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President: |
NEWSLETTER August 2007Contents PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE LANGUAGE CLASS REPORT SATURDAY SOCIALS JOIN IMMIGRATION DISCUSSION AUGUST 19 FREE CITIZENSHIP CLASS NEWSLETTER EDITOR WANTED CULTURAL DANCE RECA SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS DAY UNDER THE OAKS SANTA ROSA ROSE PARADE RECA AND THE GATE PROGRAM JOINT ASIAN POTLUCK SOCIAL SIX FLAGS MARINE WORLD CHILDREN’S CHINESE CULTURE CAMP PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE By Nancy Wang The year is half over, and what a year it has been! Our cultural program has never been so busy. We have had to turn down some requests due to an over-full schedule. Our Youth Group has been our major support with putting on many performances. Our teaching staff had the added honor of teaching an eight week GATE program at Herbert Slater Middle School. We like to feel that, partly because of RECA support, Sonoma County District Superintendent, Dr. Carl Wong, has been successful with starting the first Mandarin Class in the Sonoma County School District. I was honored to sit on the interview panel when the teacher was being hired. We are hoping this class will be successful enough that the students will be able to continue their Mandarin studies when they enter Montgomery High in a year or two.   LANGUAGE CLASS REPORT By Judy Hardin Cheung Our school year has ended. Our Children’s Chinese Culture Camp has gone very well. We split our camp into two age groups, 9-13 and 5-8. The kids and the staff both felt it was more enjoyable and more educational. The older kids got to do stuff (like stir the food in the frying pan independently and write recipes for their cooking). The younger kids got to learn through more singing and playing. See the separate article later in the newsletter about the camp for more details.
Additional family members: pay for 3 plus $150 per person per semester. Tuition for Pre-school play group: We are going to have Saturday Socials beginning September 8. Everyone is invited. After language classes and cultural dance, beginning at 12:00 noon, come and share a potluck lunch. Activities, opportunities and wonderful friends will be available each Saturday. This should be a time of social interaction and fun. We plan to have weekly tai chi led by David Chung and mah jong tables. At various times, we plan to have cooking lessons with Phi Phi Dang,various programs and speakers when available, and in general, a time and place to meet friends and have fun.
Sonoma County JACL is inviting leaders from the Asian community to discuss the topic of immigration on Sunday, August 19 from 2-4 p.m. at their office at 515 Petaluma Avenue in Sebastopol (next door to Palm Drive Hospital). The public is welcome to attend. This is coordinated by JACL’s Human and Civil Rights Committee and part of “Sunday in the Dark” series to discuss topics of importance to the community. The session features the general issue of immigration and how it affects our community, sharing stories of immigration problems and how we can help each other as a network. For more information, please e-mail Carol Kawase at sonomacojacl@yahoo.com or call her at (707)
964-9325. Catholic Charities is offering a free citizenship class beginning August 23 – December 6. The 14-week course meets once a week on Thursdays from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Catholic Charities’ offices at 987 Airway Court in Santa Rosa. The class is designed for people who have applied or are planning to apply to become U.S. citizens. Class content will include lessons on U.S. history & civics, practice for the interview with the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS), and helping students improve their English. To reserve a class space, call Catholic Charities Immigration Services at (707) 578-6000. Do you have questions related to immigration? The agency offers free information meetings every Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. on a first-come, first-serve basis. Accredited immigration staff will answer brief questions regarding immigration issues. If you need more time, they can schedule you for a $30 private consultation. For more information, call 578-6000. After 15 years of producing the RECA newsletters, Mirin Lew is resigning as the newsletter editor. We need a new volunteer to take over this job. RECA sends out 4 newsletters per year, and the job consists mostly of editing articles and photos contributed by other RECA members and formatting the newsletter. If you would like more information or want to volunteer, please contact Mirin Lew at 545-6173, or Nancy Wang at 576-0533. Our Cultural dance program takes place each Saturday from 11:30 am to 12:00 noon. Dancers of all ages are welcome to come and take part. Usually, our youngest students practice first with the Fan Dance. Intermediate dancers then practice the Taiwan Aborigine Dance and Xin Jiang Dance. Our young dance leaders, Meesha Heydon, Jasmine Elliott and Savannah Heydon are hoping to create some new dances. Talk to them about rehearsals for the Ribbon Dance, Flower Drum Dance and other dances. RECA had seven applications for this year’s scholarships and awarded three $500 scholarships to very deserving graduating high school seniors. The winners are:
Congratulations to all of the winners! RECA wishes them the best as they start their college careers. Surrounded by stately oaks, under the canopy of a fabulous blue sky, RECA took part in Santa Rosa Junior College’s annual open house event, Day Under the Oaks on May 6. Our lion procession from the fountain to the outdoor stage near Bailey Hall has become an institution for this grand, outside event. Hundreds of Yeremia Iman and David Quach stand at attention until the moment to snap into their lion dance. Our youngest dancers become a beautiful pink flower in our Chin dynasty Fan Dance.
