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Briefs
CUSD meeting on Mandarin class
More than 30 Cupertino Union School District parents were in attendance at an informational meeting to learn about Mandarin immersion on March 24 at the Quinlan Center.
The Chinese American International School of San Francisco led the discussion, which parents viewed as an opportunity to learn about the international school's curriculum, the model that the district may use for its Mandarin immersion program.
The Chinese American School was the first Mandarin immersion school in San Francisco when it opened in 1981. The school has grown from four students on the first day to more than 350 students today.
Carol Ruth Silver, founding trustee of the International School, and Shirley Lee, its founding head, spoke about the curriculum and Silver's experience as an English-only speaker who had a son graduate from the San Francisco school.
"I would rather have my grandchild be in an immersion program of English and Swahili rather than in an English-only program regardless of whether or not he or she will use the language," Silver said.
Silver related how her son graduated from the school and never spoke a word of Mandarin again until he was one unit shy of graduation from college. He chose to take a Chinese conversation class to fulfill that one unit and ended up helping the teacher communicate better with the students in the class.
"Ten years after last having the opportunity to speak Mandarin in a bilingual setting, here is a young man who can speak Chinese," Silver said.
At the International School, approximately 90 percent of the students come from families who do not speak Mandarin at home. The instructional day is split 50-50 between English and Mandarin.
Barry Chang, president of the school board concluded the evening by answering questions.
Looking at Cupertino's Stanford 9 testing results from the spring of 1998, students who spoke two languages outperformed single language speakers in their grade level across the board from grades two through grades eight.
"When I saw [the scores] I was shocked," Chang said. "And our program just started last year."
Taiko drum group
Although the city's Cherry Blossom Festival doesn't officially begin until April 10, the Cupertino Senior Center is sponsoring a prelude to the event.
The Saratoga Sister City Taiko Drum Group will perform at the center at 1 p.m., Wednesday, April 7.
Sponsored by the Changing Demographics Committee, the event is the second social program created by the group to promote socialization across language or cultural barriers.
Organizers are looking to have sushi or rice crackers as refreshments to promote the Japanese theme of the drummers and the Cherry Blossom Festival.
To sign up for the event or for more information, contact the senior center at 777-3150.
Big Bunny Fun Run
The annual Big Bunny Fun Run takes place at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 3 at City Hall.
The 5K run and 1.5-mile walk will begin and end at City Hall.
Registration forms are available at the community center or in the Spring Recreation Schedule.
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Cupertino, California Since 1947
