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Tucson Chinese School

祖筍中文学校

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The Progressing of Tucson Chinese School

Lei Hong

Principal of Tucson Chinese School

On the North side of town, there stands a newly constructed boat-like building with an area of 15635 square feet, the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center, also the headquarter of the Tucson Chinese Association. With a history beginning in the 1800’s, the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center has become the symbol of the Chinese community, and the center for sharing the Chinese culture. The Tucson Chinese School (hereinafter the TCS), a very important part of the Cultural Center, is held here.

Tucson Chinese School has already had fifty years of history.  Ever since the records kept in the 80’s, TCS has already received ten principals’ hard work and care. During this time, Chinese School has moved from many places, from a Confucius Church to Roskruge Elementary School, and from Catalina High School to the campus of the University of Arizona. Although the journey has been difficult, TCS’ goal has never changed, i.e. to sincerely promote the Chinese language and culture through teaching. Under this goal, TCS is not for profit, but to do all we can to offer the best quality teaching of the Chinese language and culture in the entire southwest part of Arizona.

TCS’ school year is made up of two semesters. The fall semester starts in August and ends in December, a total of sixteen weeks. Class time is every Sunday from 1:30pm to 5:30pm. The language classes offered at Chinese School are separated into simplified Mandarin, traditional Mandarin, and Cantonese. The three divisions of Chinese offered shows that all Chinese people are represented and given the opportunity to learn Chinese. As of now, Simplified Chinese has eleven classes; Traditional, four. On top of that, Chinese school has also opened three classes for adults and two classes for bilingual students, sufficiently providing for all types of people interested in Chinese. Anyone who comes to Chinese School to learn Chinese can find a class suited to them. Besides the language class offered, our school also offers many different cultural classes that give the students more opportunities to learn and to use aspects of Chinese culture. There is a composition contest every year at Chinese school, where the best essays are sent to the “Worldwide Chinese Elementary Students Composition Contest.” In the 8th annual contest, where more than a thousand students entered from all over the world, 9 students were chosen from our Chinese school, one first place, five second places, and three third places. Also, our annual school-wide speech contest is always welcomed by our students. Students from all classes have joined the speech contest. In the midst of all the little kids’ laughter, the judges always remember the cute speeches on the “Little White Rabbit”; In the midst of the a long and moving speech, the people listening also experience the amazing ancient words from “The Art of War – Seek to Attack”.  TCS also strongly encourages its students to participate in the Southern Arizona Language Fair. Besides the language classes, Chinese School’s students also can choose from artistic culture classes, culture classes with crafts, and sports as culture classes. This way, students experience Chinese culture while learning the Chinese language.

At Chinese school, we have a team of teachers that we are very proud of, because there are teachers with more than ten years of teaching experience, along with young and energetic teachers who are joining us for the first time. All of our teachers show ultimate care towards the students, passionate dedication towards Chinese culture, and do all they can in service to the school. Our school has always stressed that the teachers be the best, so training our staff is a focal point for Chinese school. At Chinese school, there is a come and go freedom for all who teach here. Also, the Chinese school encourages all of our teachers to participate in the Chinese Teachers’ Training Course in China to come back with the Overseas Chinese Teacher’s Certificate. There is also an Asian Chinese Teaching Conference held in the United States, which we encourage our teachers to go to also, where they can listen to the speeches of Chinese Professors. On top of that, our school efficiently takes advantage of the ties we have to the Eastern Studies College of the University of Arizona, inviting well-known people from China to stop by our school. The famous Calligraphist, Sun Duo Quan, visited our school during the spring semester in 2007; all of our teachers and students were amazed and enjoyed his presentation. Before the start of every school year at Chinese school, we have what is called a “Teachers Training Day.” Here teachers who are leaving or who participated in one of the international or national Chinese teachers’ events would share a little about what they would like to pass on to the new or young teachers who are joining for the new school year. Then, the teachers could share about their experiences and tips while also bringing up their own teaching and abilities by learning from each other. Parents and students also happily contribute to the benefit of the teachers at Chinese school, because at the end of every year, we give out a plaque to the teacher with the most compliments. Other than the hard work of teachers, Tucson Chinese School also thanks the many kind people who give their time and money to Chinese School. Without them, we would not have the Tucson Chinese School that we have today.

Under the leadership of the Tucson Chinese School Board, and with the support of the Tucson Chinese Association and the community at large, TCS will do our best with what we have, set up our higher goals, improve upon each success and contribute our efforts to promote the Chinese culture in the new school year.

 

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