The students also participated in a fun escape-room type challenge called Transcribe to Survive. This was run by volunteers from Geneskool, an outreach education program by Genome BC. The volunteers included an undergraduate student in microbiology, a newly graduated Biology major, and a masters student who analyzed data on lung cancer. Twice a year, Geneskool organizes field trips to Capilano University for their CSI Mystery, where students do lab work to analyze a “crime scene” and solve a “murder”. The students learned how to determine blood type, use gel electrophoresis to examine specific genes, and observe samples under a foldscope microscope.

Tobias and Verity took us on a historical journey to Beijing, visiting the Great Wall while trying out different Peking duck restaurants. Chris and Valerie shared delicacies in Taipei, including Din Tai Fung at Taipei 101 and food at bustling night markets.

Eric and Marcus planned a trip to Tahiti, where they explored beautiful beaches, clear blue water, and local markets in Papeete. Simone and Niobe took us to Quebec City and shared famous places like “Le Petit Champlain”, Montmorency Falls, and the historic area of Old Quebec. Joshua and Yusuf planned a visit to Lyon, a city known for its great food and history. Their projects showed different cultures and gave the class new travel ideas.

Students worked in their own language groups to create their projects, but one of the most exciting aspects was the opportunity to present their work to the other class. French students shared their itineraries with Mandarin learners, and vice versa. This activity helped students see how language can be used beyond the classroom!

We’ve been getting familiar with using the microscope to examine microscopic structures. We did an osmosis experiment, looking at how onion and blood cells shrivel up in hypertonic (high salt) solutions and expand in hypotonic (deionized water) solutions. The students also made drawings of prepared slides and learned how to calculate magnification. They are now working on their bacteria growth lab project, where they had to develop their own experiment to test a question of their choice. Some of the questions students are examining include: “What is the dirtiest place on a bus?”, “How does the amount of bacteria in frozen meat change after repeatedly thawing and refreezing?”, “Does the amount of time you spend gaming per week affect the amount of bacteria on your WASD keys?”, “How do different concentrations of oregano oil affect bacteria growth?”, and “Does Canada’s polymer money stay cleaner than America’s cotton-linen money?”. The students are also learning about some of the frustrations of lab work - half of the students’ agar plates did not set and they will be trying again next week!

After our snack and conversation, students explored two traditional art forms connected to the Spring Festival. They tried calligraphy, learning the characters commonly used in Square Spring Couplets for good wishes, such as 福 (fú) for good fortune, 春 (chūn) for spring, and 财 (cái) for wealth. We talked about the tradition of placing the character upside down to convey the idea that good fortune or spring has arrived, as “upside down” sounds the same as “arrived” in Mandarin. Students also created paper-cut art with festive designs, such as the Chinese zodiac animals and lanterns. I hope it was a fun way to welcome the new year while strengthening both Mandarin skills and cultural understanding!

I can also share some photos from the mini-showcase we did on the last day of class, where Grade 8 and 9 students came by to see the Grade 10 projects. By the end, I think many of the younger students were looking forward to taking the course themselves in the future!

Thanks to all the students for a great course. Thanks also to Thanh, Pavel and Theo who helped out as teaching assistants.

Moreover, the students learned to play Mahjong during the last class before the winter break. (Thanks Valerie for bringing Mahjong and the table!)

I also had the opportunity to teach a mini-lesson on ancient Chinese mathematics, combining two topics of students’ interests (and mine): history and mathematics. Students explored a visual proof of the Gou-Gu Theorem, known as the Pythagorean Theorem in our math textbooks, from an ancient Chinese mathematics text.

As part of the activity, students were able to apply concepts they learned from math class. Students then did brief research on other topics such as Luo Shu (magic square), the Yang Hui Triangle (Pascal’s Triangle), and the Jiu Zhang Suan Shu (The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Arts). The students shared Chinese characters they recognized and reflected on what they learned.

We have now begun a new unit, and students will learn how to carry out conversations when visiting a doctor, as well as how to talk about seasons and weather. In addition, we are wrapping up the semester by students working on a second draft of their self-introduction essays, with the focus on talking about their school life and incorporating new topics they learned in the first semester. I look forward to seeing the students’ continued learning and growth in the second half of the course!

I can’t believe the winter break is almost here! We’ve been very busy tackling this challenging course and have been having some fun along the way. This is a small class who are not huge fans of being photographed so apologies for the lack of student photos and I’ve included some examples of their work to help you get a sense of what we’ve been up to.

We started our year off with a general overview of expressions, equations and functions. We moved to investigating transformations of relations and functions through a Desmos activity involving changing a facial expression and challenged ourselves to think about why the characters hair will never grow! There were days where we felt a little irrational when learning about rational functions and days where we engaged in rich discussions and let our passion for learning shine. There were a few surprises when students went on the hunt for a parabola in their personal lives, discovering instead many catenaries and conic sections! And it was uncomfortable for some when asked to demonstrate the finite sum of an infinite convergent geometric series without writing any mathematics!

We’ve begun to apply our knowledge of functions to create mathematical models, recently completing a lab relating to lenses and images. Students used a flashlight, reading glasses and measuring tape to collect their own data then they had to decide what type of function would be appropriate to model the relationship. Everyone in this group continues to be highly engaged and contributes to a positive and supportive learning environment.

I hope you all have a restful winter break.

Edit: Daniel’s slides can be viewed here.

Outside this guest class the students are making good progress on their projects. Those aiming for the early deadline only have 10 days to go!

