Chinese as a Second Language for the Second Generation of Chinese Americans (ABC)

Yiqiang Wu, Ph.D.The College of New Jersey

Beijing, May 2007

• Historical Back ground• Chinese Schools in the US• Huaxia Chinese School• School Curriculum and Instruction

Maintaining Language, Culture and Identity

Historical Background of Chinese Americans

• Early immigrants: First Chinese to North America was in 1788 • Gold Rush in San Francisco, 3396 Chinese in 1852, 22% of miners

in1880, the largest single nationality in mining. • The First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States was built across

North America in the 1860s with 20,000 laborers, ½ were Chinese.• 1882 The Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited certain laborers from

immigrating to the United States. • After 1949—Taiwan, Hong Kong and other parts of the world• In1980s—20,000 from Mainland China• Currently—62,582 Chinese students in the US• The Chinese American community is the largest ethnic group of Asian

Americans, comprising of 22.4% of the Asian American population. They constitute 1.2% of the United States as a whole. In 2005, the Chinese American population numbered approximately 3.4 million.

Chinese Language Maintenance in the US

Since the 1980s, thousands of Chinese students have come to study in the United States. After completing their studies, many of them found jobs and settled in the United States and thus formed a new generation of Chinese Americans. This group of Chinese Americans is doing very well in their respective professions. What challenge them most living in a new country is how to raise their children, the second generation of Chinese Americans. Like all Chinese parents in their home country, they pay great attention to their children’s education. They try everything possible to provide the best education for their children. The goals are the same as their parents expected them to reach when they were young in China: to get their children to the top universities so as to have a successful career. Chinese Americans want their children excellent in English and other school subjects and to assimilate into the mainstream. At the meantime, they also want their children to keep Chinese language and culture, which is a very difficult mission to accomplish in a new environment.

• For many second generation Chinese Americans, Chinese was their first language when they were young since Chinese was the home language. Their parents or grandparents use Chinese at home most of the time. However, when they reached the school age, English gradually replaced Chinese as their dominant language and Chinese became their second language. From that time now, Chinese was no longer the only language spoken at home although parents and grandparents kept communicating with their children in Chinese and teaching Chinese at home. Chinese parents had to push their children very hard to continue to study Chinese.

• In order to keep their children studying Chinese, Chinese parents organized Chinese after school programs in areas wherever there were a large number of Chinese children. According to the Chinese School Association in the United States, it has 300 schools on almost all the major cities in the US with more than 60,000 students. In New Jersey, for example, there are more than 40 Chinese schools. In Huaxia Chinese school system alone, there are 18 campuses in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut with a solid education curriculum and a student population of 5400. ( Huaxia Chinese School, 2007)

ABC

Pre K-6 Middle School High School

Chinese Language Maintenance Patterns

Language Use at Home

5 15

5070

85 9595 85

5030

15 50

50

100

Pre S Kind. LowerES

UpperES

MS HS

English Chinese

Huaxia Chinese School Campuses

Cherry Hill

Lehigh

Long Island

Plainsboro

Atlantic City

New York

South NJ

Connecticut

Staten Island

Bridgewater

East NJ

Middle NJ

Hudson

Burdon

North NJ

BergenLivingston

Edison

http://www.hxcs.org/

ense

• Chinese classes for American Chinese: – pre-k-grade level classes

• Other Chinese classes:– Basic Chinese for adults, – Chinese language debate, – Business Chinese– Chinese conversation

• English classes:– For Chinese parents or grandparents– SAT preparation

Chinese School Language Programs

Chinese Schools created Chinese communities which promote cultural understanding among the Chinese second generation as well as to those Americans in the communities.

Winners of Speech Competition

• Cultural Programs:– Chinese Arts: drawing, Chinese painting, Chinese crafts, calligraphy– Chinese/Western Music: dance, clarinet/Flute, violin– Chinese Culture/History, Extra curriculum activities– Sports Programs: soccer, basketball, volleyball, badminton, Karate,

Chinese sports meets, Chinese martial art, fencing, chess, go,Yoga

Cultural and Other Programs

Chinese School Curriculum

• Pre-School 1: 3--5 ys old. Mandarin pronunciation, speaking Chinese through multiple modality class environments, basics Chinese.

• Pre-School 2: 4--8 ys old. Mandarin speaking, basic Phonetic Alphabet system (PinYin) and some Chinese words.

• 1st Grade: 6 ys and older. 125 new words.• 2nd Grade: 7 ys and older. 225 new words and 29 basic sentence structures.• 3rd Grade: 8 ys and older. 298 new words and 30 basic sentence structures.• 4th Grade: 9 ys and older. 300 new words and 30 basic sentence structures.• 5th Grade: 10 ys and older. 300 new words and 30 basic sentence structures.• 6th Grade: 11 ys and older. 250 new words and 30 basic sentence structures.• 7th Grade: 12 ys and older. 194 new words.• 8th Grade: 13 ys and older. 167 new words.• 9th Grade: 14 ys and older. 188 new words.

Textbooks for Grade 1-9: Standard Chinese(Sample from Northern Branch)

Chinese School Curriculum

• Semester Schedule– Spring: early February to Middle of June– Fall: September to Middle December

• Class Schedule– Saturday or Sunday : from 2:00pm to 4:50pm– Class time: two 45 minutes class each week

• Sports and other activities’ Schedule– From 2:00pm to 4:50pm– One hour– Flexible

Chinese School Course Samples

• Mommy, or Daddy & Me for Children of Ages 2-5Learn Chinese through games, songs and rhymes. Communication skills will be developed with age-appropriate stories & multimedia. It enables parents to play with their children at home on Chinese. This is group immersion Chinese class for parents & children.

