It's No Secret Why There's a Waiting List for This Chinese After-School Program

Try this experiment: lean two sticks together on a square foot of land in Albany, CA. List it as a "fixer" in the real estate section for $500,000, and count how many offers over asking you get in the first month. Albany's not trendy or exciting. It's well situated, with tiny houses on tiny lots, and the region's best public school system. The schools are such a draw that people pay far more for houses here than they would put up with elsewhere even within the overpriced San Francisco Bay Area.

With almost a third of the District's students tracing their ancestry to Asia, especially China, and with the recent closure of an independent Chinese afterschool program in the city, it's no wonder that the District in 2006 started its own.

It wasn't inevitable, however. The presence of Chinese after-school programs at two of the district's elementary schools (Cornell and Ocean View), and Spanish at Marin School, owes much to parent advocacy. The Superintendent, Dr. William Wong, was receptive to the idea, but was only persuaded to lend his support by the efforts of district parents.

And now, less than a year after the Chinese programs opened, they are fully enrolled, with growing waiting lists. And it's no wonder why - the dynamic program directors and teachers have built something very effective and welcome from what was an idea only a few months earlier.

With only one classroom currently available for the program at each school, the instructors manage differentiated instruction in small groups while allowing ample time for students to play (they're encouraged to use Chinese during play), to work on homework from their other teachers, and to do arts and crafts. The progarm is comparable in price to the nearby YMCA programs, which are also very popular. It seems that the growth in afterschool options has increased afterschool enrollment.

A program instructor (either the credentialled director or her assistant, who is earning her credential) picks up kids from their classrooms at their staggered dismissals. They go to the Chinese program (located on the same block), and have a 45-minute lesson. The rest of the day is left for other activities, and include snacks that, if not the model of nutrition, are at least not junk food.

In addition to listening, speaking, reading, writing and calligraphy, the students learn songs, participate in cultural events such as Chinese New Year, and receive character education from the teachers. They have a long day, and yet there is very little appearance of fatigue or frustration among these Kindergarten-3rd graders, even as the evening hours and their commuting parents approach.

If your child attends an Albany (CA) elementary school, you can get on the waiting list for these programs by contacting the Albany Children's Center, which can answer your questions about program cost, hours, sites, and the like: http://www.albany.k12.ca.us/children/