Black Students Speaking Chinese

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Join Us to Celebrate the New Year!

Happy New Year to all of our families. We hope that you are all looking forward to embracing a beautiful and amazing decade!! I am not just hoping for the year 2020, I am hoping for all of 2020. And the recurring theme from families and friends is that we need more PAASSC events.

The powers that be have heard the requests and we are looking at two great opportunities to connect PAASSC youth and families.

Chinese New Year Potluck (1/25/2020):

Potluck will be held at a private home in Berkeley from 2-4pm. Youth will make pot stickers beginning at 2:30pm. This should make for a fun and socially engaging event for all. RSVP: info@paassc.com.

PAASSC Snow Day @ Granlibakken (February 1, 2020):

Youth ages four and older are able to participate in private lessons (group of five youth) at a discounted rate (approximately $100/youth). Ski or snowboard lessons include rentals, lift ticket and access to sledding. Families that want to sled can do so $20/person. Leave your sleds at home, the mountain restricts personal sleds so you have very little to pack. RSVP: info@paassc.com.

Bilingual Black History Posters:

Many of our Chinese Immersion schools have a very small population of students of African heritage. PAASSC posters provide that opportunity to enhance and increase belongingness and inclusion on your school’s campus. Please see our store for more information.

5 Reasons to Hire a Chinese Tutor… Now!!!

Is it necessary to hire a tutor if your child is enrolled in a Chinese Immersion program. The short answer to that question is “no” the best answer to that question is “YES!!! YES!!! YES!!!”

As monolingual parents of bilingual children it is unlikely that our children are exposed to Chinese in the home. It is not required to hire a tutor but supplementing your child’s education increases the chances that your child will be confident in speaking their non-native language, receive individualized support, and address any learning needs right away.

I am concerned that families that do not supplement Chinese at home and/or outside of the classroom are less likely to notice delays in their child’s ability to learn and/or retain the non-native language right away, have difficulty providing their children with simple tools and techniques to keep their children interested in learning and on par with their peers, as well as, the added benefit of connecting with a Chinese tutor that will help to explain certain cultural aspects of the Chinese language.

1. Your Child’s Academic Success also Depends on their Chinese

Once a child begins to show some delays in their ability to recognize/write characters or maintain a conversational fluency comparable to their peers it may be too late to seek help. I don’t want to sound like a pessimist but there are a number of reasons why waiting until your child is struggling may be too late. First, while there are numerous resources out there to help you find a Chinese speaking tutor there is no guarantee that the week or month that your child needs support that your schedule or your finances will match the availability of the tutors that you find. Second, when the teacher or your child makes it clear to you that they NEED a tutor how do you really know when your child began struggling and whether or not their confidence and desire to learn Chinese has been impacted by these struggles.

I believe that it’s better to start early. Try out a few different tutors. There are a number of affordable options. 1) While your child is young develop a relationship with a pre-teen that is willing to read story books and sing songs with your child while you are home. As the pre-teen ages they will still allow you a discounted rate and their own maturity level and skill set will increase in the meantime. 2) Utilize a virtual assistant through services like elance.com. You can hire a virtual tutor that will skype with your child two to three times a week for less than $10/hour.

Build the relationship early to find a tutor that is right for your child so that you aren’t forced to scramble at the last minute if your child is experiencing some difficulties. Additionally, it’s an added perk to support your child with extra opportunities for reading, writing and speaking Chinese outside of the classroom. They can only benefit from the experience.

2. Time Flies When you are Learning Chinese

Many parents begin their children in Immersion programs and they know that their child needs support learning Chinese. If at any point a parent sees their child struggling I know that the decision is often made fairly quickly to look for a tutor or additional supplements to support your child. But then time passes quickly – 1 week (waiting on return phone calls), 2 weeks (busy at work), 3 weeks (the teacher hasn’t mentioned anything else), 4 weeks (your child says they don’t like school anymore), 5 weeks (sticker shock), 6 weeks (family members start promoting their school where they promise your child will excel), and the ball keeps rolling.

3. You are a Busy Parent

Supplementing your child’s Chinese by yourself is an incredible opportunity but one that may overwhelm most parents. As a busy parent the best way to supplement your child’s Chinese is to play Chinese CDs in the car. You can get CDs from the school, local library and/or from your local Chinatown retailers. While many parents are opposed to television there are an array of Chinese DVDs that range from popular Chinese children’s songs, Chinese dubbed American movies, etc. Be sure to begin collecting DVDs early and establish a relationship with a retailer. Some of the movies may have poor production quality or might not appeal to your child. Keep trying and find a style that is right for your child.

While many of us will find creative ways to supplement our child’s learning that doesn’t mean that we will ever be able to help them with their Chinese homework. While it is not necessary and most schools but supports in place for monolingual families I strongly recommend hiring a tutor. Educating your child is a one-time opportunity so no regrets.

4. You Can Move Beyond your Own Cultural Group

I don’t know about you but I have always considered myself to have an extremely diverse group of friends. It’s actually something that many people compliment me on. That’s why I was surprised when I realized not one of my friend’s are Chinese. In fact my friends are not quite as diverse as I thought. Very few of my friends are bilingual and even less were born outside of the United States. For families like my own I see the investment in a tutor as an opportunity to begin connecting with a cultural group that I clearly have unwittingly alienated myself from. I anticipate it will be difficult to explain to my child why I am promoting that she learn a set of cultural norms that I am clearly disconnected from. Identifying a tutor early on in this journey helps us as parents to establish relationships beyond our own cultural group.

