willow zheng mandarin - Students in China

willow zheng mandarin

Students in China - Scott in Hebei

One of Willow 's students, Scott Towsey, gave a speech in Chinese at a
banquet on May 28, 2007. The occasion was the opening of a new factory in Hebei Province. About 250 people attended including provincial, county, and township communist party officials and representatives from many of Cascade Corporation's Asian operations along with the President and Chief Financial Officer of Cascade.

Scott Speaking in Hebei

Scott said: "They seemed impressed when I started by saying “大家好!“(Dajia hao!, Hello everyone). I think they expected me to change back to English after that. My Chinese friends told me that I was understood about 90% during the 7 minute speech. I know that the audience got some of it because they would respond with clapping when I complimented Cascade China employees and management.

Because of my brief celebrity, some of the communist party officials adopted me for the afternoon and made sure I was introduced around and included in toasts even if I was only drinking Sprite. It was filmed too but I don't know if I will ever see it. Thanks for your help. It was a lot of work and pretty intense but I'm glad I did it."

Scott has been in Willow's class for a little more than one year, finished the level I part I text, and is now on Part II. He studies hard, and is especially focused on speaking Mandarin with the correct tones. With Willow's help, he wrote most of the speech himself.