…to teach Mandarin to preschoolers in America. The BBC had this to say about the phenomenon:
‘Parents always want to give their children a good head start in life to prepare them for the future.
It seems that families in the United States with a lot of disposable income believe that helping their children master the intricacies of Mandarin at an early age is one way to do that.
Companies who place nannies or au pairs with families in New York have experienced a rush of requests for native Chinese-speakers.
That is the trend right now, according to JaNiece Rush of Lifestyle Resources.
"Just in the last couple of years, we’ve received an influx of calls where families are hoping that we can find them Chinese-speaking – especially Mandarin-speaking – nannies and housekeepers, so that their children will pick up Chinese," she says….JaNiece Rush explains that they are in such high demand they can command a salary of around $20,000 more than the average nanny would earn.
One Chinese woman even managed to secure a salary of $70,000-a-year after two families tried to outbid each other to get her.’
Could bushibans* be far away for the U.S. of A.?
* Taiwanese-style cram schools which students attend on weekends or after school.