Chinese Language School of Connecticut Student Grant Wang

Current CLSC student Grant Wang, resident of Old Greenwich and freshman at Greenwich High School, will be performing at First Congregational Church, 108 Sound Beach Avenue, Old Greenwich, CT, on Sunday, March 6, 4pm, with GHS senior Kahori Tanaka. Admission is free, reception will follow the recital.

Chinese Language School of Connecticut's Annual Chinese New Year Festival

CLSC's 9th Annual Chinese New Year Festival made the front pages of all area papers for the 9th year in a row...huge thanks to Anita Lai, Dana Lupton, Terri Kung, Samantha Connell and the intrepid Chinese New Year Volunteer Committee for their stupendous efforts again this year!

From www.greenwichcitizen.com.

Photo: Julie Ruth / Greenwich Citizen

Greenwich resident Emanuel Lai, 8, gets to stay up really late one night each year: Chinese New Year's Eve. How late? "Till he passes out," said his mother Anita Lai, laughing. "Traditionally you let children stay up late that night because it's a way children wish longevity for their parents."

The Chinese New Year, also called Asian New Year, will be celebrated in Greenwich, as it is around the world, with plenty of ancient customs and family-centered dinners of dumplings and noodles, fish and other traditional dishes.

Cynthia Chang, a Greenwich resident who is Chinese but grew up in Taiwan, said the Chinese New Year celebrates multi-generational families and is a time when people pay respect to their elders and ancestors.

In China, people will pick up and travel for the Chinese New Year to the graves of their ancestors to pay their respects and thank them for what they have done for the current generations, said Chang.

It is also time to start fresh, and Chinese families in town will observe many customs that represent a new beginning. "For the New Year, you don't want your old clothes with you; you want new clothes," Lai explained. "We'll first clean the house in the morning to sweep out old spirits, and, when we're ready, we'll dress ourselves in new clothes. If you wear something red, that's even better, because it means very good luck in Chinese culture."

Though the Chinese New Year falls on Feb. 3 this year, the celebration officially began last Sunday for more than 30 Greenwich families with a festival in Stamford sponsored by the Greenwich-based Chinese Language School of Connecticut (CLSC), a non-profit school that teaches Mandarin Chinese as a second language along with lessons about Chinese culture.

The festival, which doubles as a fundraiser for CLCS, also drew children and parents around Westchester and Fairfield County. Some are Chinese and want their children to learn or retain the language and culture. Others have adopted children and want them to stay connected with their Chinese heritage, and still others simply want their children to learn about Chinese culture.

The Chinese Language School of Connecticut is relatively new; it has only offered the festival since the school opened in 2002, when parent Susan Serven and other area parents co-founded the school. But it has fast become the center of a vibrant and diverse community in Greenwich that wants its children to know and appreciate Chinese culture and language.

Greenwich resident Mary Murphy, who spent much of her childhood in Thailand, already had strong ties to Asian culture before she and her husband adopted daughter Robin, 5, from Southeast Asia. She enrolled her in the school because she feels it is very important for Robin to learn Mandarin. "It's her biological heritage and it will also be a huge advantage for her to speak Mandarin. It's a beautiful language," Murphy said.

English-born Anita Lai, who chaired the festival, felt it was important to teach her son, whose father is Chinese, about Asian culture, so he studies Mandarin and Chinese culture on Sundays year-round. "I didn't want Emanuel to lose that beautiful culture and those rich traditions: the art, singing styles, the instruments, the calligraphy, the beautiful characters, the traditions for everything," Lai said.

CLSC's New Year celebration this year featured the ancient Chinese dragon and lion dances, a musical performance by the Chinese Musical Ensemble, a martial arts demonstration, Chinese arts and crafts along with traditional Chinese New Year dishes, such as long noodles -- which are eaten uncut -- to symbolize a long life. "Almost every dish has a symbolic meaning or name that sounds like a Chinese character for fortune, happiness longevity and prosperity," explained Lai. "There're very traditional foods, like dumplings, which promise wealth and prosperity, fish prepared whole, special vegetables, jello with fruit, Hong Kong-style egg tarts -- you could go on and on about what they stand for."

For months CLCS children prepared to perform the Chinese dragon dance, a highlight of the festivities. The dragon, an emblem of the Chinese emperors, appears on Chinese New Year to wish everyone peace, prosperity and good luck. Another highlight came when several performers in a large multi-colored lion costume pranced around to the sound of drums, to ward off evil spirits. According to tradition, children, many in Mandarin garb, fed the lion red envelopes with money. "The lion's coming and he's hungry. He's getting rid of all of bad stuff that happened and bringing in the new year, and you give him the traditional red envelopes to thank him for doing his job," Lai explained.

