Jane Chen

Jane Chen

GIRAFFE LEARNING CENTER
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Jane Chen

NEW CONCEPT CHINESE SCHOOL

Since then, the number of such parents has been rising, according to Jane Chen, principal of New Concept.

"Learning Mandarin is not just for Chinese people to preserve Chinese culture anymore.It's more about doing business with China," says Chen."Now about 80 percent of our kids don't speak Mandarin at home."

New Concept's preschool has some 50 children in four sessions at two levels, ages 2 to 3 and 4 to 5.

The children who don't speak Mandarin at home are from a variety of backgrounds, according to Chen.Some have American-born Chinese parents who regret not knowing the language.Some are China-born children adopted by Caucasian couples.Some are mixed-race children with Caucasian and Chinese parents.

Chen says the preschool also enrolls Caucasian, Korean and Indian children.