feature articles Families with Children From China,
Northern California
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Choosing Bilingual
Education: The East Bay Option
by Teresa Lynn
Friend
© Teresa Lynn Friend 2000
My
daughter Lindsay is now 4 years old. She came from Jiujiang, Jiangxi, when she
was 9 1/2 months old. From the beginning, it was important to us that Lindsay
learn to understand and speak Chinese. Why did we feel that it was so important,
and what have we done to facilitate her language development?
In the
modern world, I can think of few more useful skills than the ability to speak
more than one language. Studies show that the ability to learn language happens
most effortlessly at a very young age. And as I understand it, once the brain
has learned more than one language, it is far easier, throughout life, to learn
additional languages. Why Mandarin Chinese as the second language? English and
Mandarin are the two most common languages in the world. And, of course, if your
child is ethnically Chinese and was born in China, it seems a logical choice if
the opportunity is available.
I have always assumed that there will come
a time when Lindsay will return to China to explore the country of her birth. It
will be so much easier for her to do that if she can speak the common language.
One of the first things my mother said to Lindsay, while we were still in China
and Lindsay was a tiny and sickly 9-month-old was, “You look like a very
inquisitive child!” And she most certainly is. If she does visit China some day,
she is certain to have many questions, and it will be vastly better if she can
ask the questions herself and hear the answers directly—or hear directly that
there may be no answers to some of her questions.
From the time Lindsay
was a little over a year old until she was 2 years old, we were fortunate to
find a Chinese-speaking caretaker who came to our home about 20 hours a week. I
realized only in retrospect how lucky we were to find such a warm, wonderful,
educated, experienced woman to become part of Lindsay’s life. Lindsay learned so
much from her, and they love each other dearly. Because of her care, many of
Lindsay’s first words were Chinese, and she knew her colors, body parts, and
numbers in Chinese at a very early age. Because we are Caucasian parents, I also
believe that it was extremely important that Lindsay received such personal
one-on-one loving care from a Chinese person, given that she spent the first
nine months of her life in an orphanage where conditions were less than
optimal.
Since shortly before she turned 3 years old, Lindsay has
attended Pacific Rim International School (PRINTS) in Emeryville. PRINTS is a
Montessori school that offers both Mandarin-English and Japanese-English
bilingual programs. It has an Infant Community, a large and vibrant Children’s
House (for children 3–6 years of age), and an elementary program through the
sixth grade. PRINTS also has a campus in San Mateo.
While we
originally chose PRINTS because of its bilingual Mandarin Chinese/English
education, there are other reasons that we have been particularly pleased with
our choice. Lindsay has thrived in the Montessori environment, and the teachers
are competent and caring. The surroundings are bright and cheery, and there is
sufficient space both indoors and out. The atmosphere is very positive, and the
children are generally considerate, and such good helpers!
In
Lindsay’s classroom at PRINTS, not only are there other Asian American children,
there are other little girls adopted from China, so Lindsay need not feel that
she is different or alone. There are also a fair number of children who have one
Asian parent and one Caucasian parent, and I have discovered that those parents
seem to be struggling with many of the same issues that many FCC families
face—how to give their children healthy self-identity and make sure that they
grow up with a positive sense of their multiple heritages. I hope this group of
50 3- to 6-year-olds can reconvene in ten years, when they are young teens
struggling with identity issues. What wonderful peer support that would provide
during an often difficult time!
In the bilingual program at PRINTS,
each teacher always interacts with the children in the teacher’s mother tongue.
In the Children’s House, there is one full-time English speaking teacher, one
full-time Chinese-speaking teacher, one full-time Japanese-speaking teacher, and
a part-time Chinese-speaking teacher. Children in the Chinese program interact
primarily with the English- and Chinese-speaking teachers.
Lindsay
gets plenty of opportunity to hear and speak Chinese, and she particularly
enjoys learning Chinese characters. She is also learning about Chinese holidays
and traditions from people for whom they have personal meaning. One fun bonus is
that Lindsay has also picked up a bit of Japanese. She can now sing the Happy
Birthday song in four languages! At the same time, the children also interact
frequently in English, and she gets excellent support for her English language
development, including beginning reading skills. There are also children who
attend PRINTS to learn English as a second language. For children adopted at an
older age, such an environment might provide an excellent way to integrate their
past with their new home, language, and culture.
The Infant
Community at PRINTS is an immersion program for children 18 months to 30–36
months of age. I have heard amazing stories of 2-year-olds who became fluent in
both Chinese and Japanese after spending time in the Infant Community. The
Elementary program, while fairly small, continues to offer bilingual education
in a Montessori environment, and parents whose children attend Elementary at
PRINTS are very enthusiastic about the education their children are
receiving.
Lindsay has also attended an FCC language and culture
group an hour a week for the past year and a half. We have considered dropping
this, given her otherwise almost daily exposure to Chinese language, but she
loves the teacher, loves the songs, and has gotten to know the other FCC girls.
She doesn’t want to stop!
Is it working? Lindsay still visits her
former caretaker almost every week. Her Chinese “family” has expanded to include
the caretaker’s grown daughter, who arrived from China about a year ago and who
also has great affection for Lindsay. The caretaker’s 84-year-old mother has
also been visiting from China. After Lindsay had dinner with them all recently,
we were told by everyone how much Chinese Lindsay is speaking now, and how good
her accent is! Just as important to me, she is completely comfortable with, and
totally accepted and loved by, the whole family.
I realize that the
efforts we have made in this area might sound like a lot to some people. I have
even seen efforts such as this placed at the extreme end of a continuum of
approaches to integrating language and culture into our children’s lives (see,
e.g., Sara Dorow’s article in the Autumn 1999 SF-FCC newsletter). But it doesn’t
seem extreme to us at all. It’s just our life now. (“Immersion,” to me, is
moving to China with your child, as some FCC families have done!) Lindsay is
still growing up in an English-speaking family, in an English-speaking country,
and she is overwhelmingly exposed to “American” culture (whatever that is)
everywhere she goes, every day. There is no doubt in my mind that she is growing
up with a strong and clear identity as an American. The efforts we have made to
expose Lindsay to Chinese language and culture have enriched our whole family’s
life immeasurably. The people and families we have met have expanded our world,
challenged our thinking, and warmed our hearts. I am hopeful that our efforts
will help Lindsay to develop an identity as a comfortable, confident
Chinese-American person. For better or for worse, that is how many in the world
are always likely to see her—and that is also who she is.
Teresa
Lynn Friend brought Lindsay home to San Leandro in June 1996.