LITTLE ROCK—Five Chinese educators have arrived in Arkansas to work in selected school districts over the next two years.

Students in the Hot Springs, Greenwood, Harrisburg, Waldron, Wynne and Cross County districts will get lessons in Mandarin and Chinese culture, beginning this fall.

The teachers came from Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu under a memorandum of understanding between the Arkansas Department of Education and the Office of Chinese Language Council International, called the Hanban.

The University of Central Arkansas’ Confucius Institute, also a Hanban initiative, helped put together the memo and assisted the teachers in adjusting to Arkansas.

The university also is the site of a three-week summer course, which the teachers attended, that is part of a comprehensive program to qualify teacher candidates who have college degrees in fields other than elementary and secondary education for classroom work.

Hui Wu, the institute’s interim executive director, said the five teachers were familiar with Bill Clinton, Wal-Mart Stores, and Tyson Foods before they arrived. At UCA, they received lessons in Arkansas geography and history and American high school culture.

Han Shu, 29, who also uses the name Jasmine Han, has been assigned to the Wynne and Cross County districts. She said she was motivated to participate in the program by her desire to share information and her interest in the United States, fueled partly by television shows such as “Star Trek,” “American Idol” and “Friends.”

“I think American people are great,” she said. “They enjoy life and are very friendly. I want to introduce Chinese and Chinese culture to Americans, and I think Americans want to learn from us. It’s my honor to do this job.”

During language lessons, the teachers plan to use an immersion approach. For example, they might lead students in an activity to introduce vocabulary and Chinese written characters.

“They might make dumplings or learn how to use chopsticks,” Wu said. “These teachers are very experienced. They have lots of tricks.”

The teachers’ salary costs are being shared by their host school districts and Hanban.