Situation #3.1: We are already doing a great thing by sending our child to Chinese language school. I just don’t understand why he is so unhappy going there.Reality: Chinese schools do provide an environment for families with similar backgrounds to come together to share the burden and beliefs of their children learning the home language. And these schools do help the children become somewhat literate in the language. However, they do impose certain restrictions that are not favorable toward language learning.First, the schools are usually held in addition to children’s normal school hours, some in the afternoons and others on the weekends. The children are not only already tired from the school days in the week, but also may regard Chinese school as an extra nuisance to have to go to that their other friends do not need to take part in, no matter how noble the reasons are on why they should learn the language.Second, once the children start going to Chinese schools, many parents start to shift the sole responsibility of teaching Chinese over to the staff. They sometimes forget to continue to speak to their children in Chinese at home, or to encourage them enough by offering them opportunities to speak at different real-life settings. Expecting their children to learn a language in school for only a few hours a week with little practice outside of class will not yield wholesome results. What is even more disturbing to find is that most schools hold the same view. Even knowing that their students do not use Chinese outside of class, they do not offer any plans to assist the parents in understanding the importance of this part of language acquisition.Bilingual schools can help in some way if Chinese is incorporated smoothly into the main school curriculum, allowing it to earn the same status as English. In this case, children would not view Chinese learning as much of a foreign and extra burden, but as part of their everyday learning. However, even bilingual schools may have the same situation where students often do not speak Chinese outside of school. Parents feel unaware of or helpless when their children refuse to use Chinese with them, or may have thought that this is the norm.
Therefore, attendance at Chinese school can only be an aid to help your child acquire the home language. It cannot substitute a regular home exposure of the language. Without family support, in the end, your child would get at most a slight knowledge of language, though hopefully not having been instilled with a negative attitude along with it. This is especially true when the Chinese curriculum does not go beyond an elementary level.

Situation #4.8: I wish my child had more time learning Chinese. It takes a lot of time away from her regular studies.Reality: It is true that learning another language can pose more time on the regular studies. There is a solution to this: bilingual (or dual language) classes. When a child learns content while learning the language, the knowledge stays. It will be ideal if she can attend a school where the main curriculum is woven with both languages, but these are a rarity. Also, this method is much slower in achieving literacy if used as a standalone mechanism because of the high demand of character recognition as an essential prerequisite to beginning reading in Chinese. But these two strategies, purposeful content acquisition through reading, writing, speaking and listening, coupled with effective character recognition, formulate an ideal method in learning Chinese. The very last ingredient that completes the picture, and that will help one truly acquire the essence of the language, would be its artistic part—the way Chinese characters can be composed poetically, rhythmically, and meaningfully (see Situation #4.3).

Since the ancient canonical classic texts are rhythmically arranged sections of verses with embedded topical meanings composed by a high percentage of non-repeating characters (70% versus 10% in modern textbooks), they (or any similar curriculum of this kind) are truly an ideal combination of valuable content learning, efficient character recognition, and artistic essence.

Family support is of utmost importance in supporting this model. In a way, you should also maintain your language competence, especially if that is your child’s sole source of Chinese input. All that is discussed in this booklet is also applicable to you as well in view of language acquisition. Learning Chinese can become an essential, enjoyable and natural part of living for you and your child.