A new program at Western Kentucky University could soon have some area K-12 students learning the Chinese language.

We now bring you more about the Confucius Institute.

Last fall individuals from WKU as well as a few local school district representatives met with officials from Beijing.

There are more than 360 Confucius Institutes world-wide, and after the first of this year, WKU learned they would be home to one more.

Hard at work figuring out budgets and getting together a timeline for implementation, those with the Confucius Institute, now located behind WKU's Honors College, are pleased they were chosen for this opportunity.

"We hadn't really planned on getting things started this quickly, but when schools approached us, we wanted to do everything we could to get it started because there's so much enthusiasm right now," said Amy Eckhardt, Co-director of the Confucius Institute. "I'd hate to not capitalize on that."

The institute would bring Chinese into several local classrooms, and many area school districts have expressed interest.

"With the goal of preparing our students for global awareness, we felt that if this opportunity presented itself, we certainly needed to look at it," said Superintendent Joe Tinius of Bowling Green Independent Schools.

But all schools are going through initial planning to discuss Chinese language learning possibilities at elementary schools and the high school level, where the idea of dual credit for college may also be an option.

"We would work with the Confucius Institute to bring teachers from China who would work through WKU and be available to come into our schools to teach the language," said Tinius.

Those teachers are part of a new sister school of WKU, the Sichuan International Studies University in Chongqing.

"Graduates from their program will be coming over, and it will allow them to get advanced practical training, but they've already had all the theoretical classroom training," said Eckhardt.

While all ideas are preliminary at this time, they do hope to bring the Chinese language into some local schools by fall.

"I think everyone in general is very excited about the opportunity," said Tinius. "It's just now a matter of working out the details and how we can best implement it to meet the needs of our students."

Also as part of the Confucius Institute, Eckhardt hopes they will be able to bring over Chinese scholars, artists, musicians, and exhibits, as well as offer Chinese language learning opportunities to business professionals and the community.