With China headed toward becoming the world’s largest economy during this century, the teaching of the Mandarin Chinese language is suddenly growing in American schools.

The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages estimates that the number of American students learning Mandarin Chinese – by far the world’s most commonly spoken language – has risen from about 5,000 six years ago to around 50,000 today.

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"I think we would have to characterize what’s happening with the expansion of Chinese programs right now as an explosion,” Marty Abbott, director of education at the Council, told the Los Angeles Times.

"It really is unprecedented. People are looking at China as a force to be reckoned with . . . And to ensure that the U.S. has the ability to conduct trade, to sell our goods, and to work with the Chinese, certainly having an understanding of Chinese language and culture is an advantage.”

The College Board is offering an Advanced Placement test in Mandarin for the first time next year.

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And in January, President Bush proposed spending $57 million to encourage the teaching of "languages considered critical to national security,” the Times reports, including Chinese, Arabic, Japanese and Korean.

At the time, the administration pointed out that more than 200 million students in China were studying English.

In the U.S., Chicago has the largest Chinese language program, with 28 schools teaching 6,000 students from kindergarten to 12th grade.

But a shortage of trained, credentialed teachers has hampered some schools’ efforts to offer Chinese classes.