Since early 2023, the Mandarin program at the School has faced a series of disruptions that have led students to question both its stability and overall quality.
The first major issue came when the teacher for levels 1–4 left suddenly after only a quarter of the school year. With no prior notice, the departure felt abrupt, especially for newer students, and created an immediate sense of uncertainty. Although the School quickly hired a replacement, Ender Choo, who two students described as effective in the role, the sudden transition still left a lasting impression. For some, it raised early concerns about consistency within the program.
As students progressed into upper-level classes, other concerns began to surface. During both the 2023–2024 and 2024–2025 school years, complaints were brought to the administration regarding the structure and effectiveness of advanced Mandarin classes. Students described lessons as lacking clear organization and said that class time often felt unproductive. While activities like games and interactive exercises can support language learning, some students felt that these methods were overused and sometimes replaced direct instruction rather than reinforcing it.
Assessments have also been a point of frustration. Some students feel that the work completed during the year does not align well with how they are evaluated. While class activities may focus on games or informal practice, tests and finals often emphasize skills such as listening, reading comprehension, and paragraph writing, areas students say are not consistently reinforced during lessons. This disconnect can make assessments feel overwhelming and, at times, unreflective of what is practiced in class.
Regarding these complaints filed by students, the Interim Head of Upper School, Courtney Duke, said, “Just like how conversations between a student and I are confidential, I can’t share information about conversations between us and [Yang]” before going on to reiterate that the concerns shared by students were addressed with the utmost seriousness.
However, this comment leaves questions about transparency and communication. Whether it is from the administration to the students or from the teacher to the students, there simply isn’t enough knowledge about what is going on behind the scenes. One anonymous student said, “We filed a complaint one year and then next year, the same issues [the students] were worried about pop up again. It left me wondering what they really talked about with Ms. Yang, or if they even talked with her at all.”
Despite these concerns, many students still value the opportunity to learn Mandarin and want the program to succeed. Students expressed interest in seeing improvements such as more structured lessons, clearer communication, and stronger alignment between instruction and evaluation. With more consistency and responsiveness to feedback, the Mandarin program has the potential to better support students in developing meaningful language skills.