Austin (13 years old) suddenly decided to learn Chinese. He’s decided to keep his reasons personal. But for whatever it’s worth, since it was him who initiated the urge to learn, then we will support him 100%.
Nonetheless, we always stress and encourage on the advantages of learning a new language in our household. Learning a new language is like holding a key to a brand new world.
After a family discussion with all three children, all three will be enrolled in a formal Chinese school here in the Bay Area.
After a thorough search, I found this reputable Chinese school that has two different systems of teaching: Heritage and Chinese-as-Second-Language.
Heritage classes are typically for children whose families speak Mandarin Chinese at home. They typically have one or both parent guardians who are first-generation immigrants. The system teaches phonetics "bopomo" and focuses more on the traditional Taiwanese way of teaching.
Chinese-as-Second-Language classes are more for children whose families do not speak Mandarin Chinese at home. These kids typically have one or both parent guardians whose ethnicity or cultural background that are not Chinese. The system teaches Roman pinyin and focuses more on the American way of teaching.
The language background of our children, ages 5, 12, 13, poses as a challenge to select which type of system to enter. They all spoke Mandarin Chinese fluently since birth. Along the way, they've learned some Chinese characters but not enough to be fluent readers. Two younger kids are enrolled in the Spanish Immersion school at their regular school. Although we mostly speak Mandarin at home, kids typically speak in English amongst themselves. So it was tough for us to decide what fits well with their current situation. After several interviews with the principal and teachers, and we ultimately enrolled our youngest in the Heritage kindergarten class and the older two in the CSL 4th Grade class. Since both of us parents are familiar with both systems, we felt comfortable with this decision.
Given the situation on the pandemic, all classes are remotely taught. Last week was the first week of class, and I sat in with the youngest at his Heritage class.
What I didn't expect was the cultural influences that seeped into the lesson.
And it's not the kind of cultural influences I typically welcome.
The cultural differences in classroom management and teaching were quite a cultural shock to me personally.
Throughout the lesson, the teacher would ask the students if they have any questions. Without ever pausing a beat, the teacher would say, "沒有問題最好。"
The translation and the underlying tone was, "It's best when you don't have any questions."
This bothered both of us parents. Being both doctors of philosophy, my husband and I are of the Socratic school of thought where we believe that a student's cognitive learning does not truly register and solidify until they are able to generate questions by clarifying concepts, probing preexisting assumptions, questioning rationale & evidence, challenging viewpoints, and uncovering implications.
For a teacher to say that "it's best when you don't have any questions," the underlying assumption is an authoritative and a cautionary one. The teacher believes that the students should not have any questions because whatever he said is already sufficient enough for the students to know. Whatever is asked of the teacher is challenging his authority and knowledge - and thus definitely not allowed.
So for us to hear the teacher say, "It's best when you don't have any questions," it crawls underneath my skin.
For children this young, we worry that they might simply get the impression that the teacher believes it's best when you don't have any questions. It's GOOD not to have questions. Questions are NOT GOOD. Questions are BAD. I should not have any questions. I shouldn't ask any questions in front of the teacher. If I have any questions, it means I'm stupid because I did not get what the teachers said. If I have any questions, that's BAD because the teacher might not like me. Having questions is BAD.
In the first segment of the class, the teacher spent quite a large chunk of time (~15 minutes) and went into great detail on how to hold a pencil correctly. One parent even asked the teacher what type of pencil is suitable for writing. The teacher recommended using a "hexagonal-shaped" pencil that has a B2 lead rather than a HB.
I was quite amused as to how detailed the teacher went into the hand-held position of pencil holding. Since it was a remote learning class where everyone is online, the teacher asked the parents to show the kids how to do it. Each camera had to be aimed at the child's hand to make sure the hand position was accurate. I for one never found the necessity of holding writing utensils "correctly." Eating utensils, yes, because it is related to table manners and social decorum. Chemical apparatus, yes please, for obvious safety reasons. Musical instruments, yes, for embouchure and body positions to produce the right sounds without injuring yourself. For writing? NO. There might be a "golden standard" to holding a pencil, but there is no "right" way of holding a pencil. Unless a child is physically developmentally delayed and needs occupational therapy, correcting a pencil hold position is as controversial as telling a leftie to write with his right hand.
