The SCS is a self-supporting, non-profit organization. Its sole purpose is to enhance the education of the Chinese language and culture for overseas Chinese. The SCS has no political nor religious affiliations. Through its years of existence, the SCS' primary goal has been to raise the awareness of overseas Chinese of their own ancestral roots. The volunteer school administrators and teachers have always strived to plant the seeds of the Chinese culture in our hearts by offering quality Chinese education.
The SCS organizational chart consists of a Board of 7 Directors and Advisory Committee, the School Administration team and the Parent Teacher Association. The school operates smoothly with the dedicated efforts of all its volunteers. All School Board directors, the Administrative and PTA staff members are parent volunteers who receive no monetary compensation. All teachers are hired by the SCS with minimum part-time pay.
The number of students grew steadily through the years, which necessitated the move to a bigger and better campus. The SCS is now located at Interlake High School, Bellevue. There are currently over 420 students enrolled, with ages ranging from 3 through 18, classes of preschool, phonetics, levels 1~10. Additionally, with the increasing interest of learning Chinese from the non-Chinese speaking families, SCS offers Chinese as Second Language (CSL) program for children who are 5 years and older, speak no or little Mandarin Chinese but wish to become fluent in commonly used, conversational Chinese, and learn traditional Chinese characters.
The SCS curriculum utilizes textbooks created for overseas Chinese in America. We teach the Traditional Chinese scripts, with the Mandarin Chinese Phonetic method. Our curriculum also includes classes in Chinese Folk Art and Cultural activities. In addition to classroom teaching, SCS also encourages student participation in the Chinese summer camps, Chinese culture and scholastic contests held by the Northwest Association of Chinese Language Schools.
Through the years, the SCS has made great progress. This was made possible by the dedicated teamwork between the school staff, the students and their families. We also offer opportunities for our alumni students to come back and help in the classrooms as teacher's assistants (TAs), earning community service hours, which are recognized by their public high schools. It is with great pride that we strive to give back to the community where we reside, raise the awareness of Chinese culture, and to offer quality education of the Chinese language and arts to the next generation.
Seattle Chinese School’s transformation
A Blessed History and a Bright Future - The Transformation of Seattle Chinese School (1966 ~ 2017) by Judy Yu (translated by Lan-Chen Pao and Ling-Yi Chen)
What started 50 years ago as a vision to impart Chinese language to the next
generation is now Seattle Chinese School (SCS). SCS has enabled past, present and now
future generations in the greater Seattle area to learn Chinese language and culture.
Although classes are held only three hours a week on Saturdays, Chinese school is often a
child’s first full immersion into Chinese culture. Learning Chinese will become an
invaluable memory and cherished experience of their youth.
Over the past half century, the school has faced different challenges at different
times. The school community overcame these trials through the courage and persistence
of many to preserve our cultural heritage. SCS is today a model of excellence and
benchmark of quality among Chinese schools in the Northwest. The development of SCS
also serves as a record of the history of Taiwanese immigrants in the Northwest. With the
purpose of memorializing the dedication of past generations and encouraging the
participation of future generations, we will use this article to summarize the school’s
major developmental stages.
In the 1960s, Seattle saw an increase in the number of Chinese families from
Hong Kong and Taiwan. Immigrants originally came to the area to study and later
remained to be employed in various professions. Due to the increasing number of young
children from those families, the wife of Professor Yo-Chung Shieh saw the need to
educate these youngsters about their parents’ Chinese ancestry. Shieh was a professor at
University of Washington’s Chinese Department. Mrs. Shieh started offering Chinese
classes to students in the 1960s. Parents of students took turns teaching classes during
those early days. A few years later, figuring that Chinese education should be part of its
services, the Seattle Chinese Women Club (SCWC) took over this responsibility. In
1966, SCWC moved classes to Seattle YMCA in the University District with about 20
students.
The SCWC formally registered Seattle Chinese School with the State of
Washington on October 9, 1973. The first SCS principal was Martha Hsiao (曹芸女士).
