California's 1st Chinese language immersion program prepares for another parade

CUPERTINO, Calif. - In this year's Chinese New Year Parade, children from the Cupertino Language Immersion Program (CLIP) will tell the story of an old Chinese legend. an old Chinese legend.

The group has been rehearsing for months in costumes made with love, and with volunteers leading the way.

Parade leader Christine Wong explains, "The legend goes, it is carp dancers or carp who are jumping, and they're trying to reach this gate. And if they reach the gate, and they pass it, they turn into a dragon."

Organizers said the parade is just one aspect of the CLIP program's mission to bring together culture, language, and community.

Eileen Voon, a founding member of the parent parade volunteer group, had three children go through the program.

She said CLIP, "gave my kids the chance to be bilingual, bi-literate in this world, my parents, my husband and I were both American-born Chinese. And I think neither of us ever envisioned that our kids would be able to keep up with the Chinese language. And so, to have this program and to have them start from an early age to read, write, and speak, it's just been phenomenal."

Established in 1998, the CLIP program selects children in kindergarten through a lottery system to take Mandarin classes up to the eighth grade.

In a class at Miller Middle School in San Jose, eighth grader Bethany Yung described the work, saying, "This class and the social studies classes are entirely in Chinese. So sometimes the concepts are the same, except the words are different. And we also have to answer the questions in Chinese."

Her classmate Nathan Tsui said he speaks, "Chinese at home, but, since at home we only speak, I feel like at CLIP I’ve learned a lot about writing and reading it."

The program was home to California's first public Mandarin immersion elementary school and has since become a model for similar programs nationwide.

Voon said, "We're definitely a trailblazer’s program, You know, one that I’m extremely grateful for. And it's great to hear about all these immersion programs popping up all over the Bay Area. And knowing that our program is something that kind of helped these programs grow."

For program alumni like Aaron Chao, the impact remains profound. He said the parade was always a highlight.

"The parade was probably one of the most exciting parts of every year," he said with a smile. "Getting to go to San Francisco with everyone. It was kind of tough having practice every week, especially as a kid. I had too much energy, so it's hard to control me, but once the parade actually started being in San Francisco with all the crowds everything was really fun."

As the colorful carp jump into the Year of the Dragon, accompanied by the beat of drums, the tradition of culture, language, and community marches on in celebration.