Mandarin Speaking Playground Mandarin Speaking Playground is an open space that aims to create a collective community where parents socialize and exchange tips on raising bilingual and biliterate children. Mandarin storytimes, Mandarin classes, and family gatherings are formed by the Founder, Jamie Gao, throughout the year. In order to make the learning meaningful for the children, the group seeks to provide and model Mandarin-speaking real-life situations via engaging activities for children.
“Be The Real Change” By Jamie Chiahui Gao 4/19/2021
The continuous turmoil of racism and violence keeps causing senseless deaths.
We are all responsible for changing this. How? Start here and now:
1. Each day, take a moment and rethink your unconscious judgments—small or big, reflexive or intentional--
about anyone, especially those you label "foreign" looking.
2. When encountering “different” accents, please listen. Don’t get irritated by foreign tongues; do pay attention
to new intonations and find patterns of beauty.
3. Learn to pronounce people's native names and not ask if they have nicknames, or worse, tell them to pick
one. It’s easy but cruel to ask people to change their identity and to accommodate your ignorance.
4.Stay curious like a child and reach out like tree branches to grow. “Foreignness” only happens when you stay
in familiar bubbles and refuse to venture beyond.
5. Search for your roots and learn who the pioneers in your family were, who arrived in this new land. Remember their story. What they did for your family might very much echo what new immigrants are doing for theirs.
We are unique as individuals but we all share the same heartbeats. We need to curiously and actively learn from each other. Celebrate the wonder and the beauty of difference. In this crowded and confusing world, it takes courage to stand up to protect your innate goodness. "Be the change" is not a buzzword but an action word in the present tense. No action is too small for significant positive change. #Recallyourinnategoodness
[Be The Change Links for Anti-Racism Self-study and take actions]
Asian American Pacific Islander American (AAPI) Heritage
The Best 15 Books about Asian American Identity
PBS Asian American Documentary
Learning for Justice
The continuous turmoil of racism and violence keeps causing senseless deaths.
We are all responsible for changing this. How? Start here and now:
1. Each day, take a moment and rethink your unconscious judgments—small or big, reflexive or intentional--
about anyone, especially those you label "foreign" looking.
2. When encountering “different” accents, please listen. Don’t get irritated by foreign tongues; do pay attention
to new intonations and find patterns of beauty.
3. Learn to pronounce people's native names and not ask if they have nicknames, or worse, tell them to pick
one. It’s easy but cruel to ask people to change their identity and to accommodate your ignorance.
4.Stay curious like a child and reach out like tree branches to grow. “Foreignness” only happens when you stay
in familiar bubbles and refuse to venture beyond.
5. Search for your roots and learn who the pioneers in your family were, who arrived in this new land. Remember their story. What they did for your family might very much echo what new immigrants are doing for theirs.
We are unique as individuals but we all share the same heartbeats. We need to curiously and actively learn from each other. Celebrate the wonder and the beauty of difference. In this crowded and confusing world, it takes courage to stand up to protect your innate goodness. "Be the change" is not a buzzword but an action word in the present tense. No action is too small for significant positive change. #Recallyourinnategoodness
[Be The Change Links for Anti-Racism Self-study and take actions]
Asian American Pacific Islander American (AAPI) Heritage
The Best 15 Books about Asian American Identity
PBS Asian American Documentary
Learning for Justice
ONE WORLD 世界大同
人們必需鄙棄對彼此的成見， 才能達到世界大同的理想。除了停止對彼此的歧視以外, 還要更進一步地了
解彼此。People must forsake their prejudices and biases against each other in order to achieve the
ideal of world unity. In addition to stopping discrimination against each other, we must further
understand and learn from each other.
“大同” - “Datong” is an ancient Chinese thought. It refers to the ideal world that mankind can finally
reach, and represents mankind's beautiful vision for the future society. The basic characteristics are
that everyone loves and helps each other, every family lives and works in peace and contentment,
there is no difference, no war. This state is called "the world of great harmony" （世界大同）。
人們必需鄙棄對彼此的成見， 才能達到世界大同的理想。除了停止對彼此的歧視以外, 還要更進一步地了
解彼此。People must forsake their prejudices and biases against each other in order to achieve the
ideal of world unity. In addition to stopping discrimination against each other, we must further
understand and learn from each other.
“大同” - “Datong” is an ancient Chinese thought. It refers to the ideal world that mankind can finally
reach, and represents mankind's beautiful vision for the future society. The basic characteristics are
that everyone loves and helps each other, every family lives and works in peace and contentment,
there is no difference, no war. This state is called "the world of great harmony" （世界大同）。
[Who is Jamie?]
Jamie kicked off her "Journey to the West" in Boston right after she received her BFA from Tunghai University, Taiwan, where she studied Classical Chinese Art. During her graduate study at Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, she picked up mixed media and filmmaking. Her works, which focused on gender bias in patriarchal societies, were awarded and exhibited internationally. While experiencing real life in New York City, she screened her independent films in various art houses and received awards in film festivals. Aiming to distribute her films, Jamie picked up media licensing and later worked as an executive for distribution companies in Los Angeles. After her son was born in San Francisco, she was eager to learn everything about a child, a whole child, so she dived into studying child development and later received an ECE Site Supervisor Credential. In 2008, Jamie found Mandarin-speaking Playground and hosted monthly book readings and social events to serve the communities. Jamie has been a teacher throughout most of her life, but her passion for education was only re-ignited by the Reggio Emilia approach. For the past ten years, Jamie has taught in Chinese Immersion Schools in the Bay Area. She was invited to share her students' projects with her cohorts. Gao has been an avid writer since 4th grade, and in New York, she was a columnist for an e-newspaper. In her spare time, she continues to work on her second children's book and writes educational blogs. Currently, she teaches at an independent high school as the Mandarin Language Literature Teacher. From Thailand to Ice Land, Jamie enjoys traveling and exploring the wonders of the world with her son.
Jamie kicked off her "Journey to the West" in Boston right after she received her BFA from Tunghai University, Taiwan, where she studied Classical Chinese Art. During her graduate study at Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, she picked up mixed media and filmmaking. Her works, which focused on gender bias in patriarchal societies, were awarded and exhibited internationally. While experiencing real life in New York City, she screened her independent films in various art houses and received awards in film festivals. Aiming to distribute her films, Jamie picked up media licensing and later worked as an executive for distribution companies in Los Angeles. After her son was born in San Francisco, she was eager to learn everything about a child, a whole child, so she dived into studying child development and later received an ECE Site Supervisor Credential. In 2008, Jamie found Mandarin-speaking Playground and hosted monthly book readings and social events to serve the communities. Jamie has been a teacher throughout most of her life, but her passion for education was only re-ignited by the Reggio Emilia approach. For the past ten years, Jamie has taught in Chinese Immersion Schools in the Bay Area. She was invited to share her students' projects with her cohorts. Gao has been an avid writer since 4th grade, and in New York, she was a columnist for an e-newspaper. In her spare time, she continues to work on her second children's book and writes educational blogs. Currently, she teaches at an independent high school as the Mandarin Language Literature Teacher. From Thailand to Ice Land, Jamie enjoys traveling and exploring the wonders of the world with her son.