MBC Education Center

In the past, everything was done humbly and low-key, “Not letting the left hand know what the right hand was doing.” So even thought our reputation is very good, the Chinese School is one of the very few Chinese Schools in the surrounding neighborhood. But in passing down the Chinese Culture, spreading its seeds, leading many parents into the different aspects of the church, it is still in the position of being done “quietly” and “low-key.”

Through the unfailing efforts of all those involved, the CS nowadays has become quite a sizable school, without encountering many enrollment or budget problems. Recently, it has successfully initiated a more formal phase of strategic operation, instructional quality assurance, and image marketing. In the past, during the annual lesson planning, teachers would self-review their own performance and the school board would sign it off as a mere reference. The school administration preferred not to intervene in the teachers' work directly, lest they might feel any unnecessary pressure, so that their teaching would not be negatively affected. Under the current program plan, the school board will proactively gather and integrate all sorts of instructional materials and equipment on behalf of the teachers, in order to reduce any class preparation difficulties and allowing them to focus on teaching. Through implementation of these plans and arrangements, all the classes are well aligned, and the entire school has now become systemized and standardized. Consequently, instructional progression and curricular details have become transparent, allowing parents to verify the lesson plans , and to cooperate with the school on instructional progress, resulting in effective schooling for the students . With this innovation and continual communication in plan and action, the school has also received support and coordination from the teachers. In business terms, a mechanism of quality control has been put into place.

In recent years, our teachers have gone through a pre-job testing, and some have even gone through special counseling to enter into their teaching activities. All the hired teachers are truly excellent in standard Chinese pronunciation. They also exhibit a sense of professionalism and dedication, bound by their love for the students. In 2011, we established the “Digital Educational Center” in order to encourage teachers to actively take refresher courses to acquire new teaching skills, to utilize internet resources to improve teaching quality, and to bring our school to the next level of digital teaching. Not only will this center improve our own teachers' qualities and digital capabilities, we also anticipate providing assistance to nearby under-performing schools.
In the past, our teaching was based on Traditional Chinese phonetic symbols/ system. Beginning in 2003, in an effort to adapt to the onset of the digital age, we initiated the Pinyin System of Simplified Chinese, while retaining the Phonetic System of Traditional Chinese. Initially, as we did not have a complete set of teaching materials, I compiled a Pinyin Textbook, Teacher's Guide, and a CD Recording from scratch. This work has enhanced the volumes of our teaching materials, leading to very good results. This new development has placed us far ahead of all the local Chinese schools .

There are four major components in the CS: Summer Vacation Camp, Saturday Chinese Classes, the Week-day After-School Program, and Talent and Art Classes.

Back in 2001, when I accepted the important task of overseeing the CS on short notice, the SVC was just about to begin. There were over 20 students: some came for a week, some for a few days, and some for the whole period; but most registered for half-day activities only. We set up two Chinese classes, with one English class and one Math Immersion class. When we went out for a field trip, one church bus for transportation was sufficient. With our limited budget and manpower at that time, this outing was all that we could manage.
After many years of hard-work, our SVC has now enrolled at least 200 students. We rent four large school buses every time we go for an outing. What a great sight! As some camping areas are not large enough, we travel in separate groups to avoid crowding them all at once. G radually, as the number of students has been increasing, we moved from the Education Center of the MBCLA to the Basement of the Main Campus for a larger accommodation.Earlier on, we also recruited short-term students. Due to the limited number of students we could enroll, we came to a point of supply not meeting the demand. During the registration period, the quota was usually filled up in a couple of weeks. Therefore, as a priority , we were compelled to accept students who would attend for a minimum of 8 weeks. As a result, we could always maintain an overall standard and avoid functioning like a day-care center.The schedule of the SVC is from 8:00 AM to 6:30 PM, Monday through Friday. The first thing the students do in the morning is exercise in order to foster an amicable atmosphere in the teacher-student relationship. This is followed by two hours of Chinese class and one hour of Talent and Art classes. Lunchtime is held in a nearby park, allowing the students to be in the natu r e. The active students will have a chance to run, which will help them work off some of their extra energy, while others can stay in the shade, with opportunities to practice some social interactions and skills. Then the students practice their math and English skills on Mon-Thurs afternoons. Students with a weak academic ability review lessons of their previous grades, while stronger students preview lessons of their next grades. Students who have attended the SVC generally achieve top-honor status in the mainstream schools. Additionally, there is a field trip and a movie session every week.
These are the desired outcomes of the SVC activities: Teacher qualities enhanced, classrooms well managed and controlled, and discipline and reward system strictly adhered to. Students who are well-behaved and finish their work can play sports, or a half-hour game in computer rooms after class. Students who have fallen behind will use this time to finish their assigned work.Participating in the Church Summer Vacation Bible School is another attractive element of the SVC. Though there are some parents who will resist this kind of activity, through our patient communication, their unnecessary concerns could be alleviated. In fact, most of the students generally like this activity , and there are more than a few who would make a life decision to believe in the Lord, enabling them to immerse in the warmth of the Spiritual Home.

Teaching Chinese is an important part of this class, and it is also the basic foundation of the CS. It is the largest of the four components. For the past 30 years, we have seen some students become pastors, some become preachers, some return to the CS to become teachers and counselors, and some become church leaders serving God's House for the rest of their lives. It is a joy to see some former students bringing their own children back to the CS. At most , the Saturday classes have accepted up to 220 students with 11 Chinese classes and 8 activity classes. Then because of the setting, the accepted amount was changed to a limit of 200 students. The schedule of the SCC is from 9 AM to 12 noon. Chinese is taught for 2 hours then the students have Activity Class.

