after 10 days they knew their numbers and body parts in Chinese. It was amazing,” McEver Arts Academy Principal Catherine Rosa said.

Principal of Wauka Mountain Jo Dinnan said the teamwork from both schools has allowed the shared class to work beautifully.

“It’s amazing how these children learn to speak the language and it’s not just the language, it’s the culture too.

They get to learn about a country that is far, far away that most people will never visit. It’s been a great thing,” Dinnan said.

The students are learning about China from Lulu Yan, an exchange teacher from China, who will be with them until the end of the year.

Yan is here as part of an educational leadership exchange program hosted by the Kennesaw State University Confucius Institute.

Hall County Schools administrators are invited to visit China as the other piece of the exchange. Hall County does not pay for the trip. The administrators pay their own airfare and visas and the Confucius Institute hosts the trip.

Rosa, along with administrators from other Georgia school systems, will tour several Chinese schools and universities to learn about the Chinese education system.

Dinnan participated in the program last year and said her visit to China was very interesting. She toured a private boarding school and participated in the interviewing process of new teachers at a Chinese school.

She described classes as being more teacher-directed with a slightly different classroom structure.

Hall County Schools Superintendant Will Schofield said the program has been wonderful.

He said the county understands the importance of learning multiple languages at an early age. For the last seven years the county has offered language classes in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish, the two languages that could be the most beneficial to know for business in the future.

“You need to begin with the end in mind and what we hope for is an end where children have more opportunities,” Schofield said.

To help the students learn more about China, Rosa will be texting photos of her adventure back to the school. If she can get through the nation’s strict social media policy, she’ll Tweet about her trip so students and teachers can follow along.

“As we prepare our kids for the 21st century and have global expectations for them, I think it’s really important that we get outside of our own country and see what the world is like,” Rosa said.

When she returns, the students will interview her to learn more about the country they study in class.