Robyn Speidel (left) and Chris Simmons (right) with their son(middle) at Tianmu Baseball Stadium in Taipei, 2015.
Top photo: Robyn, Chris and Kuen Yehliu (1st from left), TCML-Ann Arbor Director, at the Michigan Chinese School Association speech competition. Bottom photo: Robyn, Chris, and teacher Ko Yu Chan at the TCML- Ann Arbor award ceremony.
Taiwan Center for Mandarin Learning(TCML) in Ann Arbor Linda's New Year party performance and dinner event.
Robyn and Chris enjoy being part of the TCML-Ann Arbor program very much.
For Robyn Speidel, Taiwan is a place filled with vivid childhood memories. For her husband, Chris Simmons, learning Mandarin is a way to connect with Robyn and gain a deeper understanding of Taiwan's cultural roots. Although the two began studying Mandarin for different reasons, they found a shared experience at the Taiwan Center for Mandarin Learning in Ann Arbor (TCML-Ann Arbor), where language learning has also become a journey of cultural discovery.
Because of her father's work, Robyn's family lived in Taiwan as foreigners throughout her childhood and teenage years. She attended a public elementary school near Tunghai University in Taichung from Kindergarten through fourth grade, and later attended Taipei American School in Taipei's Tianmu district. Even after many years, she still remembers going to Kindergarten with a handkerchief pinned to her clothes. Each morning, students and teachers gathered outdoors to sing the national anthem, watch the national flag being raised, listen to the principal's remarks, and do morning exercises. These memories have stayed with her ever since, and returning to Mandarin study has given her a chance to reconnect with her childhood in Taiwan. Those school-day memories are part of what drew her back to the language decades later.
Chris's motivation grew out of family life. While spending time with Robyn's family, he often heard stories about their experiences living in Taiwan and Mandarin learning, and he gradually picked up words and simple sentences. Mastering the tones, however, has been one of his biggest challenges. Through classes at TCML-Ann Arbor, he now has more opportunities to practice pronunciation and speaking, with teachers offering guidance and encouragement along the way. He hopes that continued practice will help him hold longer conversations with Robyn's family in Mandarin.
A family-introduction assignment in class led Chris to another meaningful experience: entering a Mandarin speech contest. With help from teachers Yu-Jo Chou Philson and Ko Yu Chan, he practiced his speech and pronunciation repeatedly so he could express his ideas clearly. Robyn also took part. She admitted that speaking in front of an audience does not come naturally to her, but encouragement from teachers Jen-hwen Wang and Ko Yu Chan helped her build confidence and draw on a wider vocabulary. For both of them, the contest was more than language practice; it was a chance to step outside their comfort zones. Both are also frequent participants and award winners who represent TCML-Ann Arbor in the annual inter-school speech competition hosted by the Michigan Chinese Educators Association. Preparing for the contest each year has become one of their favorite parts of learning.
Both Robyn and Chris are now retired — Chris from the City of Ypsilanti Department of Public Works, and Robyn from Original Moxie, a Ypsilanti hair care company. In their everyday life, learning Mandarin has made a real difference: their Mandarin-speaking son is going to marry a native Mandarin-speaking Chinese woman. The wedding will take place in January 2027, followed by a wedding celebration in Urumqi, Xinjiang, China in 2028 or 2029. With a Chinese daughter-in-law joining the family, the couple feels it is even more important to keep learning and to practice speaking with each other. They look forward to welcoming their future daughter-in-law and being able to converse with her and her family in Mandarin.
Food ties the couple to Taiwan too. Chris visited only once, in 2015, staying at Taipei's Grand Hotel — he still remembers the brunch, especially the tea eggs, new to him. For Robyn, the taste of childhood is suan mei, the salted dried plums she still loves and finds in Michigan's Asian grocery stores.
Robyn's Taiwan school days live on through old friendships. Facebook helped her reconnect with Taipei American School classmates, leading to reunions across the country — recently, four friends spent a long weekend in Detroit, even walking the Gordie Howe Bridge to Windsor and back.
For both, Taiwan is not just a memory but a living connection — through food, friendships, and family.
For Robyn and Chris, learning at TCML-Ann Arbor has meant more than language study. They enjoy the center's educational cultural events, often with good snacks, and credit its dedicated, caring teachers for helping them learn. They also enjoy meeting fellow learners from different backgrounds at the center's gatherings. Their advice to anyone considering Mandarin or wanting to learn more about Taiwan is that class is fun and you will learn a great deal. Their experiences also show that people have different reasons for learning Mandarin: some want to communicate with family, others hope to reconnect with cherished memories, and many are simply curious about another language and culture. Their journey is a reminder that learners do not need to be fluent from the start; with practice, encouragement, and a willingness to speak, confidence grows one step at a time.
TCML-Ann Arbor was the first Taiwan Center for Mandarin Learning established in Michigan. The center promotes Mandarin education and Taiwanese culture in the local community through classes that use Traditional Chinese characters and Hanyu Pinyin, combining speaking practice, teacher-student interaction, and cultural activities. In recognition of its ongoing efforts, the center has received an "Excellent" evaluation from the Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) for two consecutive years — 2024 and 2025. For anyone interested in learning Mandarin, exploring Traditional Chinese characters, or discovering Taiwanese culture, TCML-Ann Arbor is a welcoming place to begin. Learning Mandarin is more than learning a language; it is a way to build connections and open a window onto another culture.
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