During the visit at the Chinese Canadian Museum, the students had the chance to observe relics from back in history that enabled them to go back in time and look at and understand better the concept of Chinese Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act, topics students have studied in Social Studies class. The Mandarin 10 students also had the opportunity to connect their learning about language and culture, and they will continue exploring Chinese Canadian history through authentic artifacts with Chinese characters in class.

We feel honored to be one of the first high school groups invited to the Chinese Canadian Museum, and we believe that our students gained meaningful insights into some of the important cultural and historical components of our city.

Earlier this week, we took a walk to the La Win Supermarket, just a few blocks away from the school. On the way to the supermarket, students had fun spotting Chinese characters on street signs and advertisements. Inside the supermarket, they checked out a variety of products and the bilingual labels. With a $20 budget, the students decided to buy shrimp crackers, yogurt drinks, and ingredients to make rice paper wraps, complete with hoisin sauce, bean curds, and (a bit too much) cucumbers! Students also learned how to say these food items in Mandarin.

We celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival by sharing mooncakes and tea. Students learned about the festival’s legends, including the stories of Chang’e (the moon goddess), the Jade Rabbit, and Wu Gang (the man chopping a self-healing tree on the moon). Students also learned about the story of how mooncakes play a role during the Han Chinese uprising against the Mongols in the Yuan Dynasty.

To wrap up this unit, students will be working on a role-play combining both of our recent themes of asking for directions and shopping. I look forward to seeing how the class apply their Mandarin skills and showcase their creativity!

• several game design projects, including at least one based on a student’s hobby

• creating AI for games

• two visual novels, one about being stuck in a loop on a school day

• reproducing the New York Times’ Wordle bot

• a couple projects involving hardware, including an ambitious library checkout system

• code that generates art or music

• a bot in a Discord server, which uses an LLM to respond to queries (mostly completed already, to my surprise, so we’ll be brainstorming lots of new directions and extensions!)

Most of class time is spent working on the projects with the opportunity to receive help from me or one of the teaching assistants, but the course also includes several mini-lessons sprinkled throughout. Today’s mini lesson topic was code quality, which students will also be graded on at the end of the course.

Something I didn’t plan/anticipate was being able to use students’ preliminary project work as examples or case studies for a mini lesson. It felt more real and engaging to explain why a particular student’s code could benefit from better variable names or refactoring, rather than just assuming a generic software development project. Fortunately I’ve had a couple years to get to know the Grade 10s, and for them to get to know each other, so we have a safe environment where students seem comfortable having their work critiqued for the benefit of all. As the projects progress and there is more code to discuss, we can try this approach more fully. Thank you students for your cooperation and enthusiasm so far — looking forward to the rest of the course!

This semester, students covered a lot. They listened to and analyzed French music, learned about different French-speaking vacation destinations, and even worked with the Mandarin class on an awesome collaboration project. They also practiced using both formal and informal tones in writing and conversation.

In grammar, students focused on key verb tenses like passé composé, imparfait, futur simple, and futur proche. They also spent time developing their writing skills through different assignments. One of their final projects was an opinion piece on a controversial issue. They later turned it into a podcast, combining research, writing, and speaking in one creative task.

It’s been a busy and productive semester and this trip to Beaucoup Pâtisserie was the perfect way to end it!

Yesterday, students also did their last presentation for the course, their Mandarin passion projects. Topics ranged from historical themes such as the Tang Dynasty and the Boxer Rebellion (inspired by the graphic novel Boxers and Saints), to classic literature such as Journey to the West. Others explored modern-day culture and practical language use, including useful phrases related to transportation, the TV show Fresh Off the Boat, and the making of cáozi gāo, a traditional Chinese cake. I especially enjoyed the creative ways some students made their presentations engaging, by incorporating interactive games like bingo and charades.

It is hard to believe that we are getting close to the end of our Mandarin course! In our final week, students will try to perfect their self-introduction in Mandarin, reflect on their learning, and celebrate their growth throughout the Mandarin program. It has been a great pleasure learning Mandarin together over the past three years!

Please create an image that accurately represents the reality of what most dairy farms look like.

is revised behind the scenes to

Generate an image of a typical dairy farm landscape during the daytime. The scene should include a wide open field with Holstein cows grazing on lush green grass. There are clusters of trees offering shade and a large traditional red barn with white trim is positioned towards the backdrop. Also visible in the scene are farm workers, a mixed group of men and women with diverse ethnic backgrounds, mechanically milking the cows and performing other tasks. On the horizon, there are rolling hills and the sky is partially cloudy, casting dappled shadows on the ground.

This clearly goes against the spirit of the initial prompt from the user, who is asking for an accurate depiction. These unrealistic images may prevent widespread awareness of animal welfare issues in industrial farming.

Yesterday’s session included a hands-on activity where students examined AI output and discussed the implications. To me at least, it was a fascinating crossover between seemingly unrelated disciplines and a great example of how AI may shape our collective perceptions in subtle ways.

Students also participated in a Chinese lion and dragon dance workshop, where they learned about the history and cultural significance behind these traditional performances. They learned and practiced some basic Chinese lion dance steps. Then, working with a partner, students combined the dance moves with the drumming rhythm they learned.

After visiting the Chinatown Storytelling Centre, we had a delicious dim sum lunch. This shared meal has become a tradition in our Mandarin program.

Students were then asked to write and perform two original short dialogues: one using formal language, such as in a professional setting (like applying for a job), and another using informal language for a friendly, casual conversation. This activity allowed students to work on their oral communication skills, while also developing an understanding of register and context in French.

Through writing, rehearsing, and presenting, students showed creativity and confidence. It was great to see them switch between both styles while maintaining a conversation. Formal writing topics included, filing for taxes and job interviews. Where the informal conversations covered friendly conversations and disagreements.

Bravo à tous!