Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

Fired up for year of the dragon at Vancouver elementary

Photo by Zachary Kaufman

Portland Lee’s Association Lion Dance Team performs during a program to celebrate the Chinese New Year at Ben Franklin Elementary School on Friday.

By Jacques Von Lunen, Columbian staff writer

Friday, January 20, 2012

PHOTO GALLERY

Chinese New Year

Ben Franklin Elementary School celebrates the Chinese New Year.

Parents smiled politely while their kids performed a dance at Ben Franklin Elementary School’s assembly Friday morning. The first- and second-graders looked adorable, slapping their partners’ palms while singing jolly rhymes.

But most of the parents had no idea what their kids were saying.

The Vancouver students were joining hundreds of millions of people around the world in celebrating the most important holiday on the Chinese lunar calendar — the arrival of the new year.

And although very few of the students appeared to be of Chinese heritage, most of their songs, rhymes and announcements were performed in Mandarin Chinese.

Please read more here.