About NNJCACS

Northern New Jersey Chinese Association Chinese School

NNJCA Chinese School (北新中文學校) was founded in 1981 by a group of community leaders to create an encouraging environment for students to learn Mandarin Chinese and Chinese culture.

The school hours are on Sunday afternoon from 2 PM to 4 PM for language classes, and 4 PM to 5 PM for culture and art programs. We use Montville Township High School facility, and follow Montville School District’s academic calendar.

Currently, the school has about 220 students enrolled in language program, and 120 students enrolled in culture programs. Our students range from 4 years old children for Pre K class to adults for CSL Adult class. The classes are mainly divided into two groups:

Heritage classes and Chinese-as-Second-Language (CSL) classes. The school has more than 30 teachers for language and culture art classes.

The NNJCA Chinese School website is: www.nnjcacs.org, email can be sent to nnjcacs@gmail.com. The classes are held at Montvill Township High School: 100 Horseneck Road, Montville, NJ 07045. The mailing address is NNJCA Chinese School, P. O. Box 721, Pine Brook, NJ 07058.

Heritage Classes

Heritage classes teach traditional Chinese character writing system (正體字), and Zhuyin phonetics (注音符號) system. Hanyu Pinyin (漢語拼音) is also required for all students of 6th graders and above. Students in heritage classes are mainly from families with background in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Teachers of heritage classes are mostly enthusiastic parents, some are professionally trained educators, or with a college degree in Chinese language areas. The school, with assistance of Chinese Culture Center in New York (CCCNY, 華僑文教中心) and Association of New Jersey Chinese Schools (ANJCS, 新澤西中文學校協會), provides regular training seminars for all interested teachers. Textbooks used are “Children’s Chinese Readers” ( 兒童華語課本), volume 1 to 12, provided free of charge by Taiwan government’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission (OCAC, 中華民國僑務委員會) through CCCNY. Grade 9 and Grade 10 classes use “Integrated Chinese” as the textbook. The focus is also on preparing students for AP-Chinese test and SAT II Chinese test.

Students usually enter the programs at age of 4 in “唱遊(Sing-and-Play)” class, then move up to “注音(Zhuyin)” class, first grade, and so on. By the time they completed 10th grade, they are expected to learn more than 1,000 Chinese characters. Graduating students must pass a 鑑定考試 “Language Proficiency Test” to obtain a certificate from Chinese School. Certified graduates are invited to apply for Teaching Assistants. Because of the limited opening, applicants should apply early. The application from is available at the school Web site.

CSL Classes

CSL (Chinese-as-Second-Language) classes teach mostly ‘simplified’ Chinese character writing system (简体字型), with Hanyu Pinyin (汉语拼音) Phonetics system.

CSL students come from diverse backgrounds. Most of the students are from families with children adopted from mainland China, and from families with partial Chinese heritage. Others are school age students and business people who are interested in learning Chinese language and culture.

Currently, we have seven classes in this system. The seven teachers are all professionally trained educator in education, or language education. They consist of a lecturer of William-Paterson University, two New Jersey C. E. teachers, and others perusing their official teacher licenses.

Textbooks used for Level I to VII are “My first Chinese Reader” (快樂兒童華語); while Class Pre-AP (Advanced Placement Preparation) uses “Integrated Chinese” (中文聽說讀寫, published by Cheng & Tsui of Boston). The CSL Adult Class uses materials written by the teacher.

Supplementary Materials

Our teachers devoted their valuable time, developing their own supplementary teaching materials. The Chinese School routinely holds seminars, so teachers can exchange their ideas of teaching. With granted licenses and authorization, Chinese School produces learning CDs available to all students. The content includes

• MP3 files of “Chinese Readers” textbook

• Character-recognition games

• “Learn Chinese Language in 500 Characters” developed by OCAC

• Characters Table, along with other materials.

As a contributor to the Chinese Language Education community, many of the materials we developed are available to share with other Chinese Schools.

Parents’ Duty

Parents are expected to join Parents Association (PA), 家長會, and take turns fulfilling chores, such as serving snacks during recess and cleaning afterward, participating in PA activities, and patrolling facility for safety. We encourage parents to be trained for teaching, or to participate in the school administrative function. In the School Board of Directors, the governing body of Chinese School, three seats are reserved for parents.

Summer Camp

As a service to our community, Chinese School hosts an annual summer camp during the third week in August. The teachers are teachers recruited by OCAC from Taiwan, providing children in age from 6 to 14 to learn Chinese culture through fun-packed activities. Usually, the activities include Chinese traditional athletic skills, dancing, crafts, and arts. The DVD of the past summer camp performance is available for purchase.

Our Commitment to the Community Chinese School recognizes the importance as a contributing member of the community. We actively participate in various community events promoting multi-culture society, from local to international presence. Our students, parents, teachers and staffs are frequently asked to present or sponsor activities at local schools, from pre-school to colleges, libraries, senior citizen centers. We participate in activities, such as Montville Day, Chinese New Year Celebration at Morris County Library and Parsippany Library, NJ’s Chinese Day at Liberty State Park, as well as activities hosted by CCCNY and ANJCS. We value our commitment in serving the community. Our Parent and Sister Organizations

Chinese School is the education branch of Northern New Jersey Chinese Association (NNJCA, 新州北部美華聯誼會), a qualified 501 non-profit organization. NNJCA offers group lessons and activities to adults members, provides community services. Their website is www.nnjca.org. Our sister organization includes Hwa-Yin Youth Choral 華音合唱團, a beloved music group.

新澤西州北新中文學校

新澤西州北新中文學校創校於1981 年，為新州北部美華聯誼會所屬的中文學校。本校為一非營利組織，二十多年來為華裔子弟及社區人士提供了一個學習中國傳統文化的良好環境。

本校現以 Montville Township High School 為校址，上課時間為每周日下午二時至四點，除兩小時語文課程外，並有一小時的文化課。本校現有學生約兩百二十名，招收年滿四歲以上的學生，設有唱遊班、注音班、及一年級到十年級傳統中文班，並另開設兒童雙語班 (CSLChinese as 2nd Language) 及成人雙語班。

本校傳統中文班教授正體字，注音班至五年級的拼音教學以注音符號為主，六年級以上則輔以漢語拼音教學，使本校學生能熟悉此二主流中文拼音系統。現以中華民國僑務委員會印行的十二册兒童華語課本為教材，九、十年級學生為因應AP-Chinese 教學，並採用”Integrated Chinese”(中文聽說讀寫， published by Cheng & Tsui of Boston)為輔助教材。雙語班則以教授簡體字及漢語拼音為主，”My First Chinese Reader”(快樂兒童華語)為 Level I to Level VII 的教材，CSL-AP 班則以”Integrated Chinese”為主要教材。在文化課方面包括：空手道班、兒童繪畫基礎班、兒童素描班、兒童舞蹈班、中國書畫班、笛子班、扯鈴班、兒童珠花班、中國棋藝班、文化常識班。文化常識班教授中國歷史、人文地理、風俗倫理等等。

美華聯誼會為家長們另開設有各種成人活動，如：社交舞、國畫、西畫、籃球、羽球、網球、插花、瑜珈等，視家長需要及師資而開設，頗受社區歡迎。

本校設有校長及行政人員數名，綜理日常校務。並由校方、聯誼會及家長會成員組成校董會，協助及監督校務運作；另有家長會為聯絡家長、動員家長，以配合校方，推展各種校務的組織。