Phoenix Chinese School Spring Festival Garden Party - Celebrate the New Year in the Year of the Horse

Phoenix Chinese School Spring Festival Garden Party - Celebrate the New Year in the Year of the Horse (contributed by Phoenix Chinese School) Phoenix Chinese School's 2014 Spring Festival Garden Party, in February...

(contributed by Phoenix Chinese School) Phoenix Chinese School’s 2014 Spring Festival Garden Party will be held at 11 a.m. on February 9th at the Mesa Community College campus. This year, due to the renovation of the campus atrium, the venue was changed to a large outdoor tent. The eye-catching building contains tables and chairs provided by the community college and a stage set up by the staff. This year’s Spring Festival garden party is unique.

After passing the volunteers who entertained the guests at the entrance, they walked into the tent. The aroma of delicious food whetted their appetites. The local Taiwanese dishes carefully prepared by the parents include carrot cake, meat soup, fried rice, braised meat, tea eggs, tofu pudding, etc. The Western-style pizza and boba milk tea displayed by the Student Generation Association are also another option. After enjoying the delicious food, near noon, the music started playing, and the dance performance "What Did the Fox Say" directed by teacher Wen Linglin, with vigorous singing and dancing, kicked off this year's exciting program. What followed was a delightful lion dance performance that captivated the audience.

The lion welcomes guests in the New Year

The host Mr. Zheng Hong came on stage to greet the audience. Later, Mr. Xie Jianming, convener of the board of directors, and Principal Cheng Xiuling delivered speeches respectively, thanking all guests for their support of the school and extending New Year blessings. The distinguished guests attending this meeting include Mr. Pan Shou'an, the president of Mesa Community College, Ms. Pat Esparza, who is in charge of the Chinese language school business of Mesa Community College, and Mr. Mark, the chief of police of Mesa City. Wesellmen, Ms. Zhang Qingling, Overseas Chinese Affairs Advisory Committee member of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission of the Republic of China, Mr. and Mrs. Qiu Shunxiong, Overseas Chinese Affairs Consultant, Mr. and Mrs. Lin Ruixiong and Huang Yulian, Ms. Xu Kailai, Dr. Wang Wenxiu and his wife, Mr. He Shijiang, Chairman of Hope Chinese School, and Ms. Shuai Zhiruo, former principal, etc.

Several distinguished guests then took the stage to deliver speeches, including President Pan Shou'an of Mesa Community College, Mesa City Police Chief Mr. Mark Wesellmen and Overseas Chinese Affairs Advisor Qiu Shunxiong. The distinguished guests spoke highly of Phoenix Chinese School’s promotion of Chinese education and inheritance of Chinese culture.

The next step was the performances of students from each class. The little children in the preschool class have already been dressed up and ready to go on stage. The loud singing combined with the movements and the children's cute performances made parents unable to help but take pictures. The fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth grade classes sang "Love is in the Heart". In addition to singing, there was also a wonderful dance performance by classmate Xie Xiaolan. The drama club performed "Silly Goose Skin" directed by teacher Liao Guiying, and the drama "New Year's Story - Nian Beast" directed by fourth grade teacher Zhuang Shiqing used many large-scale props in addition to special costumes. The wonderful looks of the students are all carefully crafted by teachers and parents. The movements during the performance were natural and the lines were fluent. I believe they must have spent a lot of time preparing. Also popular and well-received were the performances of martial arts and Tai Chi. Eighth-grade classmate Huang Zhiwei’s machete performance was very powerful. Mr. Yang Yongqing, a famous Tai Chi master, led his senior students to demonstrate a Tai Chi performance that combines strength and softness for the audience.

>Children’s cute performance won a lot of votes

Basic 2A The class sang a fishing song

The drama club performed 'Silly Goose Skin'

This year Phoenix Chinese School has set up different grade courses for non-Chinese speaking families. During this garden party, we also saw the efforts of these non-Chinese students in learning Chinese. Especially in second grade teacher Yan Zhenglun’s class, each student not only drew the Nian beast in their imagination, but also recited the short essay they wrote. I really want to give these students a lot of praise and encouragement.

Phoenix Chinese School’s Spring Festival Garden Party in the Year of the Horse ended with food, performances, lucky draws and laughter. The Chinese school would like to express special thanks to Mesa Community College for its greatest support and cooperation, which enabled the Spring Festival Garden Party to be held smoothly. In addition, all the volunteer parents who silently help are indispensable.

If you want to know more about Phoenix Chinese School or want to join this big family, please contact the principal Cheng Xiuling (480-759-7106) or visit the school website (http://www.clsphoenix.org/). Phoenix Chinese School sincerely invites you to join our team.