Chinese Ambassador Cheng Jingye visited Scotch Oakburn's campus on Thursday during a trip to the state.

Grade 12 student Molly Fox and grade 11 student Ethan Hamilton escorted His Excellency around the junior and senior campuses of Scotch and spent two hours in his company.

Miss Fox, who studying LOTE, or languages other than English, in grade 12, and Mr Hamilton, who is studying it this year, said they were honoured to be able to meet His Excellency.

"But he was so affable and friendly, he didn't come across like a typical politician," Mr Hamilton said.

SEE THE PHOTOS: Chinese president Xi Jingping visits Tasmania

Scotch Oakburn has a strong relationship with China after a grade 5 English class sent a letter to the Chinese president Xi Jingping in 2014 inviting him to Tasmania.

The invitation was somewhat surprisingly received by the president, who travelled to the state in November of that year. He spent days in the state and visited the government and industry.

The ripples of that visit have continued to be felt across the state, with Chinese tourist numbers growing exponentially and Tasmanian produce and property being noticed in the country.

Miss Fox said she enjoyed learning LOTE because it offered an alternative to the standard subjects, like English and Maths, and she enjoyed employing her skills in Chinese to speak to His Excellency.

She said she while she was a bit rusty, the language did come back to her reasonably easily.

Mr Hamilton said as a current student he was not fluent but the Ambassador communicated well in English as well as Chinese.

"If he didn't know what we were talking about he'd query or he'd try something in English, we communicated pretty well," he said.

Head of LOTE Leigh Cordell said the languages program was strong at Scotch because the school wanted to offer new experiences to students.

"We offer Chinese, Japanese and French and all of them are pretty high in demand," he said.

He said the school had a sister school relationship with Jing Shan School in Beijing, which offered language and cultural exchange.

"Language and culture go hand in hand," he said.

Teachers and students from both schools do exchanges and learn new things, with Scotch students staying in home-share arrangements in China while they are there.

While you're with us, did you know that you can now sign up to receive breaking news updates and daily headlines direct to your inbox. Sign up here.