Hopkins School District #270

04/09/2012

Twenty-three third and fourth-grade Chinese immersion students from XinXing Academy visited the Legacy Adult Day Care Center in Golden Valley on March 20 to connect with elders from China and Vietnam through smiles, songs and conversation. Legacy provides a welcoming experience for seniors from China and Vietnam where they can share favorite Asian foods, play Mah Jong, learn and refine their English language skills and enjoy the company and conversation of others from their native home lands.

The XinXing students, under the direction of Zhining Chin, performed Chinese songs, Gong Fu, Chinese poems and skits for more than seventy senior adults. The audience sang along, laughed at the skits, moved closer so as not to miss the children's soft voices speaking Chinese and stood to better see the precise moves in the Gong Fu exercises. Toward the end of the program, some of the adults joined the children around the piano and they all sang together.

The smiles and excitement at Legacy were proof that the XinXing children's Chinese language skills and understanding of the culture warmed the hearts of the 65 to 85 year olds in the room. Sally Wu, Director of Legacy, shared that many adults commented about how well the children spoke Chinese and how their songs and skits brought back fond memories of China.