The Wulin Yen Alaska Chinese School

The ACA runs the Wulin Yen Alaska Chinese School, held at Central Middle School (map) every Friday evening during the school year. Our Chinese school is open to the public, and provides a nurturing environment for those who want to learn the Chinese language and culture. Our principal and staff are all volunteers, and tuition fees go toward teaching supplies and transportation costs.

We currently have over 80 students enrolled in 8 classes from Kindergarten to 12th grade, plus an adult class. Each class covers speaking and comprehension, as well as reading and writing in both traditional and simplified Chinese characters. Class runs from 7:00pm to 9:00pm, and there is a one-hour recess afterwards, during which students can socialize with one another or receive additional help with classwork.

The Anchorage Daily News has written an article about the Wulin Yen Alaska Chinese School, exploring the variety of different students who attend. There is also an online video clip to accompany the article.

New and returning students enroll during the beginning of each school semester. Please be advised we can not enroll new students mid-semester.

Information about enrolling in classes can be obtained by contacting the ACA through email (school@alaskachinese.org) or post.

Are You an Adult Interested in Learning Mandarin?

Notes from the Principal, Dec. 4, 2009

Several people have requested information on our Adult Chinese Class. It's difficult to evaluate their level of experience in Chinese from their emails.

Let me give you some general information about our classes:

We have 2 levels of Adult classes: Beginners and Advanced. Both classes teach Mandarin using Simplified Chinese characters and Pinying. In the Beginning class we teach pronunciation with Pinying and the basic strokes used in writing Chinese characters. Both classes focus on conversational Mandarin and Chinese Culture. We just finished the first semester of our school year. We will be starting the second semester on Jan. 8, 2010.

You should know that the second semester Chinese Class for Adults is a continuation of that class from the first semester. Generally, unless a student has pretty good basic knowledge of Chinese, it will be very difficult to start mid-stream and doubtful that they would be able to keep up. We suggest beginning students start in the Fall.

If you would like to come to our school and observe the Adult Chinese class in progress, you are welcome. Please come to Central Middle School of Science, 1405 E Street (15th and E St.) on one of our Friday sessions. Our classes run from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Our class schedule is posted on this page. Membership in the Alaska Chinese Association is $25. Chinese School Tuition is $120 per semester. Please read the detail information on this page, particularly Fall enrollment dates.

Chinese is a rich but challenging language. We're glad you're interested in learning it. We look forward to meeting you at the Chinese School or at one of our community functions!

Thanks,
Tina Meiser, Principal

The Chinese school observes the ASD calendar (including in-service days, closures due to weather, etc.) unless otherwise stated.

• 2009—2010 Academic Year (Current)
• 2008—2009 Academic Year