APA Children Learn Languages Through Bilingual Education
August 25, 2008
American-born children enroll in public school immersion programs
SAN FRANCISCO — Raised in a suburb with no sizeable Korean population, Ann Kim’s immigrant parents would talk to her in Korean, and she would reply in English. “My parent’s concerns were more about assimilating and not being discriminated against,” she said.
So while researching elementary schools for her eldest child, she was pleasantly surprised to find that Claire Lilienthal Alternative Elementary School has a Korean immersion program. “It had everything I wanted…excellence, proximity, diversity,” Kim said. “The Korean was icing on the cake.”
Today, her two sons, who are in grade school, speak more Korean than she does. “They actually do math in Korean,” Kim said. “When they hear [the numbers] they don’t have to translate it. It’s automatic to them.”
Kim is part of a growing number of San Francisco’s Asian American parents whose American-born children are learning their heritage language through immersion programs offered by the city’s public schools.
The San Francisco Unified School District now offers Mandarin immersion at two elementary schools, the newest to join Asian language immersion programs created in the ’70s and ’80s—one in Korean and several in Cantonese.
Newton Yuen, a Chinese American living in San Francisco, grew up in Guam speaking English — and not the native tongue of his family. So when his first child was accepted into the Cantonese immersion program at Alice Fong Yu Alternative School, he considered himself lucky.
“I wanted to send my kids to this school to learn more about their culture,” said the father of three.
The Cantonese program at Alice Fong Yu Alternative Elementary School is the only to offer full immersion; the others offer two-way immersion where half of the class time is conducted in English and the other half in the immersion language.
The challenge has been recruiting immigrant families into the Mandarin and Korean two-way immersion program.
“It’s true right now that we’re not having much participation from immigrant families with a Mandarin background,” said Anita Lau, director of Multilingual Programs in the SF Unified School District. Her focus is getting the new Mandarin immersion programs, barely two years old, up and running.
For one, the number of Mandarin- speaking students in the city remains much lower than their Cantonese-speaking counterparts, she said, according to enrollment forms.
A common but unfounded concern for parents is that the child will learn another language at the expense of English, Lau said. “If the parents decide to go into the immersion program, they have to understand the philosophy that the kids are growing up in a larger English-speaking environment and will eventually pick it up,” she said. “The child will gain full competency in both languages by the eighth grade.”
The first year can be the most difficult transition for families. Kindergarten classes are taught in the non-English language 70 to 90 percent of the school day, depending on the program. By fifth grade, half the instruction is in English and half in another language.
The programs can often be as challenging for parents as students. Kellyn Dong’s son attends kindergarten in the first-ever Mandarin immersion class at Jose Ortega Elementary School. Dong is a Japanese American and her husband is a Chinese American; both speak English exclusively.
“We listen to Mandarin dialog on MP3 files over dinner…so it’s a family affair,” Dong said. “Parents also have to make a commitment to learn the language.”
Dong sees the immersion programs giving their children opportunities she never had. “I wish they had something like this when we were kids — I feel a loss of connection with my culture,” Dong said.
Immersion programs providing instruction can also help in situations where one parent speaks the language, but the other does not.
“Even my daughter in her first year…we can have a conversation in Mandarin,” said Dan Tan, whose children are enrolled in the new Mandarin-immersion program at Starr King Elementary School, which consists of two kindergarten and two first grade classes.
When Tan, who is ethnically Chinese, emigrated from Burma, he learned English at the Chinese Education Center that transitions newly arrived students into San Francisco’s public school system. His children are now learning what he did “in reverse.”
Before enrolling in the program, the Chinese-language ability of his kids was “basically non-existent,” he said. Today “if they hear someone speaking in Chinese at the store, they’ll start speaking with them,” he said.
Learning Mandarin has brought Jing Liu’s daughter Maya, who is in her first year at Jose Ortega, closer to more than just her cultural heritage. “Sometimes my parents call from China,” Liu said. “They’re really pleased.”
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9 Responses to “APA Children Learn Languages Through Bilingual Education”
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Great article Adelaide! Our SF Board of Education and staff are doing our best to expand and improve our language programs for immigrants and everyone - we intend to make our school district one which embraces “multilingualism for all” and gives every child an opportunity to learn more than one language.