The second SCS principal, Lilian Lin (胡錦文女士), decided that SCS should become a
separate entity. Thus, SCS started its own journey and gradually grew afterward.
During the school’s history, SCS has relocated several times. The third principal
was Maria Koh (李保馨女士1975-1978). During the administrations of the fourth
principal, Hsiao-Wen Wang (王曉雯 1978-1981), the school moved to the Lutheran
Church on Mercer Island due to increased student enrollment. Then we had Principal
Betty Tonglao (王仁珮1981-1984) and Principal Anne Lin (劉安黎女士 1984-1987).
During the administration of Principal Ann Hsu (趙清鸝女士1987-1990), the number of
students reached 200. The Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) was formed to assist in the
running of the school.
Changes and transformations are inevitable when an organization is growing.
More changes would come to SCS. Mr. Min-Jan Lu (呂民健先生), SCS principal
between 1990 and 1993, moved the school from its Mercer Island home to Sunset
Elementary School in Bellevue. In 1992, SCS moved again to Tyee Middle School,
where it remained until 2005. The move was necessary because space at Sunset was
insufficient for our students and inconvenient for many parents. This relocation to a
bigger and more convenient school site reflected the growth of the Chinese community
on the Eastside. SCS entered the “Growth Stage” during this period.
Besides school site changes, the school administration operations also evolved.
When the school was small and limited by its available space, all administrative work
was handled by the school’s volunteer teachers. While at Tyee, SCS started having
parent volunteers who were dedicated administrative staff, and had bigger and better
space available for SCS at Tyee. The PTA at the time hosted various events and
gradually firmed up its organizational structure. Principal Lu initiated two school bylaw
revisions. These revisions included limiting the principal term to two years, and adding
two PTA representatives to the SCS board of directors.
Some other important contributions from Principal Lu were to direct SCS in:
becoming a regular contributor to the Bellevue Schools Foundation;
inviting Bellevue School District representatives regularly to give speeches at SCS;
attending the annual Lunar New Year Festival at Bellevue Square.
All these functions were designed to raise awareness of Chinese culture to local
residents.
SCS bylaws were revised twice again between 1993 and 1995, during Principal
Dong- Liang Lin’s tenure (林棟樑先生). Literature and cultural classes were added to
SCS’s regular curriculum. This was accomplished by the Director of Academic Affairs,
Hsiao-Ping Young, with support from all of the volunteer teachers. Under Principal Lin,
school students’ directory files were set up by SCS registrar, Yi-Tsung Shiu. Shiu also
started the Teacher Assistant program, which proved to be very successful. By this time,
the idea of building an SCS campus surfaced. However, although a lofty goal, it was a
daunting task to raise the necessary funds and face all the issues that would come with
building a school. The idea was tabled.
The next principal from 1995 to 1997, Ms. Ji Kong (康繼女士), hired a teaching
advisor who developed the textbook, “I Can Read.” During Kong’s tenure, “SCS New
Student Admission Policy” was drafted because restrictions on classroom space could not
keep up with enrollment demand. The number of students enrolled by this time exceeded
350.
The “Parent Service Agreement” was also drafted during this time due to
increasing need for assistance in school operations. There were other firsts while Kong
was principal:
• Teachers’ training meetings for Chinese school teachers in the Seattle area.
• Northwest Association of Chinese Language School Sport Meet.
• Teachers became contractors instead of volunteers.
Principal Shu Ling (李淑真女士) was the next principal from 1997 to 1999. The
number of students enrolled was still at around 350 during this time. Her achievements
include:
• Purchased computer equipment to meet the needs of computerization for school operations.
• Adopted “New Student Admission Policy” in 1998.
• Adopted “Parent Service Agreement” in 1998.
• Adopted “Student Behavior Expectation Policy” in 1998.
• Added an hour each month of “Hanyu Pingyin and Simplified Chinese Characters” introduction course to the 8th, 9th, and 10th grades in 1998.
• Adopted “Ethics & Moral Principles” curriculum in 1999.
