On November 14th, SHS’s Mandarin 323 class embarked on a trip to Chinatown in New York City. Through different shops and restaurants, the students were able to experience Chinese culture in an environment beyond the classroom. During the outing, they went to Chinese supermarkets, a bubble tea shop, a Chinese shop, and authentic Chinese restaurants such as Royal Seafood, where they stopped for lunch.
China is known for its delicious and wide variety of dishes. In Chinatown, the Mandarin class was able to try sautéed string beans, mapo doufu, fried rice, mochi donuts, and of course, bubble tea. All of these options are just a mere glimpse into China’s jackpot of delicacies. However, what was more important than the flavorful food itself was the process of getting the food. “In our class, we have been learning how to say prices, how to order, and we just finished our food unit. We were able to practice the new vocabulary as we learned to talk to the salespeople and cashiers in Chinese,” shared Lia Slater ’26. In addition to fun adventures, students were given a chance to practice their Mandarin with fluent speakers and to implement what they had been learning in class into the real world.
Slater noted that it was much more realistic to have actual conversations with fluently-speaking native speakers than simply doing worksheets or creating dialogues in class where the vocabulary is very limited; she would recommend continuing this yearly trip.
This class has been taking this trip since the program began twelve years ago. Ideally, the goal is for students to find representation of Chinese lifestyle through bilingual street signs, cultural graffiti, street food vendors, herbal medicine stores, the Museum of Chinese Americans, and more so that they can share their experiences with other members of the Scarsdale community. “We hope this trip can motivate students to continue to use the target language to communicate, as well as to explore Chinese culture,” explained SHS Mandarin teacher, Wenhui Guo.
Overall, the Mandarin students undoubtedly enjoyed this fun, food-filled journey away from school that enhanced their learning experience.