Eric Mar
for more info - http://edjustice.blogspot.com/2006/12/san-francisco-school-board-passes.html
PC rubbish like this is the precise reason why so many Asian American kids can barely speak and read English, and only then with the heaviest and most undecipherable of accents. Likewise, many Spanish-speaking students who are “immersed” in bilingual education have a grasp on English that’s tenuous at best. The balkanization of American society must end in the classroom. Insofar as Eric Mar’s comments are concerned, he and his “progressive” cohorts on the Board of Education are primarily responsible for the exodus of students from San Francisco’s public schools. Their duties simingly consist of doing little more than posturing. And woe to anyone who dare challenge their shenanigans. Though she was a superb administrator, they made former Arlene Ackerman’s life so miserable that she was ultimately compelled to resign - and then complained when she took the severence package that her contract incorporated.
I am glad to find so many Asia people would like to learn their own language. In USA, many Chinese barely know how to write Chinese character and pronounce well. My cousin is a ABC and she doesn’t know Chinese at all. So it is necessay to improve our Chinese educataion in usa. Now, I am working in the Chinese high tech company and release Chinese learning tool recently. I would like to let you know our effort.
“Penpower Chinese Expert” is a Chinese learning tool, creating a Chinese-immersion environment for all users. This program includes Pinyin, Chinese English translation, TTS, Voice recognition, handwriting practice and so on. So children can do any Chinese studying with this program efficiently. In addition, PCE comes with a pen scanner and he can try to read simple Chinese material from physical hardcopy.
Now we provide “free” trial version, just go ahead to download and try.
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i don’t see what the big deal is. if parents want their kids to learn more about their cultural roots, then hey, more power to them. personally, i think it’s great that kids now have the option to incorporate more than one language early on in their education.
oh. and speakenglish–since when was it was “PC” to offer a bilingual education for young children? and can anyone give a reasonable explanation for why people are constantly using the term PC like it’s a crime? would you be complaining if the “foreign” languages offered were not cantonese, mandarin, or korean, but italian or french? yeah, that’s what i thought.
Dear :SpeakEnglish!!!”:
As someoone who barely spika-da-lingua=franca hereabouts, may I observe that you appear to be fearful? As of “others” and THEIR lingos?
“Get a grip,” on the other hand, seems to have nailed this one on its head, as in, why not denounce other “language” courses as well.
Besides, those who hope to “compete” in the market place of the future may well be inspired to immerse themselves in Mandzarin as well as Espagnol.
As for those furrines who cannot or refuse to spika-da-lingo, gee, I feel sorry for them too.
Steven, given the fact that your English skills are less than impressive (your posting is replete with grammatical errors), I would suggest you spend your time studying that language instead of encouraging others to learn Chinese characters. Get a grip, playing the race/racism card is so 20th century.
Wow, Christian:
How many pseudonyms can you post under?
Over? Roundabout? Any whichaways?
On second reading of your prior post above in re Steven’s poor syntax and English-language skills, has it occurred to you that Steven may well be posting from abroad, and English may well be his fhird, fourth, or FIFTH language? In any of which case, you have neither rhyme nor reason to question the THOUGHTS and IDEAS involved.
You seem primarily, and huffily at that, overdefensive about YOUR language, with scant recognition, much less respect, for the languages of others.
As for all those poor Asian kids who “barely speak or read ” the lingo, never fear, they will shortly outstrip you, or, at the very least, your “reasoning” here.
And accents, ANY, are not susceptible to “deciphering,”
only to “listening,” a capability to which you appear impervious. As in “deaf”?
Arlene Ackerman was with DCPS before San Fransisco. She was a heavy hitter ready to clean up the schools. She was driven out of here first but it wasn’t due to ‘rhetoric’ from parents about bilingual ed. It was people who didn’t want to change the corrupt system because they were benefiting from it. Just read any article about DC public schools today and you’ll know it’s true. I thought Arlene Ackerman would have done better in S.F. Guess she doesn’t have what it takes after all!
Only poorly run bilingual programs turn out poorly educated students. If our students who are monolingual at home can study in a foreign language in school yet test well in English, other students should be able to do it too. Well-run programs and a committed populace make it work.
Wow, Arlene Ackerman was in DC public schools before San Francisco. She made heads roll in her efforts to clean up a truly corrupt central office. They pushed her out here but it wasn’t due to those who support bilingual ed or immigrants, per se. It was people who were benefiting from the status quo. Don’t blame bilingual education for poor educational programs. Well run programs and a committed community is what makes it all work. If my kid can study in Spanish, speak no spanish at home and then go back and take tests in English, why can’t others. And look out people for the middle class hispanics and Asians. You’re kidding yourself to think they don’t speak English. Their educational level and earning power are growing quickly.