http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metr ... inese.html

Chinese school opens new branch


About 40 students come on first day
By Helen Gao
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 15, 2006

The San Diego Hua Xia Chinese School, the largest language school of its kind in the county, opened a new branch yesterday in Chula Vista, its fourth location in Southern California.

Founded in 1997, Hua Xia has grown rapidly, serving about 1,000 youths of Chinese and mixed heritage, as well as non-Chinese residents. The nonprofit weekend program operates in three rented classrooms at Southwestern College. Its other locations are at Miramar College and in Carlsbad and Riverside.

It was just a few months ago that Chula Vista parents petitioned the board of directors of the Hua Xia Chinese School to create a South Bay campus to meet the needs of its growing Asian population.

About 40 students showed up for the first day of class along with their parents and grandparents, a much bigger number than anticipated because the Chula Vista branch had recruited solely by word of mouth.

Hua Xia is among a growing number of schools, public and private nationwide, trying to meet the increased demand for Chinese-language programs, triggered in part by China's meteoric rise as an economic superpower.

Just last week, education representatives from the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles visited The Bishop's School in La Jolla to meet with teachers to discuss ways to improve the teaching of Chinese as a second language. Bishop's offers Chinese classes, and La Jolla Country Day, another private school, is exploring the possibility of doing the same.

A ceremony celebrating the opening of the Chula Vista school yesterday was attended by several dignitaries, including Assemblywoman Shirley Horton, Chula Vista Councilman John McCann, Southwestern College President Norma L. Hernandez and Chula Vista Planning Commissioner Dan Hom.

Hom said the opening of the school in Chula Vista is a "testament" to the diversity of his city.

Chula Vista has one of the highest concentrations of Asians in the county, including large numbers of Filipinos and Japanese. Indeed, one of the main attractions touted by Chula Vista is the Minato Gakuen Japanese Saturday School, where many Japanese executives send their children.

Hom, an American-born Chinese, speaks Cantonese and some Mandarin, the official spoken form of Chinese in China. He attributed the growing interest in the Chinese language to China's economic prowess.

"People know China is the future of the global economy," he said.

Hernandez said Southwestern College recently started an exchange program with a Chinese university, and she has plans to visit China for the first time in June.

"I believe in bilingual education. English is my second language. I am proud to know two languages and cultures," she said. "That's what makes our world very rich."

Ed Sands enrolled his son, 6-year-old Ryan, at the school because he and his wife want to prepare him to be a global citizen. Ryan already attends a Spanish-language immersion program.

"The world is a global environment. We want him to be able to adapt when he grows up," said Sands, who is Irish and Hispanic.

His wife is part black and part Filipino, and her grandmother is part Chinese.

Brandon Benson, 7, was eager to start Chinese school. Brandon has always wanted to learn Mandarin so someday he can visit his relatives in Taiwan.

"He always wanted me to talk to him in Chinese. I start speaking to him in Chinese, but halfway I get stuck and I go back to English," said Brandon's father, Lee Benson.

A Taiwanese immigrant, he speaks some Mandarin but not enough to help his son learn the language.

Eric Haase, whose children are half-Chinese, brought his daughter, Alexandra, 3, to the school.

Alexandra already speaks Mandarin with her mother, grandmother and cousins. Eric Haase said he wants to make sure his daughter learns how to read and write it as well.