Chinese Cultural School Is Thriving at 24

The Thousand Oaks Chinese School was started in 1975 with five students. Now, its student body has grown to more than 350 children who gather weekly to learn Chinese history, the arts and language.

For Oak Park High School senior Richard Guo, the school has provided a doorway to his heritage, allowing him to communicate with his grandparents, who speak only Chinese.

“I could barely write my name and count to 10,” said Guo, who started at the school about four years ago. “Learning Chinese has helped me communicate with my grandfather and has helped me understand my culture.”

School founding member and Principal Debby Chang, 49, attributed the school’s growth to the rising Asian population, which is up more than 10% in the Conejo Valley since 1990. Chang also said the school has flourished because of support from the community and assistance from area school districts and the Conejo Chinese Cultural Assn.

“Our primary objective is to teach our kids another language, our own language, and to teach our Chinese heritage,” Chang said.

The school has 21 language teachers and 10 elective instructors who teach dance, singing, Kung Fu, knotting, origami, sports, drawing and Chinese calligraphy to children and adults of all heritages.

Chang focuses on teaching the Chinese language, the gateway to understanding Chinese culture. Although Chinese has more than 200 dialects, Chang focuses on Mandarin, the official language of China. Still, learning Chinese is a challenge. It has more than 50,000 characters, and a speaker must memorize 4,000 to 5,000 characters to be conversant.

For information about the Thousand Oaks Chinese School, which meets Saturday mornings at Thousand Oaks High School, call (818) 636-6107.