Outside of developing a relationship with a tutor families can incorporate celebrations of Chinese holidays at home, cooking Chinese foods and visiting Chinese businesses.

 

5. Staying at the Top of the Curve

While this may not be politically correct I think it’s necessary to add. It’s time for us as African American mothers to embrace the “Lion Mom” inside of us (tigers don’t live in Africa). We didn’t step out and encourage our children to try something new so that they would be “okay” at it. We are pursuing a Chinese Immersion education in an effort that it will provide our children with a stimulating academic environment so that they will reach their full potential.

Staying at the top of the curve sometimes requires a little nudge. Often we don’t have to nudge our children if we start early enough. We really need to nudge ourselves. Nudge ourselves to raise our expectations. Give Kumon a try. During Spring Break consider a science camp. Join a museum and take your child regularly. And don’t forget to read your child a book every night. Start habits for yourself that will ensure you are giving your child the best gifts for their future.


Where do most Black Students learn Chinese?

Medgar Evers College Preparatory School is a public school in central Brooklyn, New York. Most of its students come from low-income families: about 90% are eligible for free or reduced lunches. The student population is mostly African American and Afro-Caribbean. And here’s one other thing to know about Medgar Evers. It runs one of the largest Chinese language programs for students not from a Chinese background in the United States. About 400 pupils take Chinese, from grade 6 through to 11.

To say the students are motivated is an understatement. “From the sixth grade, I always said I wanted to be a neurosurgeon,” said senior Sadiki Wiltshire, the principal’s son. “As the years progressed, I still wanted to, but I realized it would be better if I extended my network to not just America but all over the world.

“Because of my love for Chinese, I realized that I love languages, period. When I go to college I want to study Russian, Korean and Japanese. When you break the language barrier, there’s nothing you can’t do,” he said. “You can do anything.”

Young Wiltshire, now an AP scholar with distinction, was one of the first Medgar Evers students required to take Chinese in the sixth grade. Six years later, he already has college credits and is looking at attending Ivy League universities such as Harvard, Penn, Yale and Princeton.

Spanish and French are the other options once the students reach the ninth grade, but students can continue with Chinese if they wish.

More than language

Medgar Evers is one of 100 schools nationally that the Asia Society supports with its Confucius Classroom program. “We look at programs which are focusing on a much larger agenda and are using language instruction as a lever to be globally competent,” said Chris Livaccari, the society’s director of education and Chinese language initiatives.

In seventh and eighth grade, the curriculum is more project-based on subjects such as the weather and what kinds of clothes should be worn on different days. There is also an art class once a week in seventh grade.

Role-playing and technology are incorporated into the smaller ninth- and 10th-grade Advanced Placement classes. “We want to teach them five skills – reading, writing, speaking, listening and typing,” said Yuhang Michael Jiang, who formerly worked at IBM. Jiang also began a Chinese chess club, which Sadiki Wiltshire described as “very, very interesting” and “much more warlike” than American chess.

Involving mom and dad

“My parents are very happy I’m learning Chinese,” said Angelique Torres, 11, who also is conversant in Spanish. “The hardest things in Chinese are the tones and characters and the pronunciation of the characters.”

“They are bowled over with the Chinese, just blown away,” said Adilifu, the assistant principal, who has been at the school for eight years. “The parents support us 100 percent on back-to-school night and we have an ‘Attend School With Your Child’ day.”

Wu, the sixth grade Chinese teacher, said the students “read to the parents even if they don’t understand, so they involve the parents and extend the learning when they’re home. A lot of them want to go to China to study.”

Baozhong Ye’s students use 200 to 250 characters in each of their projects, and Yuhang Michael Jiang makes technology part of his classes.

How program works

The Confucius Classroom program, which is almost 2 years old, reaches nearly 25,000 students in 27 states and the District of Columbia. It is only in schools that already have Asian language studies.

Resources such as DVDs, professional development, free interaction, a newsletter with 7,000 subscribers, and a National Chinese Language Conference provide growth opportunities, according to Livaccari, the Asia Society’s education director.

Programs are flourishing in such unlikely places as Oklahoma and Utah, Iowa and New Hampshire, West Virginia and Texas. “That’s the great sea change,” Livaccari said. “It’s become incredibly diverse, available to all students across the board. There are great opportunities and challenges to a wider audience in the last five to six years.”

Each of the Confucius Classroom programs also works with a sister school in China on various projects. The Medgar Evers counterpart is in Jinhua in East China’s Zhejiang province.

What makes Medgar Evers a perfect environment is its unique approach. “We don’t follow the traditional middle school model,” Adilifu said. “We focus on an accelerated high school prep-early college program where students can take six to 15 credits at (neighboring) Medgar Evers College. We have our kids prepared to take the high school Regents (exam) in the eighth grade, which is not common in the city.”

Nor is such performance common in a school, like Medgar Evers, where 80 percent of the students qualify for a free or reduced-price school lunch. These children do not come from privileged backgrounds.

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