Welcome back BCS families! Hope you all have a great summer. New school year has just begun. If you have not registered your child or yourself, please register now! This semester we offer both Heritage and Non-Heritage Chinese language classes to children, as well as adults. In our cultural programs there are calligraphy, traditional dance, Yo-Yo , and Lion dance classes.
In summer we had Heritage Chinese language classes in Levels 1–3, Traditional Chinese Stories class, Intro Calligraphy class, and Yo-yo class.
For the first time we had three summer fund-raising events at both S. Main and University City Blvd. Kroger locations. Students gave out free lemonade and sold home-made cookies and chocolates. We received strong support from BCS students, parents, and supporters alike. All these would not have happened had Ms. Xin Zhao, BCS PTO president, not come up with the ingenious idea. She also organized and carried out through all the events. Our big salute to her! Many thanks to you, BCS students, parents, and supporters as always!
Introducing New Classes……
- Conversational Chinese Class – Students in the Conversational Chinese class will take away knowledge on greetings, numbers, colors, directions, weather, date, family, in the restaurant, out shopping, hobbies, Chinese holidays, sports, and more. Class will meet at VT CRC. First class in the Wiki conference room. Starts after Labor Day.
- Chinese Calligraphy class 书法班 For age 6+. Ten students max. Starts after Labor Day. Two classes are offered, one for children 6 years or older, one for adults, both at 700 N. Main St. Time TBD.
- Chinese Lion Dance Group – How to dance like a lion? The Chinese Lion Dance Group will let the children as well as adults experience this fun traditional Chinese activity and get to know the culture. Location and time TBD.
Current Classes are still OPEN for enrollment……
Please sign up your child(ren) or yourself (as an adult) ASAP!
- Heritage Chinese Levels 1/2/3/4/5/7 中文母语班
- H2/H3/H5 @BCS Classroom at 1:30pm-3:00pm
- H1/H4/H7 @BCS Classroom at 3:15pm-4:45pm
- NH-Chinese – These courses are designed for age 4-12 children with NO/little Chinese background. Come join us every week for 60/90 minutes to explore Chinese language and culture through games, songs, poems, traditional crafts and more! Learning Chinese is fun and simple! Starts on August 24th.
- Non-Heritage Chinese after-school @ Kipps Elementary. Thursdays at 3:45-5pm
- Saturdays @BCS Classroom at 10:30am-noon
- Traditional Chinese Dance – For 7-11 years old. Saturdays 6-7:30pm @ Blacksburg Library.
- Chinese YoYo Group – Experience Chinese culture through a cool, fun and attractive traditional Chinese martial art. This class will have the options to perform in NRV areas. This class is for 6+ children and adults. Sundays 3-4pm @ Blacksburg Library
We have initiated a petition to Montgomery County Public School Board to start offering Chinese as a foreign language at the middle and high school levels at multiple sites in the district. BCS parents attended at the MCPS board meeting on August 15. Please sign up for future board meetings! Ms. Shelly Stoddard (of Rainbow Riders) wrote:
Dear School Board Representatives,
We are writing this letter to seek your assistance and guidance in advancing what we consider a critical educational need in our area. Being literate in a language other than English has become an important skill in navigating our country’s military, political system, and global position. This skill is especially notable when the language is considered critical- languages that are less taught nationwide and focus on non-Western/ European languages- like character-based languages.
In the Blacksburg area alone, approximately 23% of the population is Chinese speaking. When including other areas that MCPS serves, the number is even greater. Yet, there are no options for Chinese at the secondary level for foreign language instruction. Our community considers this a disservice not just to the nearly 25% who speak Chinese in their homes, but the remaining 75% who do not have the option to learn a language that ⅕ of the world’s population speaks.
Learning a character based language has many benefits including increased cognitive function, higher executive skills, a greater empathy and understanding for multicultural situations and diverse populations, and increased opportunities in the post secondary world. In our area, the demand for Chinese language instruction has resulted in many grass root organizations leading the way. This includes Blacksburg Chinese School, a non-profit organization, which provides language lessons and tutoring, cultural activities, and provides a bridge between the heritage and non-heritage communities. Another organization is the Rainbow Riders Chinese English Bilingual Program, which offers Chinese language instruction as early as age 3 in a partially immersive setting. Additionally, Little Garden Academy, a privately run organization offers Chinese immersion instruction for school age students. All of these programs seek to fill the gap for the early years of education, but once students have completed elementary school, there is nothing available for them to continue their language journey.
We implore you to aid us in our desire to provide quality language instruction that creates globally aware and competent citizens who can secure our country’s best interests. To meet this goal, we plan to write a petition insisting on MCPS offering Chinese as a foreign language at the middle and high school levels at multiple sites in the district. We ask for your assistance and support to create additional opportunities for our children.
Sincerely,
Heritage and Non-Heritage Families and Community Members
Shelly Stoddard
We are very delighted to introduce our new principal, Ms. Jingjing Huang, to you.
Ms. Huang received a M.A. in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language from the East China Normal University in Shanghai, and a M.A. in Chinese Linguistics from the University of Arizona. She has been teaching Chinese Language and culture to learners at all ages in various settings for over 15 years. BCS welcomes Ms. Huang to join us and further strengthen our non-heritage programs!
The following is the contact info of BCS administrators:
Principal: Jingjing Huang [email protected]
Academics: Spring Liu [email protected]
PTO President: Xin Zhao [email protected]
Extracurricular Activities: [email protected]
Blacksburg Chinese School Board of Directors
President & Director: I-Mo Fu
Director: I-Ping Fu, Carola Haas, Tom Roberts, Eagle Wang, Chunxiao Zhang
Director Wang wrote:
黑堡中文学校2017年秋季学期开学寄语
作为一位新加入的成员，我谨代表学校董事会向各位新老家长和同学致以最真诚的欢迎。中文学校的发展离不开各位的积极参与和支持，让我们手拉手一道为传承我们共同的文化和语言尽一份心，出一份力。我坚信，我们今天的努力将帮助我们及我们的子孙去守候并发扬光大我们共同的根，同时这也为我们华人社区作为一个团体展现在我们如今生活的这片土地上作出应有的贡献。
BCS 2017 Fall Semester Opening Message
As a newly appointed member to the Board and on behalf of my colleagues, I am honored to give my warmest welcome to all the new and existing students and their parents of the Blacksburg Chinese School. Your involvement and support to BCS has made all our development and growth possible. Let’s continue our collaborative work side by side to help our culture and language inherited and demonstrated. I truly and strongly believe that our efforts today will help us and our offspring stick to and expand our shared roots in addition to bring its contribution to present our Chinese community as a tightly connected group in front of our peers on the land where we live.
谢谢！
义国