Issue link: https://trevordayschool.uberflip.com/i/1504410
M I D D L E S C H O O L Trevor Translates: Mandarin in Grades 6–8 by Rebecca Damas, Director of Middle School For many, many years Trevor's World Language Program consisted of two languages: French and Spanish. There were a few years when Italian was offered in the Upper School, but somehow our "world" language program was confined to continental Europe. Not long after joining Trevor as Head of School, Scott led the administrative team to the decision that we should add a language option from another part of the world. Doing so would make our world language program competitive with other schools in the city, and would help distinguish Trevor students as they went through the college application process. Dianne Tisman, our World Language Department Chair at the time, told me recently, "It needed to be done. We had to give kids more choices." After discussing a few options, we decided to add Mandarin. Hiring new teachers is always a demanding task, but hiring someone to launch a new program entirely requires a truly special person. We were lucky enough to connect with an especially talented teacher, Xiaomo Hong, who was working at the New York International School located at 4 East 90th Street. If that address rings a bell, that is because it is the former location of our Lower School at the Church of the Heavenly Rest. We had opened our new East Campus by then, and the Lower School had moved into the West Campus, so Ms. Tisman and I visited our old stomping grounds to observe Ms. Hong's classes and to meet with her about what it would look like to launch a brand new program in grades 6 and 9. The goal was that this program would grow over the course of four years until Mandarin was offered in every grade level from 6 through 12. Witnessing the enthusiasm of Ms. Hong's students, it was immediately clear that she was a great teacher. When we settled into the beautiful library at the International School to discuss what the program would look like, it was obvious that she was the ideal person to lead this project. Indeed, Ms. Hong had a compelling vision for Trevor's Mandarin program, and six years later we have a thriving 30 / TREVOR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022–2023