Mandarin Discovery Preschool, a Mandarin immersion program, offers preschool classes held entirely in Mandarin as well as Chinese cultural classes for older students. It opened in March inside the YWCA in White Plains.
Mandarin Discovery Preschool has classes for children ages 3-5 on Saturdays from 9:30am-12:30pm. Although no prior knowledge of the language is needed, since it is a Mandarin immersion class, the whole class will be taught in Mandarin. Since the students will be so young the hope is that they will more easily be able to absorb the language and be able to speak Mandarin fluently by 6 or 7 years old. During the class students will be introduced to new Mandarin vocabulary, learn songs in Mandarin, read Chinese books, do arts and crafts, Chinese calligraphy, and more.
Shanshan Li, the owner of Mandarin Discovery Preschool, believes that learning Mandarin now will benefit children in the future. “They [children] will have a better future in business because big countries like USA, Canada, and Australia require Mandarin as their international business language. So by having the kids learn this language when they are really young, when they grow older they can pick up the different languages in Mandarin because they can speak it fluently. It can be very beneficial when they look for jobs because they can speak the language.”
Chinese cultural class, for students in the first through fifth grades, will be taught in 90-percent Mandarin and 10-percent English. Students will learn conversational Mandarin, Chinese calligraphy, and learn about the Chinese Zodiac with related arts and crafts. Chinese cultural class is held on Saturdays from 3:30-5:30pm.
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Main image: Mandarin Discovery Preschool offers immersion classes held entirely in Mandarin for children ages 3-5.
Courtesy Mandarin Discovery Preschool
