Speciality Highlight March 2026: Mandarin

Happy Spring from Mandarin class!

First Grade

Since the New Year, the First Graders have learned the traditional poem Quiet Night Thoughts. Students have also expanded their vocabulary to include topics such as fruits, food, daily routines (such as sleeping and brushing teeth), and simple sentence patterns like “What is this? This is (subject).”

In addition, the class read and listened to the short story Brown Bear, Brown Bear. From here, the students are now beginning to learn the fourteen essential strokes, which form the foundation of all Chinese characters. Step by step, we will build a strong foundation that will support students in writing Chinese characters with confidence in the future.

Second and Third Grade

The Second Graders learned how to write the numbers 1–10 in Chinese, while the Third Graders created their 2026 calendars in Chinese. The class also enjoyed bringing the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear to life in Chinese and played the telephone game to practice the sentence pattern “I like…” using new vocabulary related to foods, fruits, and school supplies.

After spring break, students will resume practicing with the Chinese abacus to help them continuously develop a visual understanding of mathematics through this traditional method. In addition, our class will continue expanding vocabulary, steadily building a strong foundation that will enable students to express themselves more fluently.

Fourth and Fifth Grade

The Fourth and Fifth Graders have reviewed pinyin and the basic strokes to strengthen students’ foundation in writing Chinese characters. Students have also revisited two sets of 24 simple characters previously learned, using them as practice to reinforce both pinyin and stroke order.

With this foundation in place, the class is now ready to move on to more complex characters, including vocabulary related to family members and their relationships. At the same time, students will continue to develop speaking skills by learning new vocabulary and practicing simple sentence structures, gradually expanding from familiar topics such as food to everyday life experiences.

Middle School

After learning the text Wang Ming’s Family, students are now creating their first Chinese book, My Family. This project is based on the text we studied and includes pages on various family units as a whole and on individual family members, incorporating facial features and additional vocabulary.

The Middle School class should complete this project before Spring Break. After the break, students will begin a new unit on food. By the end of the semester, each one will be able to order their favorite dishes in a Chinese restaurant using Chinese.

We are looking forward to a fun and productive end of the school year. Please let me know if there are any questions or concerns. 

Mandarin Teacher

Cerina Wang