Last week the Second Congregational Church also held a Chinese New Year celebration, which 100 peoople attended. The church also houses classrooms for the CLSC in its preschool building. "It's great; we get to teach the pre-schoolers about Chinese culture," said Chang.

Though the New Year will be a family-centered celebration, it will be observed differently by Greenwich residents. "We like to go down into Chinatown in the city and really get an authentic Chinese meal," Murphy said. "It's a lot of fun; you have banquet-style eating, with the family all sitting in a circle."

Lai will be cooking for family in her home, while Chang will follow a tradition that her family began in Taiwan. "We always have a group of family and close friends with us. We'll select a restaurant on the West side in Manhattan and have a big new year's dinner," she said.

After family dinner celebrations, the elders in the family traditionally give the children good luck money: red envelopes with crisp dollar bills. The amount in the envelope? It varies by family, but one thing, Chang says, is for sure: the amount will not contain a four, which is bad luck. Best to slip an amount in that has an eight in the total: it's the Chinese lucky number.

NOTE: The Chinese Language School of Connecticut will hold an open house for interested families on Sunday, April 17. Registration opens on Sunday, May 1.

For more details, visit www.chineselanguageschool.org. You can also contact the school by phone at 866-301-4906 or email: info@chineselanguageschool.org.

CLSC holds classes on Sundays at Eastern Middle School, 51 Hendrie Avenue, in Riverside, and on weekdays at the Second Congregational Church, Room 19, 139 E. Putnam Ave,, Greenwich, CT 06830.


Photo: Julie Ruth / Greenwich Citizen

Senator Blumenthal Welcomes in the Chinese Year of the Rabbit

Senator Richard Blumenthal and Stamford Mayor Pavia Welcome All to the Chinese Language School of Connecticut’s 9th Annual Chinese New Year Festival

-- 9th Annual Chinese New Year Festival Rings in the Year of the Rabbit --


Riverside, CT, January 25, 2011 – Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia and Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal opened the ceremony celebrating the Chinese Year of the Rabbit at the Chinese Language School of Connecticut’s 9th Annual Chinese New Year Festival, held Sunday, January 23, 2011, from 12-3pm, at the Stamford Plaza Hotel and Conference Center.

Old Greenwich resident, and CLSC Chinese New Year Chair Anita Lai noted, “CLSC's Chinese New Year Festival is a wonderful way to celebrate the New Year traditions with your family. It’s a wonderful way to explore Chinese culture and traditions with your children.”

CLSC co-founder and organization president, New Canaan resident Susan Serven, said, “Especially in light of President Hu’s recent visit to Washington, and with China’s growing economic expansion, it’s critical that we build bridges between cultures, and allow our children to learn important second languages such as Chinese. This will allow our children to compete successfully in an international marketplace, and can enable them to become global citizens.”

Nearly 300 guests and attendees attended the Festival, which welcomed guests at the entrance with music provided by the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York, and which offered traditional food, and entertainment such as a Dragon Dance performed by CLSC students, a Lion Dance and Martial Arts demonstration by Kwan’s Kung Fu of Peekskill, NY, children’s name painting, Chinese calligraphy, and crafts, face painting, Chinese vendors, an exhibit of CLSC student’s art, and a special performance and workshop by the Columbia Chinese YoYo Troupe. Dessert was a custom-made, 3-tiered Chinese Year of the Rabbit cake created by Stamford’s Samantha Connell.

The non-profit, fully accredited Chinese Language School of Connecticut (CLSC) (www.ChineseLanguageSchool.org) teaches Mandarin Chinese as a second language to children and adults in their weekday and weekend classes, Before and After School programs, cultural workshops, winter and spring break programs, summer classes, private tutoring and AP Prep sessions. CLSC is the only fully-accredited supplemental Chinese language program in the U.S. which uses U.S. teaching methods in order to engage children in learning Chinese.


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Celebrating Chinese Language and Culture at the Ferguson Library in Stamford

From: http://stamford.patch.com/articles/stamford-families-celebrate-the-year-of-the-rabbit

The Chinese Language School of Connecticut and the Chinese Language School of Fairfield County held a Chinese New Year Celebration Sunday at Ferguson Library.

As the program began, Daisy Laone, principal of the Chinese Language School of Connecticut moved around the room at lightning speed, engaging the children in conversation about the celebration.

“What year is it?” Laone asked.

“2011,” a few of the adults in the room replied.

“The year of the rabbit,” Fiona Bischoff said.

Fiona Bischoff and her twin sister, Caoilainn Bischoff, attended the Chinese Language School of Connecticut in the past and frequently attend programs at the library.

