The Asian Effect: Schools Put Lunar New Year on Party List

One of Southern California’s most dramatic demographic shifts of the last two decades will show up vividly in schools today as classrooms celebrate the Asian lunar New Year with red envelopes, sticky rice cakes and colorful mock-ups of snakes.

The holiday so important to people of Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese heritage has become a common addition to the curriculum on campuses from Walnut to Fountain Valley where people of Asian ancestry have recently settled.

Today marks the beginning of the year of the snake.

“Being in a diverse culture, students need to understand and respect everyone’s culture,” said Michael Armijo, community resources director for the Walnut Unified School District in the San Gabriel Valley. For the first time this year, the district is hosting a Chinese New Year celebration at a local mall.

In Garden Grove and Westminster classrooms, celebrations of Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, have become as common as shamrocks on St. Patrick’s Day or tacos on Cinco de Mayo, principals said.

The area is home to the largest Vietnamese population outside Vietnam.

“In this particular area, I’m assuming everybody teaches it,” said Tom Williams, principal of Sunnyside Elementary in Garden Grove.

The celebrations started on some campuses as an attempt to dissuade parents from pulling their children out of school for the day. Others began at the request of students or community members. And some teachers use the celebrations as a way to get parents more involved in their children’s schools.

Some high schools, such as Los Amigos in Fountain Valley, also use the holiday as a time to reach out to younger students. Members of the school’s Tet dance team visited Monroe Elementary in Fountain Valley last week, and also danced at other community festivals.

“Orange County is becoming a more diverse community,” said Jeffrey Brody, an associate professor at Cal State Fullerton who has studied the Vietnamese community. “I think it shows sensitivity on the part of the schools to know how Vietnamese people celebrate heritage.”

Students at Santiago High School in Garden Grove have been planning their Tet celebration since school began last fall.

“I think it’s important to do this in school so everyone else can be involved in our culture too,” said senior Carolyn Ngo, president of the school’s Vietnamese Club.

She said the event, which the school has been putting on for seven years, also helps students of Vietnamese ancestry--many of whom were born in the United States and are very assimilated--to reconnect with Vietnamese traditions. And it earns her points with her parents, she said.

“My mom is really proud,” she said. “And I get a lot of positive feedback from the Vietnamese community for doing this.”

Santiago’s Tet celebration was held Tuesday because many students will stay home from school today in observance of the holiday.

It was a desire to induce students of Vietnamese heritage to come to school on Tet that prompted teachers at Anderson Elementary in Westminster to put together their celebration five years ago, said teacher Lauren Vu.

This year, Vu has written a play for students to perform that touts the importance of holding onto Vietnamese traditions in the face of Americanizing influences. Students also learn why they receive red envelopes stuffed with money from relatives (it sets the tone for the new year, Vu said).

The program is keeping kids in school, Vu said.

In nearby Fountain Valley, teachers view the Tet celebration as a way to bring into the classroom Vietnamese parents whose lack of English skills might otherwise make them reluctant to volunteer.

During the Tet celebration last week at Tamura Elementary School, teachers turned the multipurpose room over to parents, then invited every class to visit throughout the day. Parents served food and watched over children as they moved through a series of activities designed to teach them about the lunar new year--and give them practice in reading and math skills.

“We try to integrate it into our curriculum,” said third-grade teacher Huong Dao. “We don’t want the kids to lose the instructional time.”

Children used long division to figure their zodiac signs; they read stories about the meaning of the new year; some even practiced fine motor skills by picking up marbles with chopsticks.