Cultural Activities
文化活动
文化活动
Students went on a once-in-a-life-time trip to Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin, Yangshuo, Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hong Kong in the spring of 2018. Listen to what they said about their experience.
Due to the pandemic, our trip to China hasn't been able to go in the past few years. However, we are thrilled to announce that there will be a trip to Taiwan in the spring of 2024.
Experience traditional Chinese instruments
Kungfu lesson in the Summer Palace
Visit a farmer's house in rural China
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.
Enjoying Karaoke in the Chinese style
Singing and dancing for senior citizens at the "Friends Senior Care Center"
Learning to play Mahjong
Performing a sword dance
Making hand-drawn noodles from scratch!
Taking a Chinese painting lesson
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.
2023 Wessttown Lunar New Year Greeting Video
2022 Westtown Lunar New Year Greeting Video
Students performing a lion dance
Students performing at the dinner
The New Year's parade in the dining room
New Year's calligraphy and lantern decoration
New Year's cultural stations
Authentic Lunar New Year's dinner prepared by students
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).
Kung Pao Chicken 宫保鸡丁
Chinese Crepes 煎饼果子
Dumplings 饺子
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.
A student loves the 《你好 Tim》song and created this video on his own for fun.
The Chinese 2 class decided to make a《学猫叫》 video in between classes.
The Chinese 3 class created this 《青春修炼手册》 video for fun.
The Intro to Chinese 7th grade students sang 《恭喜恭喜》 at the middle school new year lunch.
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.
Students learning about Chinese history and culture.
Students learning about traditional folk arts through hands-on, engaging ways.
Students visiting local target language communities to interact with native speakers and provide community service.
Students learning to use their language skills and cultural etiquette in authentic settings.
We partner and collaborate with local community leaders to provide students with opportunities to engage with native language speakers in meaningful ways beyond the classroom settings.
Students develop insights into Chinese culture through Chines made movies, relevant documentaries, advertisements designed for a Chinese audience, vlogs and blogs targeting Chinese speakers, etc.