Wilton's Lydia Dormer Studies Mandarin at New Canaan Country School

The following press release about the World Language program at New Canaan Country School is from the institution:

NEW CANAAN, CT — New Canaan Country School eighth graders put their world language skills to the test by interviewing Chinese University of Connecticut graduate students in Mandarin.

“We want to give students opportunities to practice their vocabulary and oral comprehension skills beyond the classroom,” said Country School World Language Teacher Linyue Wang.

The students prepared 15 questions in advance, related to vocabulary they had been learning in class. Working in pairs, the students asked the UConn students about foods, sports, pets, and siblings, all in Mandarin. They finished the interviews by taking selfies, as a way to remember each other.

“At first I was really nervous,” said eighth grader Emma Herdeg of New Canaan. “In Mandarin, if you mispronounce a tone, you can say the wrong word. But I surprised myself, I think I did pretty well.”

Afterwards, students made posters that included information collected from the interviews. They then presented their posters to their fellow students. “My goal was to include both an oral and written component as part of the project, as well as a class presentation,” said Ms. Wang.

Mandarin is one of four world languages offered in Upper School (Grades 7-9) in addition to Latin, French and Spanish. All students study Spanish in Kindergarten through sixth grade.

New Canaan Country School is a co-ed, independent, day school for students in Beginners (age 3 & 4) through Grade 9. Located on a 75-acre campus in New Canaan, the school serves students from Fairfield and Westchester counties. For more information about the school or its World Language program, please visit www.countryschool.net.

Photo: From left, New Canaan Country School eighth grade student Lydia Dormer of Wilton interviews Yijia Qu, a graduate student at University of Connecticut. Photo credit: Contributed