• Changed textbooks to “High School Chinese”, published by Northern California Chinese community, for the 9th and 10th grades in 1999.
Cecilia Feng (馮潤茹女士) was principal from 1999 to 2001. During Feng’s
term, emphasis was on improving administrative operation efficiency and student
achievement measurement. Three major policies were adopted during this period:
• Defined administrative operation to make sure school operation follows proper procedures. In order to achieve this concept, each department chairperson was delegated with certain authority.
• Drafted and adopted “Emergency School Operation Guidelines”.
• Added Curriculum Department to the existing school operation system to evaluate and improve curriculum guidelines as well as supplemental teaching materials. One of the changes was to replace “Character Writing Competition” with “Character Recognition Competition”. This change was to measure students’ learning achievement with uniform criteria.
• Initiated a school web site to take the school into the electronic era.
• During Feng’s reign, the PTA started the first SCS Newsletter in September 1999 with Judy Yu.
In addition,
• Under the continuous effort and leadership of each president, PTA had established a great model in assisting school administrative operation.
• Community reciprocity work with US Northwestern Association of Chinese Language Schools and with Bellevue School District were initiated in 1999. Thanks to Feng and Chen for having made the friendly scholastic competition among Seattle area’s Chinese schools a great success two years in a row.
• The SCS board of directors approved PTA’s recommendation as a trial to sponsor Bellevue School teacher’s trip to Asia and experience Chinese culture first hand. In 2001, the first teacher sent was from Tyee Middle School.
The direction of school development in the past few decades has been adjusted
based on the need of the time and the environment. The 2001-2003 principal, Mr. David
Chow (周步岳先生) focused on school administrative improvement, including:
1. Founded SCS web site - encouraged web publishing of student work, teacher’s communication, teaching material, etc.
2. Great improvement on teaching equipment, include purchasing of electronic teaching materials, i.e. DVD, VCD, CD and VHS tapes.
3. Initiated and put into action the New Teacher Training program.
4. Put the entire administrative operations into electronic files.
5. Initiated emergency communication via three major TV stations: KOMO, KING and KIRO.
Seattle Chinese School is run by parent volunteers. In 50 years of school history,
our biggest point of pride has been watching new parents enthusiastically serve and
assimilate into the larger SCS family. Many seemingly “impossible missions” became
possible through the collective efforts of parents who sacrificed their personal time. The
2003-2005 principal, Mr. Jay Lin (林昭宏先生), epitomized this volunteering spirit.
Due to the initiation of the AP Chinese program by US College Board, and
increasing commercial and cultural activities between USA and Asia, Principal Lin began
to consider the direction for SCS educational development. His priorities were to:
1. Increase students’ motivation in attending Chinese school.
2. Promote engaging and interactive teaching methods.
3. Achieve “learning practical Chinese” as the teaching target.
4. Continue the research and development of teaching methods and materials.
As a result,
1. SCS board of directors (BOD) formed the Teaching Advisory Committee to partner with the administration’s Curriculum and Academic Affairs departments to evaluate the curriculum. The following improvements were made:
a. Adopted the “Quan Xin Hua Yu 全新版” textbooks published by Liou Chwan Cultural Chinese School and ensured a smooth transition between the current and new textbook usage
b. Adopted the Mandarin phonetic book published by Kang-Hsuan Educational Publishing Group for the phonics class.
c. Adopted the “Fareastern Hua Yu” as the supplemental material for classes 9 and 10.
d. Developed multi-media teaching materials to supplement “everyday use” Chinese language and Chinese culture teaching
2. Added Information Technology department to administration to enrich and maintain school website.
3. Changed the class schedule from three periods to four periods by reducing the length of each period. The first and second periods would focus on teaching the textbook, while the third and fourth periods would use the supplement materials for “everyday use” Chinese language and culture.
Ms. Judy Yu (曾淑華女士) was elected as the 15 th SCS principal in June 2005.
