Saturday, February 27, 2010

Free Demo Art Classes and April Art with Tara Hu


Join CLSC as we explore creating Chinese art in two free demo classes on Sunday March 21 and March 28. Spaces are limited; please make a reservation.

April art workshops with Ms. Hu will be held at the Greenwich Family Y in Greenwich, CT. To register please contact info@ChineseLanguageSchool.of

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Dr. Henry Lee, Internationally-Acclaimed Forensics Detective, at CLSC's New Year Festival!


Year of the Tiger Celebrating the Chinese New Year
Posted on 02/07/2010

Year of the Tiger Celebrating the Chinese New Year

STAMFORD

RELATED PHOTOS
Photo/Alex von Kleydorff. 13 yr old Grant Wang and 14 yr old Emily Serven along with others prepare for the Chinese Dragon dance during Chinese New Year celebration.

By JAMES NASH

Hour Correspondent


With music, dance, folk performances and cuisine, The Year of the Tiger was welcomed Sunday at the Stamford Plaza Hotel and Conference Center by about 400 celebrants of the Chinese Language School of Connecticut's [CLSC] Eighth Annual Chinese Year Festival. The event was in anticipation of the Feb. 14, 2010 Chinese New Year.

Arriving adults and children were greeted by the Erhu, Dizi and Yangquin Music Trio, member musicians of the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York, who played the 12 string Chinese fiddle, bamboo flute and yangqin or dulcimer.

The banquet luncheon included a Dragon Dance performance by CLSC students whose movements symbolized dragon power and dignity. In Chinese lore dragons are also symbolic of good luck and wisdom, and tigers are noted for bravery.

As a banquet lunch was being served, CLSC Director of Art and Culture Katy Chen Myers readied a small, colorful theater front draped with a latex curtain. Myers was preparing for the shadow puppet performance of "The Jade Rabbit, the Story of Farmer Zhu." Myers said CLSC cultural themes change yearly, and students write their own interpretations of stories such as the tale of the rabbit bestowed a palace on the moon by a Chinese emperor.

"Part of our cultural program is to integrate all aspects of Chinese theater," Myers said. "This puppet theater is teaching about Chinese folklore and mythology. It's based on a model of a real puppet theater. They're traveling shows, like a circus. This is probably the only shadow puppet theater in Fairfield County."

At one the three dozen banquet tables, CLSC President Susan Serven took a moment to explain how CLSC was started. Serven said she had enrolled a daughter she had adopted from China into a "heritage school" which is mostly geared to people who speak Chinese at home.

So Serven founded CLSC eight years ago with about a dozen other people who were interested in the teaching of Mandarin as a second language. She said the school has touched many lives.

"We impact about 1,000 students a year" she said.

The CLSC holds classes at the Eastern Middle School in Riverside and at the Greenwich Family Y. The CLSC offers programs for toddlers as young as 18 months, individual instruction, as well as lessons for people seeking language knowledge for career purposes.

"We have private instruction, summer classes, before and after school classes and a corporate program," Serven said.

CLSC programs are intended to enable students to acquire practical communication skills, develop competence and confidence while experiencing the joy of learning another language.

Attending the festival, the world renowned forensic expert and University of New Haven professor Dr. Henry Lee said he has friends who teach at the school which he said is growing and representative of America in it diverse student population.

"In the spirit of the United States, it's just like a typical melting pot," Lee said.

A folk dance was performed by the Phoenix Performing Arts that featured lively, flexible step, wrist and neck movements. A wedding parade, using a hand-carried, covered bridal "sedan" was also enacted by children and narrated by Meyers who explained Chinese matrimonial rituals.

The festival's scheduled guests included Grace Chang, children's author of the "Jin Jin The Dragon" books, and a performance by Columbia University's Lion Dance Troupe.

Festival Chair Samantha Wu Connell took a minute from attending to the many celebration details to watch children and parents enjoying the food and performances.

"I'm absolutely thrilled with the turnout and the enthusiasm," she said. "It's really just been incredible."

Her husband Dan Connell was busy keeping tabs on the couple's seven and four year-old children who both attended CLSC. He spoke highly of the school.

"It's language, it's culture. It's a really fantastic program," Connell said.

CLSC information is available at www.ChineseLanguageSchool.org. The school's phone number is 866-301-4906.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Year of the Tiger!












The Chinese Language School of Connecticut's 8th Annual Chinese New Year Festival was a huge hit!

Nearly 400 guests packed the Stamford Plaza Hotel and Conference Center for a dragon dance, traditional food, authentic musicians, the Phoenix Performing Arts troupe, CLSC singers, a shadow puppet theater, traditional wedding sedan processional, face painting, name painting, a Chinese cooking demonstration, arts and crafts for children, and special guest appearances and performances by author Grace Chang, forensics detective Dr. Henry Lee, president emeritus Howard Lee, and opening remarks by Congressman Jim Himes.

Xian Nian Kuai Le!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

CLSC on News 12!

Lauren Collier of Channel 12 hosted a segment where Chinese Language School of Connecticut students performed a dragon dance.

See the following link for pictures and her article on CLSC and Chinese New Year: http://blogs.news12.com/connecticut/author/laurencollier/

Monday, February 1, 2010

Long Ridge Camp Silent Auction Gift Basket!


CLSC's Chinese New Year Festival will take place on Sunday, February 7, 2010.

Along with Honorary Guests, legendary forensic detective Dr. Henry Lee,best-selling author Grace Chang, Congressman Jim Himes, traditional food, a dragon dance, lion dance, face painting, calligraphy demonstration, cooking demonstration, arts and crafts for children, an authentic Chinese wedding sedan, Chinese shadow puppets, the Columbia University Chinese YoYo troupe, and much more, we also have a sophisticated line of vendors and a fabulous Silent Auction!

One of the featured items in our silent auction is this wonderful gift basket from Long Ridge Camp.

The gift basket will have Long Ridge Camp Gear - A Gym bag, a Long Ridge Camp hooded sweatshirt, a camp water bottle and beach ball. Along with that is a gift certificate worth $500 to be applied towards a minimum of 4-weeks of camp (they run 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 weeks). It will be valid for the 2010 season.

Visit them at www.LongRidgeCamp.com.

Channel 12 Welcomes the Chinese Language School of Connecticut!





Thanks to Channel 12 host Lauren Collier, and her staff for their warm welcome to the TV station on Sunday January 31 to tape a Pet Talk segment for Chinese New Year!

Students and parents met in the "green room" (which was not green), practiced their dragon dance and "firecrackers" and then proceeded to perform for the cameras.

Lauren then conducted a short interview with the children (and dragon) sitting onstage.

Segments will air on Saturday, February 6, 2010, at 9am, 12:30, 4pm, 10:30pm and Sunday, February 7, at 5:30am, 9am, 3pm and 8:30pm on Channel 12.

The Dragon Dance cast included students:

Grant Wang (captain)
Emily Serven
Hanna Martino
Becky Serven
Quinn Lupton
Quincy Connell
Emanuel Lai
Firecrackers:
Evan Iervolino
Nicolas Lin
Sydney Lin

"Firecrackers" were

Gianna Martino
Evan Iervolino
Nicolas Lin
Sydney Lin

CLSC Parents Committee Chinese New Year Celebration!



Thanks to all CLSC room parents, including Polen Oh and Ching Chang of Asiana Cafe in Greenwich, for a wonderful Chinese New Year / mid-term report card celebration on Sunday, January 31!

Thanks to Parents Committee Chair Deborah Serianni for arranging it all, including Chinese New Year gifts and wonderful bouquets of roses for teachers!