After years of parental request and our deliberate evaluation, in 2005 we started a weekday after-school tutoring program. Initially, the class was located at Second Street, then moved back to the Basement. There are 2 major functions in the program : Chinese lessons and schoolwork tutoring, with Activity Class on Fridays. Students acquire great benefits as they attend school and classes daily.
According to a nationwide safety survey, adolescents get attatcked and injured the most from the time of school dismissal to when their parents get off from work. Therefore, many schools organize after-school programs to take care of the children of double-income earners or single parents. One difference that stands out between our program and others is due to our adequate planning. We do not only help the developmental growth of the students, we also pay special attention to their moral education, delivering the part that most schools abandon nowadays. During registration , as the parents have already reached a consensus with us, they are very cooperative with our moral education. Upon their visit to our school, some school principals have been amazed at the good manners our students display. For this praiseworthy achievement, we offer thanks and glory to our Heavenly Father!

These classes are mostly related to the Chinese culture, and also an extension from the Chinese classes. It is divided into singing and games, paper-folding, fine arts, Chinese knots, martial arts, and computer classes. Because of the popularity of some classes, some activity classes might have 2 or 3 classes. Our teachers are truly more than professional in handling various needs. For multiple times, we invited our Activity teachers to share in the Teachers Workshops. They provided guidance and advice to teachers from other schools on how to employ talent and art techniques to sharpen the students' skills in academic concentration, to shape their contemplative ability, and to shine in their logical deduction.

For a long time, we have actively participated in church activities, such as Summer Vacation Bible Schools, Hallelujah Nights, Spring Festivities, Christmas Celebrations, and Summer Retreats. We also support other activities, such as Mother's Day Celebrations, and Summer Camps, where we all performed during congregation, and worshipped to God with everyone together.

In 2005, we founded a non-profit organization of Mandarin Baptist Church Education Center on the basis of the Chinese School, with our best efforts put in all together. Under the church supervision, we began a new operation with an independent budget and administration. The budget has grown tenfold since then, and with this abundant funding, we have been able to support other outreach programs to give back to the nearby communities. In recent years, we have, one after another, set up Digital Education Center and Music School to incorporate the Children's Choir Group.

• In response to the call of our church missionary outreach program “Deepening into the Communities, and Embracing the World”
• In realization of Christ's spirit in serving the community, benefiting the neighborhoods, and giving back to the society

This Center is an extension of the Chinese School. While the primary objective of the School is teaching the youth Chinese, the adults and Chinese teachers are the target groups of the DEC.

• Adult Education

Early on, there were some inquiries from Sunday School teachers if Chinese keyboard entry skills could be taught. Seizing the opportunity to serve, we thought we could help Sunday School teachers to plan their lectures, and without hesitation we began to prepare for the related courses . Gradually, as more demands grew, we set up classes, and the scope of interests expanded. In early 2011, when classes first started, they became full and packed quickly. Among them, were two classes with more than 45 students, and since we didn't have a room big enough, we had to use the dining hall of the Garfield Worship Center. Though classes were crowded, every student was quite pleased. Since some classes were not suitable to be large-scale sessions, they had to be split in two. From the over-filled classes, we could clearly see that there were genuine demands. More classes were subsequently developed and launched. Over the next several years, we enrolled more than 800 students in the adult compute r classes. We never expected such a spectacular result at the outset. Presently, our classes may not be as crowded as before; however, the capacity of every class is at average, ensuring the computer rooms to be are adequate enough to fit all the students.

Running adult classes brought some unexpected surprises to us. We did not only have ample opportunities to work with brothers and sisters, we also happily met a lot of parents. Some graduated students were so elated to share with me that their friends admired them as a “computer genius”. Hearing some positive comments definitely made us proud of our work. The Scripture says “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose,” ( Rom. 8:28). Therefore, as it turns out, serving one another in the name of the Lord is not difficult to materialize; it also pushes us to move forward with great encouragement.

• Teacher Training

Our School has gained a good reputation over the years. In 2011, our School was selected to be one of 23 “Global Digital Learning Centers” by Overseas Chinese Affairs Council (OCAC) from Taiwan. Being funded by the OCAC, our School provided training in digital skills to other Chinese school teachers and those Chinese teachers in the local mainstream schools. For this matter, a computer room was further well-equipped and remodeled to be opened in 2012. Presently, our curriculum and courses are all developed for the on -site training, at which teachers and students assemble to meet. In the future, we plan to develop on-line courses, such as “Distance Learning”, which students could go on-line to learn. At on-site training, there are more opportunities to do class work in a physical setting, and any questions and problems could be dealt with immediately. This type of on-site training is presently more suitable to our situation. On-line training does not have restrictions to locati ons and distance . Not only could we sign up more students, its scope of learning could also be expanded with far-reaching impacts. In addition, lecturers and assistants do not need to be in the same location, making it a class-room without borders.

In these computer courses, our Chinese teachers could manufacture animations, CD's and on-line games to make students' learning more lively, amusing, and interesting. Not only could students play and learn at the same time, they could also complete their assigned work on-line. Learning Chinese is no longer a boring task.

Certainly, we can foresee that there will be a need for bi-lingual workers in every field of business in the future, especially the service sector. For corporations and organizations, we could design Chinese curricula to meet their specific needs, so that more people could benefit from them. We could also start private classes to cater to individual needs. From here on, let us deepen our involvement with the local communities, bring more people to get in touch with the church, and then lead them to know our Lord Jesus. We offer our heartfelt thanks to our Heavenly Father!