As for the parent who asked the teacher on the type of pencil to use is quite an eye-opener to me. In occupational therapy, therapists use various objects, like tennis balls, thick chalks, paintbrushes, feathers, rocks even twigs to help stimulate sensory input and train grasping muscles. Think of how us mankind have invented the writing apparatus throughout time, it felt quite strange to see that there is a need to have a standardized writing apparatus to produce "good" handwriting.
During the lesson, the teacher would call on every single student to answer a question, whether the student knows it or not. After the student answered, the teacher will put a sticker by the student’s name on a chart. The purpose of the chart is to tally up who has participated, and the winner will receive a prize at the end.
This particular method wasn’t too concerning to me personally because of Maxwell’s outgoing personality. But it became a problem when the teacher started to popcorn on children who are more reserved. Several parents jumped in and apologized for their children being shy. If the reward chart was to encourage class participation, then shouldn’t it be voluntary? What about allowing individual differences and learning styles while teaching? Quiet kids can learn quite well by observing. This forced answering system is just too contrived, and I’m not too sure if it’s serving it’s original purpose.
Maxwell (5 years old) finished all his homework assignment one day after the class, and I helped him uploaded his homework onto the Google classroom.
Then we received a few emails and private messages teacher wrote with a long explanation of how to "correct" his work:
1. Parents must erase any words that are not correct/neat the moment they made the mistake and must ask the students to rewrite.
We believe that children should learn from their own mistakes. But we definitely do not believe we should erase the ones we don't see fit ourselves. Children should be lead to examine their own work to see what their own mistakes are and self-determine by comparison if their work is warranted a mistake or not. We're not talking about a mathematical equation here where there's a definite answer. Even a mathematical question has multiple ways of solving it. These are Chinese words. Although there are standards to how strokes are written and placed in a grid, some latitude should also be given. Famous Chinese calligraphers were known for their creative and beautiful fonts. So why can't we develop our own? (Cue Steve Jobs) Adults should lead the children to compare and contrast their work with these typographic characters written. And mind you, these are 4 to 6-year-olds, whose fine motor skills are yet to be developed fully. Their hand and finger muscles are still developing. To forcefully ask a 5 or 6-year-old to write and rewrite again and again a Chinese character that isn't deemed "accurate" does not contribute to mastery but rather quench the child's zeal for learning a beautiful language. Adults should always be there to guide, but never stepped in to force any changes, like erasing the work for the children.
And “the moment the child makes the mistake” sends chills down my spine. So the teacher is asking the parents to hover over the child as he is writing each and every stroke and word? This is just goes against every cell of my being. Talking about this topic would literally be for me to produce a book.
2. For connect-matching worksheets, students must use a ruler to draw the lines.
In my former artistic training, rulers are rarely used. In fact, any lines drawn are encouraged to be freehanded and to not use a ruler in order to gain greater fine motor control and finer hand-eye coordination. Of course, this was for artistic pursuits. But here, we're not talking about actual measuring down to the millimeters and must use a ruler to measure the distance or anything like making an architectural blueprint or making a silicon wafer. Focusing on making the lines straight on a simple matching worksheet seems to miss the actual intent of the learned material and appears to be way out-of-line. Puns intended.
3. All the files uploaded must be in landscape form.
At this point, I'm feeling quite incredulous and peeved on how particular this has gotten to be. I draw my line there and left the file as-is.
When they learn Mandarin, we want them to learn about the Chinese culture. We were expecting the kids to learn about cultural lineage so for them to appreciate and respect their background, traditions and holidays etc, but we definitely did not expect this sort of culture baggage.
And I should stress that I have no personal issues toward this particular teacher. In fact, this teacher is very patient and soft-spoken who goes above and beyond what is required of the planned lesson.
What I've observed here is seemingly typical in any classroom from the eastern nations and those in it might think nothing of it.
But for me, I'm having a major Kafkaesque moment here.
Anyone here went to Chinese language schools or have kids enrolled in Chinese language schools in the USA?
Talk to me about your experiences.
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