Bell School students have the unique opportunity to experience and study Chinese culture and the Mandarin language with the wonderful Mr. Qiao (Chow). Donations to this Wish List items allows Mr. Qiao to purchase the many academic materials, supplies and experiences for ongoing Mandarin instruction, and to share Chinese culture by inviting folk dancers, acrobats, Chinese paper cutting artists, kite makers and more captivating groups to the school.

Thirty minutes of instruction is provided twice a week for grades 3-5, and once per week for grades 6-8 for those who wish to opt in. Grades K-2 receive special activities and experiences to introduce students to the culture, themes, traditions and Mandarin language, but they do not receive direct instruction.

Mandarin is a notoriously difficult language for most people -- and particularly alphabet based language speakers -- to learn. Without an alphabet, there is no accurate count for the total number of written characters, but it is estimated to be around 60,000! And it is very difficult for speakers of non-tonal languages to learn to adapt and correctly mimic the tonal nature of the spoken words. BUT this learning difficulty does not hold true for children. Moreover, studies have shown that children benefit in many ways from learning Mandarin. Here are just a few:

Better Interpretation of Symbols: Through experiencing Mandarin, children can become more adept at visual communication, more readily interpreting symbols in visual art and understanding nuances in symbolism and visual communication.

Improved Hand-Eye Coordination: While most alphabet based languages are written in one direction, the act of writing Mandarin characters requires brush or pen strokes in multiple directions, with differentiating hand pressure. Writing in this way has been shown to improve fine motor skills and spatial recognition in children.

Stronger Math Skills: Yes, there is actually a scientific correlation between learning Mandarin and improved mathematical ability. Scientists theorize that because Mandarin representation of numbers is less abstract than Arabic (traditional) numbers, and because the act of practicing handwriting requires repeated counting, young children gain greater familiarity with math and with numeric thinking.

Develop Accurate Hearing and Interpretation of Sounds: As study at the University of California in San Diego found, there is a strong correlation between fluency in a tonal language, and the development of perfect pitch. So not only does Mandarin potentially benefit the brain, it potentially makes the child a better singer too!