Cultural Activities

International Trips to China & Taiwan 中国和台湾游学旅行

Field Trips to Philadelphia's Chinatown 费城中国城田野考察

Every year, our Mandarin Chinese students travel to Philadelphia's Chinatown to apply their language and cultural knowledge in a real world setting and connect with the local Chinese community by: 1) visiting a Chinese senior living community where they perform Chinese songs for the residents and engage in culturally relevant activities such as calligraphy, painting, fan dance, sword dance, and mahjong with community members; 2) participating in a scavenger hunt in Mandarin at multiple locations in and around Chinatown which requires students to collaborate and apply their Mandarin skills and cultural knowledge; 3) dining in an authentic Chinese local restaurant. In the past few years, students have learned about dim sum and hot pot culture, made soup dumplings and hand-drawn noodles with local chefs,  all after having ordered their meals in the target language.

Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节

In addition to learning about the legends and traditions of the Mid-Autumn Festival, students make a variety of mooncakes from scratch every year. Their favorites included Cantonese style with salted egg yolks, Suzhou style meat mooncakes, and snow-skin mooncakes.   

Lunar New Year Celebrations 春节庆祝活动

The Lunar New Year celebration is the biggest and most popular cultural celebration on the Westtown campus. To set the mood, every year, students decorate the buildings on campus with couplets (贴春联), hand make lanterns (做灯笼), calligraphy on red paper (写 “福” 字), and paper cuttings (剪窗花) all which they created themselves. They then invite the entire community to a celebration with a Lunar New Year's greeting video they record and send out to the community. Finally, on New Year's Eve, the school hosts the Lunar New Year Gala with delicious traditional dishes, lion dances, student performances, and a host of cultural stations where everyone can learn about Asian pastimes and events from this most special time of year. 

Cooking Lessons 烹饪课

Four times a year, every student learns how to create an authentic Chinese dish. Some favorites include: dumplings (饺子), wontons (馄饨), scallion pancakes (葱油饼), Chinese crepes (煎饼果子), mooncakes (月饼), stir fried rice (蛋炒饭), kung pao chicken (宫保鸡丁), potstickers (煎饺), spring rolls (春卷), sweet glutinous rice balls (汤圆), bubble tea (珍珠奶茶), and hotpot (火锅).  

Chinese Songs 中文歌曲

Students learn many Chinese songs throughout their tenure at Westtown which they perform at several school events such as: Collection, the New Year's Celebrations, and National World Language Week. The more intrepid students even create their own "music videos" for fun. 

Class Cultural Activities 课堂文化活动

In keeping with the ACTFL World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages, the Westtown Chinese program focuses on both language proficiency and cultural competence. In order for students to effectively communicate with the target language communities, they need to acquire diverse perspectives, develop insights into the nature of language and culture, so they can interact with cultural competence and understanding.