JOURNEY TO CHINA TEACHERS SEEK OUT CULTURAL EXCHANGE.

Byline: Joseph Giordono Staff Writer

PACOIMA - Yvonne Chan, the nationally acclaimed founder and principal of the Vaughn Street charter school, believes in the American dream.

The only thing is, in her version, the payoff is taking 84 teachers, spouses and former staff members on a 10-day spring-break educational exchange mission to her native China beginning today - and paying $20,000 of the $80,000 cost out of her own pocket.

Though the current diplomatic crisis over a downed U.S. spy plane and its flight crew has some of the teachers worried, Chan said she will try to keep the focus on sharing educational philosophies and practices.

``Especially with this incident, we are not going there to talk about politics,'' Chan said. ``From the education perspective, we are going to focus on kids. While the politicians and the military have to deal with these other situations, we have to keep focused.''

It is just the latest endeavor for Chan, a Canton native who immigrated to the United States at age 16 with $100 in her pocket, and eventually built the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center into a national Blue Ribbon school serving 1,100 children from mostly low-income families.

``It has taken me 39 years to finally meet my dream,'' Chan said as she went over last-minute English lesson plans with some of her teachers Wednesday afternoon.

``I've been trying to meet the dreams of this community by helping kids with academics and training teachers. I need to meet my dream, and my dream is take all of this back (to China).''

The school saved five years for the trip, with all expenses paid for with donations from private foundations and individuals. The biggest donation came from Chan, who has used money from educational awards in the past to reinvest in the Pacoima campus.

The Vaughn Street teachers are looking forward to learning more about the Chinese education system, which produces some of the world's best math and science scholars.

``One of the reasons I am going is to meet the teachers and the students and relate to them as an educator,'' said Karen Schwarz-Muehlberger, who has taught at the school for seven years.

``I know that in the end it will be seen as a political act, but I want to try and transcend that as much as possible.''

While today's trip is not Chan's first back to China, it is her most significant.

``This is the first time that I will actually land in a school similar to the one I attended 40 years ago and be able to offer help,'' Chan said.

Chan and her teachers will visit primary schools in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, observe Chinese teachers in their classrooms, then teach their own lessons in English for an hour.

While the long-term goal is to have Chinese teachers eventually work at the Vaughn Street school, the immediate purpose is to share common educational problems and solutions.

One lesson the Vaughn Street teachers hope to impart is how to deal with overcrowded and underfunded classes. The average size of the classes they will visit in China is 50 to 60 students. At Vaughn, every teacher has an average of 20 students.

According to Chinese experts, members of the Vaughn Street delegation could run into another issue they already see at home: the lack of access to education for children of illegal immigrants.

``One of the big problems in the Chinese educational system is what happens with illegal migrants,'' said Wing Thye Woo, a University of California, Davis, professor.

``In China, you have a system that essentially says you are legally supposed to stay where you are. But the problem is with people flocking to booming cities like Shanghai, just as you have migrant workers in California.''

Though Woo said it would be unlikely that Chinese educational officials would broach such an ``impolite'' subject, the Chinese system as a whole has become more sophisticated and open.

``To be sure, it is a system in great flux. In the areas which they will be traveling, I think they will be seeing the most advanced and diversified parts of the Chinese educational system,'' Woo said.

Since becoming a charter school in 1993, Vaughn Street has received California Distinguished School and National Blue Ribbon awards . Visitors have included former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and state schools Superintendent Delaine Eastin.

Parents must sign a contract that calls for, among other responsibilities, volunteering 30 hours each year, reviewing their children's homework and visiting the school's family center.

Teachers acknowledge that the China trip would not be possible at any other school.

``This is cutting edge. I would not get this opportunity anywhere else,'' said Susie Oblad, an eight-year veteran of the school who will teach a lesson on electrical circuits to the Chinese equivalent of a sixth-grade class.

Chan said she looks forward to the trip with nervous excitement.

``I try not to think of it, on the one hand, but I am a bit nervous. But I look at it more like we are a family instead of educational diplomats,'' she said.

``It is the belief of the delegation that a common interest in educating children will transcend the cultural, political and ethnic barriers.

``I am Chinese and I am American,'' Chan said. ``But, ultimately, I am a teacher.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Principal Yvonne Chan goes over a Chinese fortune-telling book with first-grade teacher April Farley in preparation for their trip to China, which begins today and includes both learning and teaching.

(2 -- color) - Yvonne Chan

(3) Principal Yvonne Chan makes sure all the airline tickets for her teachers are ready for the trip to China, which begins today.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News