Special Chinese Class Offered at St. Louis Modern Chinese School for FCC Children

Sept. 8th marked the first school day for St. Louis Chinese Modern School at its new site, Parkway West Middle School, on 2312 Baxter Rd, Chesterfield, MO 63017-7721.  From then on, until the end of this semester, every Sunday, the school has a half-day program featuring two Chinese sessions and two elective classes.

Among some 300 new enrollments, there are more than half dozen children come from families where none of the parents can speak Chinese.  They come to the school to attend a special English-Chinese Class.  This is new class offered by the St. Louis Modern Chinese School, designed specially for families with children from China (FCC), children of other American families in which neither of the parents can speak/understand Chinese.

Student ages range from 4.5 to 8 years old in the special class.  Some parents stay with their children at the classroom.  The new teacher for the class is Hua (Chinese Hua) Yan (swallow), who has good credential and experience in teaching.  Ms. Hua received two M.S. degrees, one is from Shanghai Normal University, and the other is from University of Missouri.  She also has a B.S. degree in education from Beijing Teacher's College. Before coming to the U.S., Ms. Hua taught classes ranging from elementary schools to high schools in China.  When the Modern Chinese School started 5 years ago, she was a teacher for younger ages for one year. 

The new class starts as 1:30pm, ends at 3:20 pm. There is a break in between.  The class features simplified Chinese and is taught in English.  Each student has a bi-language textbook designed for pre-school children.  Ms. Hua said that she would like to focus on spoken Chinese rather than on written characters at this semester and use interactive approach for the young children, with games, songs and students' involvement.  In addition, she will incorporate information on Chinese culture.  She would also love to receive input from students/parents.

For more information, Teacher Hua can be reached at 636 305-8866 in the evening or visit the school website at http://www.slmcs.org/