Learning the Language of Their Elders : Education: Chinese students spend Saturdays at a school, studying Mandarin and the holiday rituals of the culture their ancestors left behind.

At 9:30 a.m. every Saturday, shiny Volvos, Toyotas and BMWs line up at Waverly Adult School in Thousand Oaks to drop off students.

The 204 Chinese-Americans enrolled in Chinese school spend Saturdays immersed in a culture their immigrant parents left behind.

For 14 years Waverly school has been the cultural center for the Chinese-American community in Thousand Oaks, a mini-Chinatown for a dispersed community that prizes social contact.

“We really come here to make Chinese friends,” said Helen Shen, 9. “We come from a common background.”

Some of the 6- to 15-year-olds who assemble at the school each weekend painstakingly memorize Mandarin characters. Others read folk tales and Chinese proverbs.

They practice the intricate arts of paper-folding and tai chi while their parents read copies of a Chinese-language newsletter, down juice and cookies and chat with friends.

“Whenever there are newcomers to the community, the first thing they look for is the Chinese school,” said Principal Jeff T. Cheung, who estimated the Conejo Valley’s Chinese-American population at about 2,000.

Waverly hosts one of the 84 Chinese schools in Southern California. The only other Chinese school in Ventura County is in Camarillo.

Many parents, mostly educated professionals, came to Thousand Oaks after bypassing traditional Chinese enclaves in Los Angeles and Monterey Park. They were lured to the suburban community by high-tech companies such as Northrop Corp. and Rockwell International and biomedical firms such as Amgen.

Chinese culture is no easy lesson. Unlike public school classrooms where traditional values are rarely emphasized, Chinese students are taught to respect teachers and to work hard.

Students, who pay $75 tuition for a 17-week session, take quizzes every two weeks and complete rigorous midterms and finals. Their attendance, homework and discipline are graded, but their work is not rewarded with school credit. They also are taught rituals to observe Chinese holidays. The Chinese New Year, for example, which began Friday, will be celebrated in Thousand Oaks on March 9.

When they arrive at school, students divide into eight grades, according to language skills. “Some start knowing nothing, like my son,” Cheung said. “Now he writes a simple letter once every month to my parents in Hong Kong.”

The lessons continue at home, where parents prod their children to speak only Chinese.

Cheung said he eventually wants to gain accreditation for the school, so students can get foreign language credit.

Parents contribute both money and time to the school. Some teach Mandarin classes. Cheung, a researcher at the Rockwell International science center, teaches a paper-folding class.

Most students are Chinese, but Cheung recalled one year when the school had one adult Anglo student. At least 90% of the parents come from Taiwan, and the ability to communicate in different tongues is prized.

“When I was in school, I wished I could learn German and French,” said parent Larry Tsai, 46. His two daughters speak Spanish, French, English and Mandarin, he said.

Pearl Wong, a longtime resident who fled Shanghai in 1949, said she helped found Thousand Oaks’ Chinese school in 1975. The first “classroom” was a private home, and there were only nine students.

The school moved to Waverly in 1977. Although parents rarely get involved in politics, when students were killed during riots in Tian an men Square in 1989, they held candlelight vigils, Wong said.

There are enough lessons about international politics to spice up language classes, Cheung said.

“A couple of weeks ago they had a good discussion of the Gulf War,” he said. “They also talk about conservation of natural resources, like water.”

Some aspects of Chinese culture are a bit too obscure to interest some, such as Yvonne Lee, 10, who said she did not understand the purpose of memorizing a poem about a farmer toiling in a rice paddy.

“Also, we don’t think it’s fair that our friends get to do something else on Saturdays,” Yvonne said.

When one student stumbles on the Mandarin word for “rice,” Yvonne’s teacher urges the whole class to repeat the word, pronounced “nee.”

Yvonne’s complaints are shared by others.

“In any other school, I understand everything,” said Leslie Shei, 11. “Here, it’s harder, but I like the teachers.”

However, Cheung’s son, Eric, 10, had a different story. He is using his culture to win and impress friends.

“I come here because I have a lot of Chinese friends,” Eric said. “At school, a lot of kids ask about what year they were born. They laugh when I tell them they were born in the Year of the Boar.”