New Mandarin school in Kitchener hosting free demonstration class for kids

A new Mandarin school opening in Kitchener is hosting a free session for children and their families on August 29th.

First Step Mandarin is a new school designed to give children with little to no East Asian background an opportunity to learn the basics for speaking with others in the Chinese language. 

The free lesson will be held at the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Centre from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. for kids ages six to 12.

Yo Wang, the founder of First Step Mandarin and says the event is one way First Step Mandarin is helping students to foster a love for learning Mandarin. 

“What we're hoping to do is give those children their first learning steps,” says Wang, “And show them how fun learning Chinese can be.”

Wang says he hopes the demonstration will encourage students to sign up for classes in September. 

With a growing percentage of residents living in Waterloo Region with Chinese ancestry, Wang says there is a need for a school like this in Kitchener to connect residents.

“One of the cool things I've noticed in The Region is the transformation of our community,” says Wang, “even when you're just walking down the street, you can see the changing demographic in our community.”

Wang says his own experiences learning Mandarin in university influenced the way First Step Mandarin's 10-week course will teach beginners. 

“Instead of just entering a classroom and sitting down and listening to the teacher talk, just engage in conversations and get into interesting topics,” says Wang, “getting to do activities in the classroom and really just find ways to help you enjoy learning the language.”

Playing games, singing songs and watching Chinese films are a few ways First Step Mandarin aims to engage and challenge students. 

When asked about the challenges involved with learning Mandarin, Wang says the language isn't as hard to learn as people think.

According to Wang, Mandarin has simple grammar like English and there are no masculine of feminine words, which poses challenges for people learning Latin-based languages like French. 

“Something like counting to one to one-hundred can be learned in five minutes.” says Wang.

In the future, Wang says he hopes to increase the level of difficulty in classes for First Step Mandarin.

For now though, Wang says he's happy to be able to help people to get started.

“Learning Mandarin is a really cool opportunity to connect deeper with our community,” says Wang,  “I just would encourage anyone who has an interest in learning a language that Mandarin is one that it makes sense in learning.”  

Residents who would like to register for the free event or for classes can go to firststepmandarin.com