Posted Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023 —

Two North Street School students won accolades in an international Mandarin language competition.

Logan Yuan and Elias Freeman, both grade 5 students, competed in The Second Chinese Bridge Chinese Show for Foreign Primary School Students — an international competition for Mandarin learners promoted by Hanban. Over 5,000 competed this year. The boys were notified of their win by mail — both received certificates entirely in Mandarin, which they then translated. “It said ‘first prize,’” Logan said. “I really was happy.”

Logan and Elias successfully completed round 1 with video renditions of Chinese fables in Mandarin language. Logan was ineligible to compete in round 2 because his father is Taiwanese, but Elias went on to earn a place as one of just seven successful candidates in the U.S. His final submission was a ventriloquist performance in Mandarin. “We combined his talent for ventriloquism with Logan Yuan and Elias Freeman his talent for Mandarin,” said Lena Chen, the children’s Mandarin language teacher. “It’s not normal to see an American attempt to speak Chinese through a plastic doll,” Elias said. 

“It’s not normal to see an American attempt to speak Chinese through a plastic doll,” Elias said.