Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

Heather Murtaugh/Daily Journal Students from Beijing, China visited College Park Elementary School and performed traditional music and dance Monday afternoon. In addition to performing, the students in the Happy Angel Chorus of Yi Shi Fu Xiao had the chance to experience a typical American school day in San Mateo.

Holding hands, children partnered up and went to look for lunch cards together at College Park Elementary School in San Mateo Monday afternoon.

Talking with one another was a bit difficult for the students. There was a language barrier in play. While students at College Park participate in a Mandarin Immersion Program, they aren’t fluent by second grade. Nor were the 40 elementary students, ages 9 to 12, visiting from Beijing, China fluent in English. Despite this, the pairs found their way through the cafeteria picking up a corn dog with potato wedges, an orange and milk.

It was just one of the activities Monday that the students in the Happy Angel Chorus of Yi Shi Fu Xiao experienced during a typical American school day in San Mateo. The group arrived in the United States last week and are traveling to various locations. They stopped in at College Park where a friend of Yi Shi Fu Xiao Vice Principal Di Yongjie works as a teacher.

Principal Diana Hallock described it as a great opportunity for her students to make new friends with whom to practice Mandarin.

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