This Xin Jiang tambourine number represents western China's desert dwelling population, very different from the courtly fan dancers.
SANTA ROSA ROSE PARADE Article and Photos By Judy Hardin Cheung “Please, we need your dragon!” was the response Nancy Wang received when she informed the parade committee that we were considering not participating in the 2007 Rose Parade. So, as usual, we had a large RECA showing of our dragon, lions, cultural dancers, banner bearers, support people and marching members. The applause along the way let us know that yes, we are appreciated in this city that celebrates diversity. Being in the Rose Parade takes a lot of preparation with rehearsals, practices, costume maintenance and phone calls to be sure every one we need is available on the appointed day. When in the parade, we meet many new people and have more fun than the audience who just get to watch. Taylor Wang takes a turn with the Arabian gong as the Shriners march by while RECA was waiting to enter the parade. People come up to RECA and ask to touch our lions and dragons. Our Fan Dancers take one last practice of the wave while waiting to enter the main part of the parade. Notice our youngest new dancer, Maddie, 3 years old, in her debut fan dance performance.
What is more important--the dragon or the water boy? Brendon Wan was our primary water runner, keeping our 30 dragon dancers well hydrated. He was nice and also gave water to our lions, cultural dancers, and member marchers. He even shared, with permission, with some desperate people in the entry behind us. Our entry is popular for many reasons. RECA lion squares off with a Rose Parade clown, much to the delight of the audience. Who won? Every one!
We can't have lion and dragon dancing without drums. Two pickup trucks of drums, cymbals and gongs filled the air with exciting rhythms. All evil spirits were chased away, leaving only happy spectators in our wake. It's not easy! Running in "S" patterns for nearly a mile takes strength, endurance and concentration. That's why we have relief dragon legs. On the left, Lia, our youngest set of dragon legs, was determined to run the entire distance, and she did!
Led by dragon head Bryce Heydon, the dragon ties itself into a knot then unwinds, jumping over its own belly.
Last winter, Herbert Slater Middle School called Nancy and asked if RECA could provide an 8-week program in Mandarin and Chinese culture for their Gifted And Talented Education (GATE) program this past spring. Of course, Nancy answered “Yes.” She called Cathy Ringstad to be the primary language instructor, David Chung to be the tai chi master, and Judy Cheung to provide lessons about Chinese culture and history in English. Nancy taught Chinese brush painting and was our main coordinator.
Students are hard at work with Chinese brush painting. After an intensive session of tai chi, culture, history and language, they finished each hour with art. They enjoyed our classes, as did the staff. Their newly hired Mandarin teacher for the coming school year is standing in the background, impressed with their ability and enthusiasm. We used to call it the RECA/JACL Annual Potluck Social. In recent years, we have invited more and more groups. This year, the Philippine-American Association of Rohnert Park hosted the event for the first time. Since it included RECA, JACL, the Pilipino Association, Vietnamese, Koreans and Cambodians, they called it the Joint Asian Potluck Social.
Our RECA chorus sang beautifully.
The evening finished with everyone dancing.
On June 4th, 13 youth were driven by Azy Heydon and Judy Cheung to Six Flags Marine World USA. Some of the kids were old hands. Some were there for the first time.
This year, we split the children into two age groups. Our first session was held July 8-13 with kids 9-13. Our second group was held July 23-27 with kids 5-8. The camp was smaller, the lessons more intense and the kids had even more fun than usual. With only older kids, our language lessons focused on using sentences. Most of the kids had been in Chinese school before. Those that had not were able to look at the class hand-outs with word lists and participate without being too far behind. On the last day, everyone was able to give a short talk in Chinese, telling about themselves.
David Chung came each morning to teach tai chi. At the end of the session, each of the kids wrote a thank you card for him in Chinese.
Cathy Ringstad taught Mandarin. In this session, we focused on sentences and saying things. We also had to write the recipe for what we were cooking for lunch each day.
Nancy Wang supervised the stove during each cooking session. Others were at the table chopping veggies, stuffing won tons, folding pot stickers or rolling green onion pancakes while one or two at a time helped with the stove.
“Can we drum now?” was the request each time we had a moment’s lull. We drummed once or twice during the day and finished each afternoon with drumming. All the campers showed talent. Come to the annual picnic and hear them perform!
For sharing, a favorite item is brought to camp and shared. Mei Li brought her dog, Lucky. Everyone got to play with him first, then it was time for class.
Teresa Eisenstark, Elizabeth's mother, was invaluable in assisting with all aspects of camp. We welcome parents who want to stay and participate.
We met Yin as a student in the GATE program this spring. We asked if she would be willing to assist with camp. She was an excellent helper. She will be the student assistant in the fall for the Herbert Slater Middle School Mandarin class.
Here is everyone in our first session of camp. Everyone got to be the head of the lion, the tail and also learned to play drum, cymbal and gong in the lion drum band.
Redwood Empire Chinese Association |
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 © Copyright 2002 Redwood Empire Chinese Association |