DC Chinese-language students put on show

A groundbreaking performance brought together Chinese learners from Washington's nine public schools to celebrate the Chinese New Year on Feb 3 at the Alice Deal Middle School.

"Schools around the DC area used to hold Chinese New Year-celebration events on their own; it's not new. But a gathering like today's performance is a brand-new experience for us," said Zhi Yanming, lead organizer of the performance and a Chinese teacher at Deal Middle School.

A pioneer in Chinese-language teaching, District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) first started Chinese-language education 13 years ago, with one teacher and around 40 first graders at an elementary school.

"Now we have nearly 20 teachers and more than 1,000 students at 15 public schools. It has developed rapidly, especially in recent years," Zhi said.

Last fall, Chinese teachers from different public schools across Washington decided to plan for the joint celebration performance when gathering at a DCPS training program. With the current number of Chinese-language students in Washington, they were confident enough to give it a try.

Amee Barnes, a senior at Woodrow Wilson High School, started learning Chinese in middle school when she made some Chinese friends who couldn't speak English. "I wanted to learn their language, so I communicate with them in Chinese till today," she said.

She and her schoolmates did a musical performance of a Chinese folk song, Jasmine, for the celebration.

"It's a chance to look at how other DCPS schools do it," said Deal Middle School Principal James Albright.

"My hope is certainly that it becomes an annual event. I think that it's a very special way for students here to celebrate," said Kate Ireland, global education director.

Not able to accommodate all parents who were interested to attend this time, Ireland said she would be looking at ways to build an event that all the parents and the community could celebrate.

Starting with several dozen students when he first joined Deal Middle School six years ago, Zhi is now responsible for nearly 150 Chinese learners from the sixth to eighth grades, which constitute the largest Chinese-language program among Washington's public schools.

Zhi's students have been practicing for the performance for months.

"Look at how well they sang, and how clearly they pronounced," Zhi said, proudly pointing at his students who sang a classical Chinese song. "Some of them practiced singing the song every day."

In addition to preparing three programs, his students also served as hosts to introduce all 15 programs of the performance.

"I didn't write a single word for them; all the creative introductions they came up with by themselves," Zhi said.

Deborah Powell-Tamen's sixth-grade son Emmanuel Tamen started to learn Chinese at Deal Middle School last year. He also participated in hosting between the programs.

"This event was fantastic. It's really amazing to see how much the children have learned," Powell-Tamen said. "I don't speak Chinese, but they sound good, and they look good."

Despite the difficulties he found as a beginner in Chinese, Tamen is now trying to practice and study Chinese hard with a goal of going to Deal's school trip to China.

"About 30 kids go (on the trip) for about nine days. This year, they will go to Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Yangshuo and Shanghai," Albright said.

"We're trying to make sure that our language-learning is always connected to real world experience," Ireland said. "We're the first district in the US, and likely in the world, to offer fully funded travel to K-12 students."

Yuan Yuan in Washington contributed to the story.