Iraqi Kurds are learning Mandarin to take advantage of jobs from Chinese companies

https://www.npr.org/2022/01/28/ [login to see] /iraqi-kurds-are-learning-mandarin-to-take-advantage-of-jobs-from-chinese-compani
In a classroom in northern Iraq, Zhiwei Hu presides over his students as a conductor would an orchestra. He cues with a question, and the response from his students resounds in perfect, fluent Chinese.

The 52-year-old has been teaching the cohort of 14 Iraqi Kurdish students at the behest of the Chinese consulate in the northern city of Irbil.

His class is part of an experiment with the local Salahaddin University: If these students succeed in graduating, the Chinese Language Department would be officially open for enrollment, giving the growing plethora of Chinese companies in Iraq's Kurdish region their pick for hires.