From left: Vicky Cho, Dr. Chang Hao-Ming and Ms. Maelynn Arnold, and Rose Chen.

The Bear Cub Mandarin Immersion Preschool Academy in Arlington, Massachusetts officially opened on September 28, 2020 for children aged from 2 years and 9 months to 6 years old. The preschool has a brand-new facility and it features a Reggio Emilia-inspired educational philosophy and pedagogy. This is designed to allow teachers, children and parents to establish "teacher-student interaction" and "collaborative participation" and create a quality nurturing environment that provides the best space and approach for young children to learn, develop, and cultivate new horizons.

The director, Vicky Cho, is a native of Taiwan with a rich teaching experience and the other teachers are excellent native Mandarin speakers. The curriculum, teaching methods and environment are designed and tailored according to children's individual needs, interests, development, and unique personality, and they use Mandarin immersion and situational/contextual teaching.

MaeLynn Arnold and Chang Hao-Ming are co-founders of the Bear Cub Mandarin Academy. They run a bilingual (Mandarin and English) household with their 4 year-old daughter, 2 year-old son, and 8 month-old son. MaeLynn has a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in music, specializing in violin performance from Boston University, and she’s a Suzuki certified instructor. Chang Hao-Ming a graduate of National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan also has a Ph.D. in molecular oncology and immunology from New York University School of Medicine.

The Education Division at TECO in Boston visited the Bear Cub Mandarin Academy in October and looks forward to supporting this unique early education program, promoting the Chinese language, and culture and traditions from Taiwan.