Students Extend Their Knowledge At Huaxia Chinese School

DANBURY — Weekends in White Hall on the Western Connecticut State University Midtown campus are not what they use to be. Classrooms that once stood idle waiting for Monday now resonate with the sounds of chalk on the blackboard, repetition of phonetic phrases, ethnic music, dance moves, Tae Kwon Do, and more. Listen closely, and it quickly becomes evident that the voices do not belong to college students; they belong to children. Listen again and realize they are speaking Chinese.

From 9:30 am to 12:30 pm on Saturdays during the school year, White Hall now is home to the Huaxia Chinese School. More than 70 students, ranging in age from 4 to 15, come from all over Connecticut and adjacent New York towns to learn to speak and write Mandarin, the predominant dialect in China, and participate in the practice of Chinese culture. Some of the participants are American born to Chinese parents, others were born in China and recently immigrated to this country. Still others were adopted by US families who want to embrace and encourage their children’s Chinese heritage. Even children with no connection to China attend the school, which offers language instruction from introductory Chinese to Chinese as a second language, and elective culture classes in Chinese art, music, dance, martial arts, and strategy games.

The Huaxia Chinese School is one of 18 such schools nationwide where students learn to speak and write Mandarin, the predominant dialect in China and participate in the practice of Chinese culture. For more information about the school including class offerings and tuition costs visit www.huaxiact.org.