A Delicious Way to Practice Mandarin

Students in Haverford’s Mandarin program meet Wednesdays at noon in a private room in the Dining Center to practice their language skills over lunch.

WHAT: The Chinese Language Table is one of the unique facets of the Bi-College Mandarin program, offering students a chance to engage with the language outside of class via a weekly lunchtime mini-immersion program. All students of Mandarin, regardless of level, are required to attend at least three times a semester, and a professor steers the discussions. There’s no formal structure to the Chinese Language Table—it’s simply a time to practice spoken Mandarin with your peers, free from the pressure of the classroom or trying to impress a native speaker in one-on-one conversation. All other language departments within the Bi-Co—Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, German, and Russian—host similar gatherings.

WHEN & WHERE: Every Wednesday at noon in the Dining Center’s Swarthmore Room.

DID YOU KNOW? While the Chinese Language Table is the Chinese Department faculty’s brainchild, it has a student-organized and -run counterpart in the weekly PARC (Pan-Asian Student Resource Center) lunches, which are held on Mondays and Fridays in the PARC Room of the D.C. Basement. 

GET INVOLVED: All are welcome, although most attendees are enrolled in a Mandarin class within the Tri-Co. Discussion is held solely in Mandarin Chinese, so some level of knowledge of the language is a requirement. Contact Associate Director of the Chinese Language Program Changchun Zhang with questions.

Photos by Lev Greenstein ’20.