MIDWAY CITY, Calif. – This is the moment Madelyn, Sofi and Lyann have been waiting for.

“It was amazing. I wish I could see it again,” says 8-year-old Lyann Pham.  

The second graders counted down the days leading up to Lunar New Year so they can celebrate the year of the rat with their family at home and for some special guests to visit their campus at DeMille Elementary School.

“I want to be in it,” says 7-year-old Madelyn Montalvo.

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Students from Westminster High School’s Vietnamese American Culture Club created a tradition more than 20 years ago to visit six elementary schools in Midway City and Westminster in one day to explain why Lunar New Year is important to the Vietnamese community through singing, dancing and performing.

“They have lucky colors like red and gold and it’s really cute,” says Lyann.

The girls and the other students at DeMille are being taught English and Vietnamese in their classrooms. The teachers on campus follow a 50/50 model which means 50 percent of the instruction is in English and the other half is in Vietnamese. It is the school’s goal to help students become bilingual and bi-literate.

“My family is Vietnamese so I really want to talk to them and tell them what I mean. When they don’t understand me, I have to talk in Vietnamese,” says Lyann.

Studies have shown that bilingual students are more confident, earn higher grades and are more empathetic than students who aren’t. In the hopes to build compassion, DeMille invites Westminster High School to help their students connect the second language they are learning in their classrooms with the culture.

“I’m very proud to be here. I hope that the young students today who are kindergartners, 20 years from now, they will become leaders in this community and teach the same thing to the next generation,” says Frances Nguyen, Westminster School District Board of Trustee.

While Madelyn, Sofi and Lyann continue to welcome the New Year and good fortune, they say they are lucky to go to a school that helps them embrace being Vietnamese Americans.

The Westminster School District is currently enrolling students for a full-day kindergarten program for the 2020-2021 school year. For more information, call Beverlee Mathenia at Early Education and Expanded Learning Department at 714-898-8389.

The district also has award-winning programs and special school options like STEM/STEAM and Vietnamese/Spanish Dual Language Immersion programs. The district is hosting a showcase of the different programs on February 4 at 3 to 5 p.m. at Land School on 15151 Temple Street in Westminster.

Now enrolling