“When you greet people at the Chinese New Year, you say ‘gong xi gong xi — best wishes,” Laone instructed the crowd.

The children quickly repeated after Laone — she then went around the room and helped them each to identify and pronounce their Chinese zodiac sign.

“This is the second year we’ve held this event,” Laone told Patch. “It’s a good chance for children in America to experience the celebration.”

“I hope today that the residents of Stamford can embrace Chinese culture and learn something new,” Yelena Klompus, world languages librarian at Ferguson, told Patch. “Our goal is to make everyone aware of other cultures.”

Klompus chairs the Diversity Task Force at Ferguson Library and is responsible for many of the cultural programs seen throughout the year.

Later in the day, the Chinese Language School of Fairfield County presented a martial arts demonstration and a dance performance.

Dance instructor Erica Hsu’s young students demonstrated a Taiwan aboriginal dance. Their costumes were made by parents and teachers at the school. Martial arts instructor Anastasia Lebrun led four students through a series of moves. Lebrun has been working with her students on and off since September.

“We are a very serious school,” Yulin Tsao, principal of the Chinese Language School of Fairfield County told the crowd. “But when we have fun, we have fun.”

The Chinese Language School of Connecticut will host their ninth annual fundraiser, a Chinese New Year Festival, on Jan. 23 at the Stamford Plaza Hotel and Conference Center. Visit their website for more information.

American Students Learn Their ABCs and Chinese

From http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/19/eveningnews/main7263167.shtml

American Students Learn Their ABC's and Chinese
Only 9% of Americans Speak a Foreign Language - Compared to 44 Percent of Europeans

(CBS) China's president said Wednesday young people are the future of the relationship between his country and the U.S. The problem is, he said it in Mandarin - a language most Americans don't understand.

CBS News correspondent Terry McCarthy reports there are some American children who don't have to wait for the translation.

Americans generally assume everyone speaks English. Often, they exceed our expectations. Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin surprised Mike Wallace in 2000 by reciting the Gettysburg Address in English.

Even the French President speaks English - kind of.

But Americans do not generally share such multilingual talents. Only nine percent of Americans speak a foreign language, compared to 44 percent of Europeans - something President Obama is painfully aware of.

"We need to learn foreign languages," Mr. Obama said at a campaign rally in 2008. "I don't speak a foreign language - it's embarrassing."

Instead of struggling with foreign grammar, Americans would rather struggle with headphones to hear the translation.

But not in City Terrace public school in east Los Angeles - where 90 students have been learning Chinese since kindergarten. Like his classmates, third-grader Nelson Enriquez even has his own Chinese name.

"At five years old they are like little sponges," Principal Elaine Fujiu said.

Nelson's family speaks Spanish at home, so he is trilingual - which the
8-year-old is already planning to exploit. "I might get a better job - and a raise too."

The students have been learning Chinese for four years and they are pretty good - but it's an unusual school. Across the country only 50,000 Americans are learning Chinese. In China, by contrast, there are 200 million students learning English.

The numbers are increasing. A decade ago about 300 schools in the U.S. taught Chinese. Now it's close to 1,600 - driven by interest in China's $6 trillion economy, now the second biggest in the world.

At City Terrace the Chinese immersion program is so popular they have a waiting list.

"Learning Chinese as a second language will help their children to get a better job later on," said third-grade teacher Theresa Kao.

Two languages, two cultures - and no one at a loss for words.

Chinese poised be the #1 most popular language on the web

English Is Out: Chinese to Rule the World Wide WebBy: Hillary Brenhouse

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/01/03/english-is-out-chinese-to-rule-the-world-wide-web/#ixzz1A7EtNjKU


“Great Firewall” or not, Chinese Web surfers have overtaken the intertubes and so, it turns out, has their mother tongue. The stats are in: Chinese is poised to outpace English as the dominant language online.
Some say we (sort of) have Al Gore to thank for the Internet, but it may as well have been made in China: the number of Web users in the Middle Kingdom soared to 450 million—more than a third of the country's population—this year, according to Wang Chen, head of China's State Council Information Office. The U.S. boasts just under half that many, but since English is more widely spoken globally, a majority of sites are published in that language.

Not for much longer. An infographic by Nextweb, based on statistics culled by the marketing firm Internet World Stats, shows that—with Web use in China growing at such a rapid rate—it could take less than five years for Chinese to become the most popular language on the Net.

With the boom in China's Internet usage has come a rise in government censorship. Sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are still frequently off-limits to its denizens. China's extensive Internet policing system this year shut down more than 60,000 websites deemed harmful or politically subversive. It's safe to say that almost all the rest of them speak Beijing's language, or will soon.

(Visit the Chinese Language School of Connecticut's web site to see how you can begin your children's Chinese language learning.)