• Chinese Adventure for Youngsters of Age 4-104-10 year olds are introduced to topic oriented sessions to build a foundation of listening and speaking skills. Stories form the backbone for each session. Games, songs, activities and play flow through each story.

• Chinese Reading and Writing for Youngsters of Age 5-165-16 year olds children are learning basic reading and writing skills from topic oriented lessons in multimedia environment. They will lean PIN YIN, strokes, reading and writing Chinese Characters.

• Chinese Conversation for Age of 16+ or adult This class is offered for adults traveling to China or Taiwan for business and study. The class emphasizes conversation and introduces characters with practical real-world scenarios by utilizing film, video, and flash animation.

• Chinese Reading and Writing for Age of 16+ or adult This class is offered for the non-Chinese speaking students who have certain Chinese conversational skills and want to continue to learn PIN YIN, stroke, and Chinese character, and to learn to read and write in Chinese for academic preparation.

• Chinese for Business This class is offered for the non-Chinese speaking students who have basic conversational skills and want to concentrate to learn the conversation, reading and writing skills of the business field.

• Advanced Chinese for Adult This class is offered for the non-Chinese speaking students who have learned Chinese for more than 5 years and want to improve their reading and writing skills.

Teaching Materials for Chinese Schools

• Textbooks:

• Preschool /kindergarten:– Chinese for Young Children/ 幼儿汉语 1-4 – Chinese Pinyin/ 汉语拼音 , – Exercises other supplementary materials/ 练习册 / 辅助材料

• Grade 1 and up– Standard Chinese by People’s Education Press/ 标准中文 – Chinese by Jinan University Press/– Ma Liping Series, by Ma Liping/

• Issues and problems– Appropriateness of Textbooks – Reading materials– Other supplementary materials– Audio/visual materials

http://yhls.yinghuaschool.org/home.php

Teaching Materials for Chinese Schools

http://yhls.yinghuaschool.org/home.php

• Ma Liping Series, by Ma Liping

• Mission– Inspire and facilitate Chinese language learning. – Promote children's linguistic, cognitive, and social

development. – Empower local communities by partnering with parents and

concerned citizens.

Curriculum of Ma Liping’s Series

• 学前班1: 学儿歌 28 首。 2: 学谜语 32 则。 3: 学童谣 12 首。

• 一年级至四年级1: 学生认常用汉字 1344 个、词汇 2000 个左右，这些字词在一般读物中的出现率高 90 ％。2: 在学生汉字识别能力发展之后，可掌握汉语拼音系统。 3: 学生阅读配合课文编写的故事、寓言、幽默、儿歌、谜诬 400 余篇。 4: 三年级开始，增加简繁体字交替训练。

• 五年级1: 学习电脑输入汉字。 2: 学习查字典。 3: 学习《西游记》简写本。 4: 学习日常实用中文。 5: 中文写作训练先导。

• 六年级至七年级1: 引进当代作家文学作品 2: 正式进入写作训练。 3: 学习简单的英汉翻译。

• 八年级 至 十二年级1: 结合课文，有系统地了解中国的历史、地理、文化知识以及有代表性的文学家 2: 通过《论语》选读、《老子》选读和古诗词选读等，接触中国思想和文学的渊源 3: 继续进行中文写作训练 4: 学习日常实用中文 ( 熟悉 SAT 中文考试 )

Instructional Approaches

• Instructional approaches:– Mostly Chinese style

• Instructional procedures– Review new words – Read the text – Explain the text– Do exercises– Sign homework

• Issues– Unclear Objectives – Knowledge of SLA– Lack of creativeness

Teaching and Teacher Training

• Teachers’ background

– Former teachers in China – Teachers in other fields– New teachers

• Teacher training– In-service – Summer training– Workshops

• Issues and problems– Chinese Knowledge– Teaching experience– English proficiency– Teacher training

Classroom Observation

评 估 Evaluation

汉语知识及教学法Chinese Knowledge/methods

很好Excellent

较好Good

一般Average

有待改进Need to

improve

无法评估No

comments

备课认真 Lesson preparation

目的明确 Goals

进度合适 Pace appropriateness

教材教法 Materials/methods

语言表达 Articulation/demonstration

华夏中文学校普兰斯堡分校听课评估表Huaxia Chinese school at Plainsboro

Classroom Observation

评 估 Evaluation

师生的交流Teacher/students interaction

很好Excellent

较好Good

一般Average

有待改进Need to improve

无法评估No

comments

师生交流频繁 Interact frequently

鼓励并认真听学生表达Encourage using Chinese

调动学生的积极性Motivate learning

努力创造生动的语言环境Create learning environment

Classroom Observation

评 估 Evaluation

课堂管理Classroom Management

很好Excellent

较好Good

一般Average

有待改进Need to

improve

无法评估No

comments

教室气氛轻松和蔼Classroom atmosphere

正面管理学生行为Behavior management

维持正常教学次序Maintain classroom order

建立和保持课堂常规Establish/Keep class routine

Classroom Observation

评 估 Evaluation

为人师表Modeling

很好Excellent

较好Good

一般Average

有待改进Need to improve

无法评估No

comments

以身作则使用中文Use Chinese

按时上下课On time

尊重学生Respect students

Conclusion

Chinese parents in the US are working hard to keep their children learning Chinese. They set up Chinese after school programs and “drive” their children to Chinese class. However, it is very difficult to learn and maintain Chinese as a second language in an environment that minority and minority language and culture are not very much appreciated. Still with their great efforts, they have done a great job in making their children a successful generation with bilingual proficiency and bicultural understanding.