This is considered SCS’s “Maturing Stage”. The school faced tremendous challenges
from the transformation. SCS eventually established a balance between tradition and
innovation through a process of collective brainstorming and a practice of preservation
and breakthrough. The school reached the educational repositioning goal of quality and
quantity assurance. It provided SCS with a new direction and aspirational benchmark.
Principal Yu’s focus was to parallel with the implementation of AP Chinese
program by US College Board. After a thorough evaluation, the decision of gradually
replacing the teaching materials of “Quan Xin Hua Yu 全新版” with “MeiZhou Chinese
美洲華語” was made. Thus, strategizing the short and mid-term goals and procedures to
overcome the obstacles for this transition became the main emphasis in the school’s
administrative operation.
Meanwhile, the school board was also supportive in the teacher training program
to fully fund teachers’ participation in AP workshops. The school Curriculum
Department started to research academic preparation for 2007 Chinese AP examination,
such as strengthening Pinyin learning in the middle and higher grades, hosting seminars
of beginning Chinese computer program for parents, etc. Principal Yu diligently
prepared for the application to join Northwest Association of Accredited School and
pursued certification for the students’ Chinese learning in SCS. In 2006, SCS was the
very first Chinese heritage school accredited in the State of Washington.
Principal Sonia Lee (李琮如女士), took over the office in 2007, began the
preschool program to accept students from age 3 to 5 years old and instituted “Teaching
Assistant Responsibility and Rules” in preparation for the enrollment of preschool
students.
The 17th principal, John Lyou (劉政賢先生), took the position in 2009 and
encountered the school relocation issue due to the Tyee Middle School’s renovation.
After thorough evaluation, the school board chose Interlake High School as the new
home for our school. Principal Lyou not only upgraded hardware to digitize teaching and
provide projectors for each classroom, he was also involved in overseas Chinese
community activities and communications. SCS, joined by other Chinese schools in the
region, hosted a centennial National Day Celebration event with a thousand participants.
At the same time, Principal Lyou also sensed the urgency to build a well-rounded
financial system to aid this volunteer-centric school operation. Together with Judy Yu,
then school board finance director, both helped draft SCS’s “Financial and Fund Usage
Guidelines”.
Principal Tiffany Kan (鄭世芸女士) took over as principal in 2011. In order to
keep up with swift changes in the macro environment for Chinese learning and the
development of digital teaching, she executed measurements of digitizing teaching
materials, revitalizing teaching methods, sharing tips for classroom management and
providing learning aids for students as needed.
To disseminate and promote Chinese cultural heritage, Principal Kan applied for
and received funding from Overseas Chinese Affairs Council (OCAC) and other small
funds to purchase brand new equipment for dragon and lion dances as well as ask
volunteer parents to teach. She encouraged students to join Chinese Culture Youth
Summer Camp to learn the lion dance and take other cultural classes. Moreover,
mobilizing the efforts of teachers, students to parents of the entire school, Kan
spearheaded the construction of a 100-foot- long, handmade dragon for the 2013 Lunar
New Year celebration. The dragon symbolically demonstrated the school’s continuing
progress, while strengthening the bond of every member in our school community.
Principal Kan also renewed SCS accreditation by Northwest Accreditation
Commission/Northwest Association of Accredited Schools in April of 2013. It gave our
students the advantage of getting the seat-time based credits in Chinese from SCS to be
recognized by most area high schools. On-line registration, launched by the school
administration, allowed new families to log in student information conveniently and
saved school resources. Keeping up with social media trends and the needs of a new
generation, the school published its Facebook page to instantly communicate with
parents, teachers and students.
Principal Vicki Liao (李雅慧女士) started her administration in 2013 and placed
tremendous energy in connecting SCS with mainstream schools in the US on Chinese
education. She wanted to motivate students in higher grades to learn Chinese, to receive
high school world language credits with already possessed competency and to prepare
them for AP Chinese examinations. She introduced ACTFL Chinese Proficiency
Guidelines (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) as a part of the
school teaching and learning assessment system. Meanwhile, she also actively pushed
forward the STAMP4S Test (Standards-based Assessment & Measurement of
Proficiency of four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing) within our school. By
2016, the STAMP4S Test became widely adopted by school districts in the greater
Seattle area as a major avenue of confirming students’ Chinese proficiency and credits.
