Throughout the duration of the Pilot Program, students had the opportunity to experience Chinese culture in a variety of settings in New York City to access a near limitless amount of cultural resources to aid their study of Mandarin Chinese.

Summer Session Field Trip
During the 4-week summer face-to-face session, the program organized one field trip to Chinatown for Grades 6-12 students to practice what they learned in class.  The theme of the summer curriculum was “Let’s explore NYC Chinatown.”  Students learned the special kinds of activities that one can do when visiting Chinatown, which included eating at a Chinese restaurant, shopping at a Chinese grocery store, buying bubble tea at a bubble tea shop, initiating conversation with local Chinese people, and reading store signs.  Students were divided into groups of 4-5 to complete tasks to foster collaborate learning.  Each group was also accompanied by a language tutor who worked with the students during online sessions.  The tutor provided necessary assistance and ensured that students were on task.  A sample Field Trip Worksheet can be downloaded here.

Students and teachers made videos to document the experience and shared the videos with parents.
Summer 2015 Video (Grades 6-8)
Summer 2015 Video (Grades 9-12)
Summer 2016 (Grades 6-12)

Mid-Academic Year Field Trip
The program organized one field trip around the Chinese New Year time to invite all students to come to New York City to celebrate the New Year.  At least one parent was required to accompany the child on the trip.  During the first year, students participated in the New Year activities at the Metropolitan museum. The instructor designed a worksheet for both the parents and students to work on.  Click here to view more photos.

Hunter Campus Elementary School Field Trip - Spring 2017
To provide an opportunity for students to practice what they learned in class, and for students to taste authentic northwestern cuisine, the program brought students to the recently popular restaurant - Xi'an Famous Foods.  During this trip, students used Chinese to greet the waiter/waitress, to order the dishes that they wanted, and to express their likes or dislikes after tasting the food. The online instructors also joined the trip so students had a chance to meet with their online instructor in person. 

Here's the video that documented the trip: https://youtu.be/w8QaxNP7HnI