After the 2025-2026 school year, the PCDS Upper School will continue to offer Spanish, French, and Latin courses, but will no longer have a Mandarin department. Over the past several years, the five students who take Mandarin have had a unique, personalized learning experience, coming together from different corners of the Upper School and challenging themselves with a foreign language.
Each student in the cohort comes from a different background. Senior Jaylyn Taylor and junior Reid Umar both took Spanish in elementary and middle school. Umar said, “I didn’t feel like I was getting very far in Spanish, and I just wanted to get a switch up.” Junior Addie Ward took Mandarin throughout middle school at BASIS, so, naturally, she decided to continue at PCDS. Junior Omar Ramirez, already fluent in Spanish, recalled, “My mom wanted me to take Mandarin.” EEN reached out to sophomore Marin Weiland, but she was not available for an interview.
Ward was pleasantly surprised by the connections that she has built through Mandarin class. “It definitely put me in contact with people that I never thought I would speak to,” she said. “Like, random sophomore? She is a queen. Love Jaylyn, she’s awesome. And, Reid and Omar, they’re chaotic. They’re kings.”
The students have built their own “Mandarin friend group,” as Taylor described it. She shared, “Because such a small group of us take it, we’ve definitely all become closer.”
When asked if he ever considered switching languages, Reid admitted, “Yeah, for sure. Because [Mandarin] is so hard. The language itself is difficult. But perseverance was key, and Omar and I worked together.”
Ramirez added, “Without Reid, I would have swapped out a long time ago. He told me to stay in.”
The students pointed out that unlike English and other language offerings at PCDS, which use the Latin alphabet, Mandarin is entirely different. Its characters can mean various things depending on context. This challenge has allowed them to develop a wide variety of skills, whether it’s memorization techniques, the ability to understand TV shows and ads in Mandarin, or even Umar making his way around Japan like a local, since Mandarin heavily influences Japanese.
“I feel like when you’re learning a language so complex, it just really challenges your brain,” Umar said. “Going from pinyin to characters, to hearing it, to reading it — it’s cool.”
Even though the PCDS Mandarin program is coming to a close, the students plan to continue their study of the language.
Ward aims to have a career in cybersecurity, so having the ability to communicate internationally is crucial to her. Even without a teacher next year, she is determined to continue building her proficiency, either by taking a class online or at a community college.
Taylor also plans to take Mandarin in college, while Ramirez said that he might like to travel to China as a foreign exchange student.
Reflecting on his time as a Mandarin student, Ramirez acknowledged the challenges it brought, but he also remembered the fun, sharing, “We had tea, and we made dumplings.”
The Mandarin class is relishing its final moments together before the class is discontinued. Ward is excited and a little nervous about the class’s upcoming outing. “We’re going on a field trip soon to get hot pot, and we’re going to have to order in Mandarin. I’m a little scared.”
