Derry, NH Program Promotes Chinese Language & Culture

From yesterday's Manchester (NH) Union Leader: Learning Chinese: Derry program promotes Chinese language and culture

By VALERIE HERSHFIELD

Sunday News Correspondent More than a billion people speak some dialect of Chinese. In excess of 870 million well more than twice the number of English speakers ח communicate in Mandarin Chinese. According to Chinas Xinhua News Agency, 30 million people living outside China study the language. Nearly 60 of those can be found Saturday mornings at Derry Chinese School at the Marion Gerrish Community Center. The students are men, women and children of Asian, Caucasian and mixed heritage. With four semesters completed, founder Elizabeth Dalton is thrilled with its success. Dalton and her husband, David Zsigray, adopted Diana, 14, and Sarah, 11, when they were already school age. In anticipation of adopting the girls, Dalton had already begun studying Chinese in Chelmsford, Mass. When then 5-year-old Sarah came home, mother and daughter attended together. Dalton, who has degrees in linguistics and education, even helped develop a program called ғChinese for American Families. They later moved to a school in Cambridge, Mass., and when Diana joined the family, all three continued their lessons there. Dalton knew several families who had either adopted or had one Chinese parent and so decided to investigate whether there was interest in a local school. ԓI thought we could do a one-room schoolhouse; get together maybe 12 students and wed all be together in a room, all ages, and weҒd do the best we could. In the summer of 2003, Dalton posted flyers inviting anyone interested in starting a Chinese school to a meeting at the public library. About 18 people showed up.Ԕ Once I saw that many people, I knew wed be able to do it.Ҕ Soon after, the non-profit Derry Chinese School began, with about 50 students in the first fall classes. The semester that ended recently had five classes running each week, two levels of adult/teen Mandarin, two levels of elementary Mandarin and a preschool. Its more than just language skills polished at the school. Chinese arts and crafts are also a part of the experience, and students can be found laughing their way through spirited games of Chinese chess, practicing calligraphy, painting and paper-folding. The program also reaches into the community with its extracurricular activites. Last month, more than two dozen people showed up with rolling pins in hand to learn how to make Chinese dumplings in a class that was taught by principal Gore Xu. The enthusiastic cheer by flour-covered pariticipants at the end led Dalton to say there would be more classes. A week later, students and families boarded a bus for an excursion to the Boston Dragon Boat Festival, based on a 2000-year tradition of commemorating the life and death of the ancient patriot-poet Qu Yuan, who lived from 340-278 B.C. The Chinese New Year celebration in January was terrific, with performances, crafts and food, said Dalton. People stayed around for hours after just talking, she said. The schoolҒs principal, Gore Xu, is a graduate student at Southern New Hampshire University, in a China exchange. His wife, Enid, teaches an elementary class. Most teachers are first- generation native Chinese speakers, said Abbe Shaine, board member, parent and student. We do workshops for the teachers and spend a lot of time talking about what we, as a community, are trying to do.Ӕ The mix is about two-thirds children to one-third adults and teens. Students reasons for being there vary. Some want to refresh their first language, some do business in China, some simply want to learn something new, and many are Chinese children whose adoptive parents want to help them maintain a relationship with their heritage. ғThey love coming here, said Brenda Giust of her adopted children, Alexandra, 6, and Morgan, 3. ԓNew Hampshire is not very diverse. Far from an ethnic melting pot, the 2000 census showed New Hampshire to be 96 percent white. Those of Asian heritage represented 1.3 percent. Board member Shaine, who adopted 8-year-old Miranda six years ago, echoed many of the Caucasian parents with Chinese children at the school: ԓFor my daughter and the other adoptive kids, this is a place where they can come and other people look like them. They have adult mentors who are Chinese. Its not just about the language; itҒs about being comfortable and being herself here. This is where she comes to be at home. ԓThis is the only place that my kids are all week when they are in the majority, said Dalton. DaltonԒs daughter, Diana, had experience helping care for other children at the orphanage in China and is now a teaching assistant for the preschool. It gives her a chance to feel very positive about her Chinese language. She feels like she has been struggling with English, but when she comes here, sheӒs an expert. Its very positive for her, and sheҒs a role model for the younger kids. ԓIts important to expose her to music and the ability to interact with other chldren who have the same background,Ҕ said Henry Glickl, of Salem, about his daughter, Xiara, 2. The school takes over three large rooms on the second floor. In one room are adults and teens studying vocabulary and reading and writing characters. Next door, the elementary students are doing a variety of activities, including vocabulary exercises, playing games that make them listen to and recognize Chinese words, learning calligraphy and playing Chinese chess that, to an observer, is much more lively than the almost reverent chess atmosphere most know. The preschool room is a hive of toddler energy where kids do crafts, learn the Chinese words for animals, fruits and body parts, listen to stories or sing songs with Chinese words, but familiar tunes such Frere JacqueӔor London Bridge.