Saratoga News

New Saratoga schools will teach Chinese language

By Michelle Alaimo

Starting in September, Saratoga will have not one but two Chinese-language schools operating out of Saratoga High School one day a week.

Prospect Chinese School, in its first year, is a nonprofit school for preschoolers through twelfth-graders which will run every Friday night from 7 to 9 p.m. The school will operate during the same school year as SHS, with classes running from September to June in two semesters.

Mandarin Language & Cultural Center will operate on Saturday mornings from 9:30 to 11:20 a.m., with an optional cultural class from 11:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. The school is coming to Saratoga after outgrowing its previous location at Miller Junior High School in Cupertino. The school also lost funding from a nonprofit Taiwanese organization and decided Saratoga was a good place to start over. Jane Chen, president and principal of Mandarin Language & Cultural Center, said her school accepts students from preschool through seventh grade, and 400 students have enrolled so far.

Helen Lu, who works for both schools, said SHS was chosen because it has plenty of classrooms, making it less likely the schools will outgrow the location. Another reason for the choice? "A lot of kids come [to the school] from Saratoga," Lu said.

Classes at both schools emphasize speaking, writing and conversation, Lu said. She added that the goal of her school is to have a twelfth-grader speak fluent Chinese. At the end of fifth grade, a student should be able to write a paper in Chinese, Lu said. Both schools also offer one class for those who don't know any Chinese.

Gina Kung, president of Prospect Chinese School, said the idea for her school first came up at the beginning of the year. Kung said there is a demand for Chinese schools because Chinese is not taught in regular classes. "As China becomes more involved with the economics in the world, it would be beneficial for children to learn Chinese."

Chen said that the present generation of schoolchildren appreciates a multicultural background more than previous generations. "The Pacific Coast really needs to have the ability to communicate with Pacific realms," she said.

Prospect Chinese School plans to put children of the same age groups together in classes, with a maximum class size of 20 for each class. Bilingual classes will also be offered. The cost of the classes is $135 per semester, for a total of $270 per year, and books are provided.

Mandarin Language & Cultural Center classes cost $120 per semester. The Chinese class for non-Chinese-speaking students is $160 per semester. Students can also take additional cultural classes for $100-$125 a semester. For her school, which also has locations in San Jose and Milpitas, class sizes will not go beyond a maximum of 25 students.

Kung said she sent out employment listings requiring prospective teachers to have an American teaching background. "They must understand how children are taught in the United States. It is very different from Taiwan," Kung said. The Bay Area has many excellent Chinese teachers, Lu said.

Both schools are renting the classroom space from the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District. But the district makes no profit on the transaction because the money is used to pay such costs as electricity and janitorial services.

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