Mexico-based prep school explores Chinese culture with celebration

By Cindy Ramirez \ EL PASO TIMES
Posted: 01/18/2012 12:00:00 AM MST

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Celebrating the Chinese New Year in El Paso, on a school campus rooted in Mexico, is just what Jean Norton calls multicultural.

"It's something new we want to bring to the community," said Norton, who teaches Mandarin Chinese at the Preparatory School Tec de Monterrey El Paso. "We celebrate a lot of cultures and traditions here on the border, and this celebration will add to that."

The private high school in West El Paso is hosting a Chinese New Year celebration Saturday.

The Chinese New Year, a traditional holiday known as the spring festival in China, this year will be celebrated on Monday.

"It's a wonderful opportunity to teach our students more than just the language, but also a great time to show the El Paso community about the Chinese culture," Norton said.

Although the tradition celebrates a new year, many consider it like Christmas because of the gift exchanges, usually money in a red envelope, Norton said. Traditionally, parents give to their children to wish them luck for the coming year, adults give to their parents as a thank-you, and employers give red envelopes to their employees as a year-end bonus.

This year marks the beginning of the Year of the Dragon, one of the animals that appear in the Chinese zodiac on a 12-year cycle.

The most powerful sign of the zodiac, dragons symbolize ambition, drive and passion.

That's just how school officials said they are approaching the start of the school.

Tec de Monterrey is a branch of the prestigious Mexican university Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey. The university system has expanded its reach to middle- and high-school programs in recent decades. The school has about 400 students enrolled in its middle school and about 610 in its high-school programs in Juárez.
The 9,600-square-foot private school on the city's West Side opened with about 30 students in August, a figure officials said they expect to increase in the coming years.

"It's not a very large number of students, but it is our beginning and will be part of our history," academic director Angelica Millan said. This is the first U.S. campus for Tec de Monterrey, which boasts 36 campuses across Mexico.

About half of its 14 teachers have experience teaching in the system in Mexico, and about 60 percent hold master's degrees, Millan said.

The El Paso campus offers a multicultural program, including English, Spanish and Mandarin language instruction. As part of their studies, students in the prep school take a trip to China or Europe.

"The trips help them expand their vision about what is happening in other cultures in other parts of the world," Millan said. "It helps them visualize the international opportunities of their future professions."

Mexico-based prep school explores Chinese culture with celebration - El Paso Times