Beyond Language Classes:

The role of a Chinese Saturday school in the lives of

parent organizers

Claire Chik NHLRC, UCLA

chik@humnet.ucla.edu

SchoolFounded 198930 classrooms & cafeteria in high school400-450 students; K-12Saturday morning 9-noonClasses for both simplified & traditional Many annual “events”: Mother’s Day carnival,

talent show, track & field meet, poetry recital/calligraphy/painting competitions, opening/closing ceremonies

AreaSituated in LA County multiethnic ethnoburb (Zhou, 2006, p. 321)ethnoburb (Li, 1998): “suburban clusters of

residential areas and business districts…in which one ethnic minority group has a significant concentration” (p. 482).

multiethnic ethnoburb: multiple ethnicities have a social presence & each establishes some ethnic institutions but none has a dominant presence: Japanese 13,991 (10.14%)

Korean 9,481 (6.87%)Chinese 6,558 (4.75%)

Fall 2004 – winter 2005; fall 2007 – winter 2009Total of 65 Saturdays; numerous “non-Saturday”

eventsParticipant observation & interviews (51 parents;

8 teachers) in both English and MandarinObservations mostly in the cafeteria; some

classroom observations Focus on parents

Data Collection

Gathering together/providing a focal point for a dispersed Chinese American community:

“Here in the ‘Seaside’ area there isn’t any other type of organization for Chinese, very loosely defined. It wouldn’t be so important in the San Gabriel Valley where they have so many organizations. It’s concentrated over there just by the fact that they have a concentrated Chinese population.”

“[The school] is the most powerful way to unite the community” and serves “as a center to glue these people together.”

The “community center”

A “social and emotional support group for the parents”

“I came to the U.S. because I married my husband. I have no friend. I have no family. I made friends here – this is a good place to know more Chinese.”

Social isolation translated into linguistic isolation:

“English is our second language and we use it for work and with other friends. You miss using your mother language to talk with someone. . . .Except speak Chinese with family, this is the only place to speak Chinese.”

Practical help:

“Yeah if they have the same background maybe they know what kind of I mean hardships. I can say that when they come maybe they did encounter many problems. Then maybe we can share with each other then to support, to encourage each other.”

Personal fulfillment:

“When you are involved in the school’s activities you make yourself more useful not just making a life. You’ll feel more content if you help at the PSA” and “[working] as a team and coming up with ideas is a great experience.”

“When he was young we went to Taiwan once a year but now Chinese school is our Chinese community.”

“I am exposing them to a direct Chinese community – as direct as I can have.”

“By being in this environment this is a pseudo Chinese village. The traditions you get immersed in, this environment you can’t find it anywhere.”

A “pseudo-Chinese village”:A Child-Centered Metaphor

“I believe that if you put people in a certain environment there will be an effect.”

Unlike “the community center,” child-centered metaphors often involved an element of sociolinguistic guidance/influence.

Zhou and Li (2008): Chinese schools often “provide a cultural environment where the children are surrounded by other Chinese people and things and are thus under external pressure to feel and act Chinese” (p. 175).

“An environment”

Why is the “village/environment” important?

“We have this environment at home and [Chinese] school continues this environment. A kid’s life is from a lot of different angles. Family life is one angle. But if it’s only family life it’s not complete.”

School helped with parenting by providing a community-wide entity beyond single family in tune with their home environment

“You have to have the environment of the school to keep Chinese. If you live in Chinatown it is not so difficult, but if you don’t have the community around you it is very difficult to keep up Chinese. . . . [if children drop out] there is no hope – Chinese is gone.”

“If you don’t have that Chinese environment – you talk Chinese, you listen to Chinese – then the further and further they get away from Chinese. At Chinese school there is more language and more chance.”

An “environment” of language

“If they don’t come to school they will lose the language.”

“We are all Chinese and we all have to speak Chinese and we talking about Chinese history. It’s environmental. If we don’t have the Chinese school it’s very hard.”

Why it is “hard”

“It’s hard to keep two languages because child don’t want to speak Chinese.”

“ 大環境講英文”(“The surrounding environment is English speaking”)

“Sometimes they say, ‘I am American! Why I need to learn Chinese?’ Of course they will argue. All the kids will argue.”

In this circumstance:

The struggle to maintain Chinese could be displaced onto a wider community of Chinese speakers

A community of Chinese speakers could be created in which Chinese was used by a group beyond the family and seen to be important

Beyond language: Culture

“[The school] draws kids closer to the Chinese community whether they learn [Chinese] or not. They learn the culture.”

“The school provides activities that are part of the Chinese culture and tradition. Language is a part of this, but not the biggest part.”

For instance:

“The textbook material, the stories, introduces them into the idea of being Chinese, to the culture, folk stories, folk songs.”

“The teacher tells stories about history, Chinese New Year – what we eat, 春联 [New Year posters], and so on.”

“Culture is always passed on through interaction. You can’t learn a culture through a book. It’s not written. You have to experience it. If you spend days reading about how people celebrate Chinese New Year you don’t get a feel for the experience. . . . At home you would just do a few traditions but you don’t have an idea of all these other things. It’s like a block party. If it’s just us four we’ll go out to dinner. Like Thanksgiving. If you stay home with four family members and have turkey there is not much meaning. But if you get together with relatives Thanksgiving is much more meaningful.”

Beyond language: Values“Values that we value, value sets that the Chinese embrace.”

“A lot of time we refer to 孝順 (filial piety). We say, ‘You need to 孝順 your parents.’ Doesn’t work. So you need to experience it in the community so that now you pick it up in a subliminal way. You can’t force it as a doctrine. This community, village, can serve that purpose. You can’t do it on your own basically.”

Beyond language: Identity“In second grade my son asked, ‘Why do I have to go to Chinese school?’ ‘Because you are Chinese.’ But he says, ‘No, I’m American.’ I say, ‘No, you are Chinese. It doesn’t matter where you were born.’ . . . Because he’s Chinese. I want him to know he’s Chinese. . . and acknowledge more that he is Chinese.”

“When I say an environment, a place they can foster their Chinese identity.”

“[The school is] a place to foster identity and that really takes a village and this is the village. You cannot do it at home in a family.”

“I think they’re American and they try to find their Chinese heritage and I think they flip and flop all the time. . . . Sometimes they say, “I am Chinese,” but most of the time they say, “I’m really American,” and sometimes, “I’m not Chinese.” They are trying to find themselves. I think this whole process [attending Chinese school] helps. . . . I don’t want that inner conflict to persist.”

Discussion

Parents:

What is your relationship to your school??

ReferencesAreaConnect http://www.areaconnect.com/state.htm?s=CA

Li, W. (1998). Anatomy of a new ethnic settlement: The Chinese ethnoburb in Los Angeles. Urban Studies, 35(3), 479-501.

Zhou, M. (2006). Negotiating culture and ethnicity: Intergenerational relations in Chinese immigrant families in the United States. In R. Mahalingham (Ed.), Cultural psychology of immigrants (pp. 315–336). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Zhou, M., & Li, X. (2008). Ethnic language maintenance and social mobility: A historical look at the development of Chinese schools in the United States. In E. R. Barkan, H. Diner, & A. M. Kraut (Eds.), From arrival to incorporation: Migrants to the US in a global era (pp.163-184). New York, NY: New York University Press.