Chinese School teaches language and culture

By Pat Sherman,

Saturday, May 1, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.

POWAY— It was a less-than-ideal setting 30 years ago when 10 children began meeting in a Rancho Bernardo garage to practice reading and writing Mandarin Chinese.

Three decades later, through the dedication of parents, students and teachers, the North County Chinese School is a thriving center of Chinese learning.

The school, which meets Saturdays at Twin Peaks Middle School in Poway, now has more than 500 preschool-through-adult students and about 30 teachers. It celebrated its 30th anniversary April 24.

The school grew along with North County’s Chinese population, many of whom settled in the area in the 1960s and ’70s to work in Rancho Bernardo’s burgeoning computer and electronics industry, said Julia Hsiu, one of the school’s founding parents and the first elected principal.

“A group of parents started the whole thing,â€