The Principal and the Kids Meet and Greet "Little Dragon Bun” Appears to Present Awards

Dr. Benson Kwok, Principal of Irvine Chinese Immersion Academy (ICIA), personally visited the South Coast Chinese Cultural Center to present the Student of the Month awards. The students were thrilled to see the principal along with the cute and playful mascot, "Little Dragon Bun". The children eagerly lined up to take photos with the mascot, creating heartwarming moments.

Located in the Northwood neighborhood of Irvine, ICIA was founded through the efforts of the South Coast Chinese Cultural Association and education advocates from the local community. It was approved last year by the Irvine Unified School District as the city’s first public Chinese-English bilingual charter school.

In its first year, the school enrolled over 250 students from Transitional Kindergarten (TK) to 3rd grade. The bilingual immersion teaching model, which incorporates both Chinese and English, has made learning fun for students and has been highly popular with parents from all ethnic backgrounds.This year, enrollment has grown to 460 students, nearly doubling in size. Due to limited classroom space, two classes have been temporarily relocated to the South Coast Chinese Cultural Center for lessons.

In addition to language learning, the school focuses on character development. Throughout the year, ICIU emphasizes themes such as honesty, cooperation, empathy, responsibility, courage, and gratitude, with teachers designing lesson plans around these topics. 

Each month, students learn a new theme through bilingual immersion teaching. Based on their performance, teachers select Student of the Month winners, who are publicly recognized and praised to encourage other students to follow their example.

To make the award ceremony special and memorable, the principal personally presents the awards, and the "Little Dragon Bun" mascot, played by a teacher, accompanies him to hand out certificates and pose for photos with the winners.

The school explained that the mascot's name, "Little Dragon Bun", was chosen because of its playful resemblance to the popular "Chinese Dumplings (Xiao Long Bao), helping students learn Chinese pronunciation in a fun and engaging way while they celebrate their achievements.

爾灣公立中英雙語小學校長郭秉生(Dr. Benson Kwok)昨天在“小龍包”陪同下，親自到南海岸中華文化中心頒發本月優秀學生獎狀，獲獎小朋友和同學看到校長和造型逗趣的“小龍包”，開心不已，也爭相要和“小龍包”合照，留下溫韾畫面。

位於爾灣市北木社區的Irvine Chinese Immersion Academy，是由南海岸中華文化協會與社區各界關心教育人士推動成立，並由爾灣學區在去年核准成立的第一所公立中、英雙語特許小學。第一年招收從幼稚園預備班(TK)到三年級學生共250多人，因為平日即採取中、英雙語沉浸式教學方式，讓小朋友開心學習語文，廣受各族裔學生家長喜愛，今年學生已成長到460人，將近兩倍，因原有校舍不足，有兩班學生借用南海中華文化中心教室上課。

除了學習語文，為培養小朋友良好品德，ICIA在一年十二個月中，分別以誠實、合作、共情、負責、勇氣與感激等主題，由老師設計教案，並透過中英文沈浸式教學方式，引導每位學生每月學習一個主題，並在每個月由班導師依據小朋友的學習表現，選出優秀學生，公開表揚，鼓勵學生見賢思齊。

為了讓學生感到榮耀與印象深刻，不僅由校長親自頒獎，每次還會有老師扮演吉祥物"小龍包"陪同校長，共同將獎狀頒發給得獎小朋友，並合影留念。

學校表示，會將吉祥物取名叫"小龍包"，主要也是採用"小籠包"的諧音，讓小朋友在開心受獎同時，也在耳濡目染下，學習到中文的拼音。