Principal Liao also recognized the additional components required to further
increase school operation and administrative efficiency: revising the “Parent Service
Agreement”, utilizing SignUp Genius for parents to sign up and fulfill volunteer service
requirements, and publishing “Administrative Personnel Policy” for staff training. She
also expanded the extent of “New Teacher Training Program” as well as the related
documents to assist in fostering new teachers. The teacher hiring system got extended
due to increased enrollment. W2s were issued to teachers for their taxation use and
“Teacher Policy” was also updated. In addition, the school website was overhauled to
what we have today. Teachers became employees instead of contractors.
Ms. Jessica Liao (楊嘉文女士) became the 20th principal in 2015 when school
enrollment reached more than 420 students. The school focused on systematically
spelling out administrative duties and building online document repositories for teachers
and school administration. The school administration recorded duties of each team in
detail to aid future job training. The communication team was also formed to capture,
create and disseminate important messages more frequently and through multiple
communication channels to parents. The information technology team invested time to
research the possibility of on-line student database as preparation for the next leap in
academic affairs. To encourage sharing among teachers, informal gathering on
weekdays, small group discussions on Saturday afternoons and classroom teaching
observation during the Chinese art lessons were added to the teacher training program.
The first student assembly was held in September 2016, concurrently with parent-teacher
conferences. The school administration used the assembly to remind students of school
safety rules and student conduct, as well as award students who finished their summer
homework.
Under Principal Liao’s leadership, the school hosted the US Northwestern
Association of Chinese Language Schools’ several interschool events: Traditional
Chinese Character and Culture Exhibit and Bazaar, scholastic competition, and Chinese
Culture Youth Summer Camp. In 2016, the school board approved the SCS “Financial
and Fund Usage Guidelines”, compiled major decisions made by the board prior to 2017
and revised the school bylaws and operating guidelines for school administration and
PTA.
For SCS’s 50 th anniversary celebration, Principal Liao led the administrative team
on a one-year search and compilation of school history. The result was presented on
February 4, 2017, when a total of 15 former principals and past key contributing teachers
attended the historic event. Their contributions were announced and praised during the
celebration. Creative programs were presented by teachers, students and parents. Video
interviews with previous principals were broadcast during the event. It touched all
attendees’ hearts when the host invited each principal onstage while the film showed
recollections of their individual achievements to the school. Besides the dynamic
programs, artifacts related to school history and student works were exhibited.
Despite 50 years of history and accompanying trials, SCS has maintained its
vitality with each successive generation. Twenty principals sacrificially lead the school
with no compensation. The SCS, despite numerous restrictions and limitations on funds,
teaching resources and teacher sourcing, has prospered and grown into its current size.
This is due to past principals’ foresight and devotion.
History is like a book that recounts past experiences. It records what our
predecessors achieved and also inspires us to move ahead. We greatly appreciate all
principals who laid a strong foundation for us to expand on. We are also thankful to all
parents and the community who contributed to the success of SCS. I hope this article
achieves its purpose in listing some important milestones and sharing the intentions of
those running SCS.
I would also like to thank all past principals for their contribution to this article,
especially Anne Hsu (趙清鸝), Min-Jan Lu (呂民健), Dong Liang Lin (林棟樑), Ji Kong
(康繼), Shu Ling (李淑真), Cecilia Feng (馮潤茹), David Chow (周步岳), Jay Lin (林昭
宏), Tiffany Kan (鄭世芸), Vicki Liao (李雅慧), and Jessica Liao (楊嘉文). It is my
sincere hope that we remember what brought SCS to this point, and pass the baton
successfully to future generations. Please let me know if there are any errors or oversight
in this account of SCS history. I will make sure that any mistakes are corrected.