West Valley Chinese Language School

West Valley Chinese Language School (WVCLS), established in 1963, is the oldest Chinese Cantonese language and culture learning after-school program in the Santa Clara County Silicon Valley Bay Area. Classes are held every Friday from September through May at Homestead High School, 21370 Homestead Road, Cupertino, CA. The class hours are 7pm -9pm Friday evenings.

WVCLS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, supported by parent volunteers and a group of teachers. WVCLS is a member of Association of Northern California Chinese Schools (ANCCS).

WVCLS is the only school in the Silicon Valley Bay Area that teaches primarily in Cantonese-Chinese. It offers classes from kindergarten through grade 12. The spoken Chinese language taught at WVCLS is Cantonese and the written Chinese characters are traditional Chinese characters. Chinese culture, history, and traditions are interspersed throughout the lessons at every grade level. Students in grade 4 and above also learn Han-yu Pin-yin Mandarin. WVCLS offers a preparation class specifically target to College Board Chinese Mandarin AP test. Several students have successfully passed the test after enrolling in the preparation class.

Tuition rate can be found in www.wvcls.org in the admission page. The school currently uses MeiZhou huayu text books (http://www.mzchinese.net).

Started in 2015, it is the first Chinese Cantonese School in the Silicon Valley Bay Area to give out scholarships to students who are a junior or senior in high school with the intention of applying to and attending a college, university, or higher institution. The scholarship fund is awarded to the student to cover their expenses attending the educational institution. In the 2015-2016 school year, it awarded scholarships to 5 students totaling $3500.

WVCLS is the first Chinese school in the County to have established an active student council. Students in grade 6 and above can join the council. Members of the student council work to support WVCLS's participation in local food drives, fund-raisers, and various community events.

Cantonese is a dialect spoken in southern China, Hong Kong and Macau. There are about 70 million people speak Cantonese worldwide. While most Chinese speakers uses Mandarin in the world, most Chinese speakers in San Francisco speak Cantonese, and well over 75% of the Chinese speakers in the San Francisco school district use Cantonese as the home language. Although Cantonese is more widely spoken in San Francisco than in the south bay, there is a small Cantonese population in the south bay. West Valley Chinese Language School's mission is to serve this population, so the tradition can continue. There are more Cantonese schools options in the San Francisco area.

Because it has 8 to 9 tones, Cantonese is more difficult to learn than Mandarin which has only 4-5 tones. Consequently, it is generally easier for a Cantonese speaker to learn Mandarin, rather than the other way around.

West Valley Chinese Language School is a member of the Association of Northern California Chinese Schools (ANCCS).

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