Our Upper School Mandarin students recently participated in an immersive field experience to a local Asian market designed to extend classroom learning into an authentic, real world setting. Students completed a guided scavenger hunt that required them to locate specific ingredients and products needed to prepare dishes for an upcoming Food Taste event. While navigating the aisles, they practiced conversations in Mandarin by asking native speaking staff for help finding items and confirming product details, reinforcing vocabulary and functional language used in everyday shopping situations. 7th and 8th graders also selected a variety of authentic snacks sourced from across Asia. To encourage maximum language skills every student was tasked with speaking only Mandarin while shopping in the store.

This trip emphasized practical communication, cultural awareness, and confidence building. Students experienced firsthand how language functions in daily life, negotiated meaning in real interactions, and made culturally informed food choices. After they finished shopping and had a fun scavenger hunt, all the students enjoyed a cultural treat of bubble tea (zhēn zhū nǎi chá). We are grateful for the opportunity to offer students this meaningful cultural experience outside of the classroom. Their respectful engagement, curiosity and willingness to use Mandarin in authentic contexts exemplify our school motto- Unafraid Spirit.