KEY POINTS:
Children are increasingly learning a foreign language at intermediate school, with new figures showing the number rose by more than a third in two years.
European languages were the most popular for pupils in Year 1 to 8 last year, with almost 14,000 students signing up for 30 hours or more last year.
But the biggest growth was in Asian languages - up 45 per cent on a year earlier.
Colin Dale, principal of Murrays Bay Intermediate on the North Shore, expected the trend of learning languages to increase.
Murrays Bay offered seven languages - including Spanish, Chinese and Korean - and next year the school will make learning one compulsory.
"We believe it's a global world now and we have to prepare our children," said Mr Dale.
Languages were expected get a bigger push in the new curriculum, due to be introduced next week, he said.
Subject enrolment figures for high schools showed males dominated the numbers studying maths and technology subjects.
However, more females enrolled in languages and visual performing arts than males.
In sciences, the split was less clear. While males dominated in physics - making up 63.9 per cent of students - it was decreasing. Females slightly outnumbered males in chemistry and outnumbered males in biology class two to one.
