Records of the opening of the Alberta Modern Chinese School in the 2016-2017 school year

Records of the opening of the 2016-2017 school year in the Alberta Modern Chinese School (Contributed by the Alberta Modern Chinese School) Modern Chinese schools in Alberta will open in the fall of 2016...

(Contributed by the Alberta Modern Chinese School) The 2016 fall semester of the Alberta Modern Chinese School has begun! The students, teachers, parents and volunteers of the school just held the 20th anniversary celebration in early May with great joy, and on August 13th they ushered in the first day of the new school year after the summer vacation with high spirits. Starting from 8 o'clock in the morning, all the school's work was carried out in an intense and orderly manner. Teachers in each class started the first class after the summer vacation on time. Volunteers enthusiastically assisted parents in the school office to register, pay fees, and select teaching materials for their children. The new school committee and board members enthusiastically answered various questions for parents.

ASU Tempe Campus

Since its establishment in August 1996, Modern Chinese School has grown from a small scale of more than 30 students and three or four teachers to today's grand occasion of more than 500 registered students. So far, the school has maintained the honorable title of "Chinese Education Model School" for four consecutive years. The achievements of Modern Chinese School have won widespread praise and praise from all walks of life in the community. The Consulate General of China in Los Angeles, the National Association of Chinese Schools, the Confucius Institute at ASU, various brother Chinese schools in Phoenix, and the local media in Phoenix have fully affirmed and highly praised the great achievements of Modern Chinese School in the past 20 years in terms of being committed to teaching Chinese in Phoenix, spreading Chinese culture, and actively participating in local community activities. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Modern Chinese School, the mayor of Tempe, Arizona, issued a special announcement for the school: "In view of the positive contributions made by the Alberta Modern Chinese School to Chinese education, cultural exchanges and community construction in the region since its establishment, I, the Mayor of Tempe, Mike Mitchell, declare May 7, 2016 as the Alberta Modern Chinese School Day."

ASU Farmer Education Building

The school's great achievements in the past 20 years are due to the unique school-running model of modern Chinese schools, diversified cultural communication methods, and multi-functional and distinctive community services.

The unique school-running model is mainly reflected in the recruitment and training of teachers and the selection and use of teaching materials. Teachers and teaching materials are the key to the success of overseas Chinese teaching. Modern Chinese schools continue to innovate in teacher recruitment and training and the selection of Chinese teaching materials, carefully sum up experiences and lessons, and form their own unique Chinese teaching model.

Modern Chinese School has a strong teaching staff. Most of the school’s Chinese teachers have a bachelor’s degree or above. Many teachers hold Arizona primary and secondary education certificates. The school attaches great importance to teacher training and the exchange of teaching methods. It has repeatedly invited scholars and teachers with rich experience in Chinese teaching in North America to come to the school to give various lectures on Chinese teaching. It also actively encourages our teachers to participate in the exchange of Chinese teaching in North America. On July 31, 2016, school chairman Mr. Xi Wenjun, principal Ms. Wang Yulan, and Chinese teaching team leader Ms. Gao Jingjing represented Modern Chinese School at the National Chinese Schools Association’s Chinese teaching exchange discussion meeting in Arizona composed of heads of seven Chinese schools. The school will, together with its brother schools, actively organize and participate in the "Overseas Chinese Education Experts Lecture Group" held in Phoenix on August 17, fully organize and mobilize school teachers to participate in the training, actively participate in various Chinese teaching innovation lectures of the tour group, encourage Chinese teachers to work hard to teach Chinese in an entertaining way, and focus on cultivating students' fun and initiative in learning Chinese.

>Alberta Modern Chinese School Chairman Mr. Xi Wenjun (left), Vice Principal of Finance Ling Hong (middle), Principal Ms. Wang Yulan (right)

In terms of the selection of Chinese teaching materials, Modern Chinese School continues to innovate and sums up its teaching experience over the years. While using Chinese teaching materials from Ma Liping and Jinan University, it has also added Chinese teaching materials from Wang Shuangshuang starting from this semester. Principal Wang Shuangshuang has many years of practical experience in front-line Chinese teaching at home and abroad. She has observed and carefully summarized Chinese teaching methods in China and the West, and summed up a set of her own unique and effective Chinese teaching methods. Based on repeated trials and modifications, she compiled a unique set of Shuangshuang Chinese teaching materials. The core of this set of textbooks is to incorporate the learning of Chinese characters into the process of learning Chinese culture, striving to make Chinese language teaching more interesting and increase students' thirst for knowledge. The diversification of Chinese teaching materials in modern Chinese schools allows parents and students to flexibly choose different teaching materials according to their own interests and characteristics to meet the learning needs of different students.

