“ Ni hao!” say third graders at Woodstock Elementary School in Portland. Oregon. That is “hello" in Chinese. These students spend half the day using English and half using Chinese Woodstock is one of a growing number of U.S. schools teaching Chinese. The schools want to prepare students for a future in which they are likely to work with people from China. Business in China is booming, and that trend is expected to grow. The U.S. government is trying to encourage even more public schools to teach Chinese. Officials are considering spending about $l billion on Chinese programs in schools. China is taking part in the programs, too. The Chinese government has given textbooks to U.S. schools. Some schools also have teacher exchange programs with China. “ It is important for students to learn Chinese and the Chinese culture,” Mary Patterson , the principal of Woodstock, told Weekly Reader. “Students who do so will have wider opportunities when they become adults. More people speak Chinese than any other language in the world, yet the language is one of the most difficult to learn. It doesn't look or sound anything like English. The Chinese writing system does not use an alphabet of letters. It has characters that are difficult to write.” You can sound out words, says Claire Diller. 9. "In Chinese, you have to memorize the words.” However, all the hard work hasn't stopped young learners. Today, about 50 000 U. S. students are studying Chinese, and they are doing “hen hao” (“very well”).