"I remember having to drag my kids to Chinese class. My first goal as the new principal of the Colorado Chinese Language School was to make the school fun for the kids, teachers, and parents." 1998 Fellow Ding-Wen Hsu took on the revitalization of the 25-year-old Denver school one year ago. One of the first things she did was to organize an inspiring workshop for the teachers at all six Chinese language schools in the region.

"During my APAWLI training week in Lincoln, Nebraska I had met an award-winning Chinese language teacher. She visited us in Denver and talked about her methods--it was very inspiring to our staff." Ding-Wen has followed up with another seminar by a Chinese teacher from California, and plans to continue to provide workshops for teachers several times a year. She has also established a library with reference materials teachers can use to supplement textbooks.

Classes are held every Sunday afternoon for two hours. Ding-Wen wanted to offer the parents something of value during that time, so she got a series of speakers to present information on topics ranging from chi gong (a Chinese method of transforming one's own energy) to income tax preparation.

The school teaches children about Chinese culture as well as language. This year, teams of older children prepared research presentations on subjects like Chinese Puppetry, Chinese Costume, The Art of Tea Drinking, Chinese Calligraphy, the Great Wall, and Chinese Holidays and Festivals. They presented them to each other, the teachers, and parents-and then to the whole Denver metro area in a day of celebration of Chinese culture in May 1999.

"The APAWLI training really awakened my passion for community work," Ding-Wen remarked. "I became aware of my strengths. Now I know very clearly what I can do for my community."