Ӕ Parents sit at the end of the room, largely ignored by the kids. Katherine Prudhomme OBrien of Derry, enrolled daughter Bjarna, 11, in the elementary class and 3-year-old Abigail in preschool. All of them are Caucasian. ғWhen I saw the flyer for the Chinese school, I heard opportunity knocking, Prudhomme OԒBrien said. People ask me what IӒm doing, but I home school my girls and I knew I had the time to put into it. I thought it would be especially good for my fifth grader to have the experience. She does about three hours of (Chinese) homework a week. WeӒve decided to make China our family country of interest, she said. ԓWe definitely want to visit China. It would be a good way to not only learn about a different culture and what other societies are like, but to appreciate America more. Charles Su, of Concord, was born in Colorado of Taiwanese parents. ԓI like to learn about Chinese; my relatives are Chinese, said SuԒs son, Weston, 6. Half of them,Ӕ said Su, whose wife is Caucasian. IӒve taught him a little (Chinese) and he can certainly understand some, but this is mainly so he can hear the sounds so later it will be easier for him to pick it up. Its pretty laid back. (Preschool) is more for socialization. . . My parents are happy heҒs going to Chinese school. The little redhead in the group is 3-year-old Lucy, daughter of Charlie Backman. Lucy has been learning Chinese from babysitters since she was 6 months old. There were more multi-cultural opportunities in Boston, where the family lived before recently moving to Hampstead. ԓIt was one of the things we thought we gave up when we moved here, but we were startled to find a Chinese school. The choice of hiring Chinese babysitters has been intentional. He said the question is not, ԓWhy choose Chinese? The question is, ԓWhy wouldnt you choose Chinese? It is spoken by the most people in the world. Very few in this country who are not of Chinese heritage seem to speak the language, which seems very odd to me. Economically, China is massive and getting more so and is about the fourth biggest economy. It will probably be second in the next 20 years when Lucy reaches ґeconomic maturity.Ҕ While opthalmologist Yvonne Tsai is refreshing her Mandarin language skills as well as learning to read and write, her two children attend the elementary class. Like many children who were first generation in America, Tsai was sent to Saturday morning Chinese school when she was a youngster. But many of us did not retain it that well because we didnӒt get much practice. Once we began speaking to (my parents) in English, they spoke back to us in English. ԓI think it is important from a cultural standpoint to know what our ancestors spoke, to know our roots, Tsai said. ԓI also think its an important language from a business standpoint. Some of the adult students do business in China and they may have not family or another relationship to the culture.Ҕ Arthur Harvey, of Derry, is an example. I wanted to communicate on some level other than saying ӑhello or ґthank you, but over the years IҒve become more interested in the whole culture, said Harvey, who began traveling to China on business in 1997. ԓYou can get wrapped up in the culture real quick. His interest is to spend an extended period in China. Alyssa, 8, came to the Labitt family of Nashua when she was 3. It was Alyssa whom her father Bruce Labitt was thinking about when he attended the Derry Chinese School open house. However, for three semesters, not only has Alyssa attended the elementary class, Labitt is in the adult beginner class and his 15-year-old, Rachael, attends the advanced adult/teen class. ԓIn a sense, the grammar is easier (than English), but the hard part is getting this Western mind thinking in terms of characters, Labitt said. Rides home find father and daughter trying out what they learned that day and, at home, they play ԓUno, saying the numbers and colors in Chinese. Rachael is making her way through the Chinese edition of ԓHarry Potter. Dalton said her greatest satisfaction came when a parent told her, ԓUntil this year my daughter was feeling very uncomfortable with her ethnicity. She was looking in the mirror and saying, I look ugly. I hate being Chinese.ђ She started coming here and that stopped.Ҕ The school is not me at this point,Ӕ Dalton said. It really is a whole community and it is a wonderful feeling to be a part of this. It has grown beyond me.Ӕ I want all our Chinese-American families in the area to know that schools like this exist and IӒd like other families elsewhere who need these kinds of schools to know its possible to start one. And I think itҒs good for the rest of the community to know how many people are here who need this kind of environment. Id like us to be an extra resource for the community as a whole to understand more about Chinese culture and Chinese-American culture and adoption so we can be a bridge.Ҕ Conversational Mandarin classes have just begun and regular classes will start again after summer. Registration for either can be done on line at [url]www.derrychineseschool.org[/url].