Chinese Track Year 4!

Four years since its formation, the Chinese Track at GIS shows no signs of slowing down, with continued growth in students and staff as well as notoriety and recognition.

Beginning in Fall 2023, the Chinese Track has put more effort into cultural exchanges and cooperation with the local community, in addition to continuing traditions from previous years. From the Mid-Autumn Festival in September to the 2024 celebration of the Year of the Dragon, Chinese Track has established active partnerships with local cultural groups and individuals and has carried out a variety of cultural activities together. 

For the Mid-Autumn Festival, we were honored to host Guzheng player and teacher Lu Wen from Lulu Guzheng Studio at GIS to not only popularize the knowledge of the Mid-Autumn Festival to the students, but so students could experience the beauty of traditional Chinese music and instruments. 

GIS parent Dane Liu, an award-winning author, was also invited to the school to share her new book Laolao's Dumplings with students, and also introduced the importance of dumplings in Chinese family culture.

For the 2024 Lunar New Year celebrations, we invited students from Wushu Live School to present a wonderful Chinese martial arts performance to everyone, allowing students to appreciate the spirit of martial arts. Also joining us was Chinese drum teacher Wen Wang, demonstrating the majesty of the sound of Chinese drums. 

In the continued tradition of participating in local Lunar New Year celebrations as a school, the Chinese track kindergarteners, second and third graders participated in performances at Lansu Garden and Washington Square Mall!

The development of the Chinese Track at GIS would be impossible without our teachers. They have worked hard in the selection of teaching materials, the compilation of curriculums, and devising strategies to stimulate students' motivation and self-confidence in learning Chinese. Early Learning teachers in Twos, Preschool and Kindergarten combine the children's interests with invitations to parents with relevant professional skills as guest speakers for lively and educational presentations. Elementary School teachers encourage and support the children to participate in various speech and storytelling contests, and take the children on cultural exchange activities with other local schools.

These efforts paid off when our first grade Chinese Track students won rankings up to second place in the prestigious Reading Contest hosted by the Chinese Language Teachers Association of California! Their teacher Hung Laoshi also received the contest’s Pioneering Leadership in Language Learning Award. At CLTAC's invitation, GIS's grade school director, the Chinese Track director, and Hung Laoshi presented an overview of the teaching methods and learning tools used in the GIS Chinese Track program. Click here to watch!

With such a passionate and devoted team, the future of the GIS Chinese Track is looking bright!