Last Tuesday, our Upper 4 Mandarin students had the exciting opportunity to take their learning beyond the classroom and experience Chinese culture firsthand with a trip to Chinatown in central London. The trip was not only educational but also really enjoyable, one of our Mandarin pupils, Serin tells us why:
“On Tuesday, our Mandarin class went on a school trip to Chinatown, just off Leicester Square, and it was one of the most enjoyable trips I’ve had since the beginning of the year. We drove to Feltham station, then took a train to London Waterloo, and finally the tube, which took us to Chinatown. When we arrived, we had about 20 minutes to explore the area, and my friends and I went to Chinatown Bakery, which had a variety of buns and pastries that were really nice. After that, we were split into groups and given a worksheet for a ‘scavenger hunt’, where we learned about the history of Chinatown and answered questions about each street, such as, When was this restaurant established? and Look at the menu of Rui Restaurant. How much are eight 小笼包?
For lunch, we ate at a restaurant called Real Beijing Food House, where our teacher, Mr Ng, shared Asian dining etiquette with us and, of course, had some conversations in Mandarin about food and drinks. We had different Chinese dishes, including 羊肉, 牛肉, 鸡肉, and 蔬菜, which were all delicious.
After lunch, we had 30 minutes of free time, and my friends and I got bubble tea and a corn dog from Bunsik, which was a nice treat. Some other friends had bubble waffles, matcha ice cream, and more bubble tea. Overall, it was a brilliant experience. My class arrived back at school (quite reluctantly) and agreed that the trip was a memorable one, with photos and videos to remember it by.”
