Chinese Class Field Trip

Hoover students enrolled in Mandarin Chinese class participated in a field trip to the downtown Des Moines Chinese Cultural Center of America pavilion on Tuesday, November 5. Hoover exchange teacher Wen Zhao Wang, who launched the Mandarin program at Hoover this school year, organized the visit as part of a unit about Chinese culture and foods. Twenty four students explored the gardens that include an exhibit of large, decorative rocks, each carved with Chinese characters representing responsibility, citizenship, fairness, respect, care, and trustworthiness. Students learned traditional Chinese games such as “ ji gu chuan hua,” where players pass an object to the beat of a drum and answer trivia in Chinese. Ms. Wang used the game as a way to review expressions and words related to Chinese food and eating out. Students also played “da sha bao,” an activity similar to the American version of hacky sack, and “ti jian zi,” a game using a decorative badminton birdie.

After the visit to the pavilion, students dined at China Moon restaurant in Ankeny, where they ordered food and interacted with servers in Chinese. Several students used chopsticks for the first time. “They really showed their best manners,” Wang said. “I am so proud of them because they truly preferred to order in Chinese. They did a fantastic job!”

For more pictures from the field trip, visit our flikr page here.