While paying attention to teachers and teaching materials, the school also advocates and encourages teachers to proactively contact and communicate with parents, work closely with parents, and listen to parents’ feedback, so that the school’s Chinese teaching methods and teaching quality can be improved and improved in a timely manner. In line with the purpose of providing all-round educational services, in addition to offering various Chinese courses, the school also offers mathematics courses for all grades from elementary school, junior high school to high school. Starting from this semester, the school has added the AMC "National Mathematics Competition" course to help students who are interested in mathematics competitions prepare to participate in national mathematics competitions. The setting of these courses greatly meets the special needs of the local Chinese community focusing on mathematics and science education. At present, the mathematics courses offered by modern Chinese schools have become an important supplement to students’ basic mathematics education in regular schools.

The school fully considers and meets the learning needs of students in this community to the greatest extent, which is another manifestation of the unique school-running model of modern Chinese schools. The breadth and depth of Chinese culture attracts many children from families without any Chinese-speaking environment. Many children from non-Chinese or mixed-ethnic families in the community have a strong desire to learn Chinese. Parents of these families are eager for their children to learn Chinese and understand Chinese culture. The school has fully considered the needs of this special group. Starting from this semester, the school has enriched the team of bilingual teaching teachers and increased the number of bilingual teaching classes. Teachers in bilingual classes teach Chinese in English, which puts forward higher requirements for teachers’ teaching quality and level. The school gives full play to the advantages of teachers in Chinese schools and promptly deploys qualified bilingual teachers to fully meet the special needs of non-Chinese families or mixed families learning Chinese.

Diversified Chinese cultural communication methods and multi-functional community service methods make modern Chinese schools a model for inheriting Chinese culture and actively serving the community.

In addition to the 27 Chinese classes and 17 math classes currently offered, the school also offers various other elective courses, including early childhood rap and singing, early childhood painting, Chinese martial arts, chess, and AP courses in various subjects. This diversified course design meets the learning requirements of students at all levels to the greatest extent. The school has also actively formed a student band to encourage students to participate in various talent performances inside and outside the school. The children in the martial arts class showed traditional Chinese martial arts culture to the audience at the 20th anniversary event and received warm applause. The school’s student band participated in last year’s Yellow River Cantata in Alberta to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victory of World War II and the Anti-Japanese War, and in the Phoenix Spring Festival Gala in February this year. In these two large-scale community activities, our student band performed outstandingly, presented wonderful programs to the community audience, and completed the performance tasks excellently. A dance team composed of parents of students performed a wonderful Xinjiang Uyghur dance at the school's 20th anniversary celebration, with excellent results. This diversified cultural communication method of modern Chinese schools has been widely praised by all walks of life.

Modern Chinese School is a gathering place for hundreds of students and their parents. In addition to the children's parents, these parents who send their children to school also include many grandparents. In this way, Chinese schools have naturally become centers of Chinese activities and exchanges.

Previous school committees and boards of directors have fully understood the reality of gatherings of students and parents, and have adopted a set of effective methods to meet the requirements of hundreds of parents for various activities and exchanges in Chinese schools every week. Not only are there a large number of student parents, but they also have different backgrounds and hobbies, which requires that the activities organized can be suitable for various cultural backgrounds and personal hobbies. There are a wide variety of adult activity classes currently registered in the school, including Tai Chi training classes, adult vocal education and training classes, yoga, Chinese martial arts, various dance and painting art training classes, various medical lectures, photography art, etc. Most of these activities provided for students and parents have Chinese cultural characteristics, which fully meet the needs of students and parents to learn and inherit Chinese culture.

These activities organized by the school have become part of the community activities. The school's Parents' Choir is an active participant in the local Chinese community. In recent years, it has participated in the local Spring Festival Gala and last year's Yellow River Cantata, playing an increasingly important role in cultural exchange activities in the local Chinese community. On the occasion of the Spring Festival Gala in February this year, the school cooperated with Hope Chinese School for the first time to hold a Spring Festival party. The Spring Festival party jointly organized by the two schools pushed the Chinese community's large-scale commemoration of the traditional Chinese Year to its climax.

The Alberta Modern Chinese School has gone through 20 fruitful years and ushered in its 21st year of teaching Chinese, spreading Chinese culture, and actively participating in Chinese community activities. The new school board of directors and school committee will continue to explore new Chinese teaching methods, carefully summarize their school-running experience in the past 20 years, and build a modern Chinese school into a model of Chinese teaching in Phoenix and even overseas, a center for the spread of Chinese culture, and a core force for Chinese community activities. (Written by: Miao Yuliang Photography: Zhao Tao, Mindy Pan, Jin Wu, Ruopeng, Chen Bin)