Article published November 14, 2009
UT to study heritage schools
Scholar to examine ways of teaching Chinese across U.S.
By MEGHAN GILBERT-CUNNINGHAM
BLADE STAFF WRITER
A grass-roots effort that's existed in the United States for hundreds of years is responsible for much of the Chinese language learning in the country, but not much is known about the Chinese heritage schools leading the work.
A University of Toledo professor is working to change that.
An Chung Cheng, an associate professor of Spanish who specializes in second-language acquisition and teacher education, received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to track down every Chinese heritage school in the country and research them.
"It's a very unique form of education," Ms. Cheng said. "We want to know their curriculum, their strengths, and their needs."
It's estimated that the community schools, often created by Chinese parents who want their children to learn the language, are responsible for more than 70 percent of Chinese language instruction before college.
But the schools largely have been unnoticed by mainstream education systems, which increasingly are introducing Chinese as a foreign language option in response to growing global interaction."We have Chinese schools existing so long and not being known by the public," Ms. Cheng said. "We hope in the future there could be a connection between the schools and typical K-12 education."
Estimates are that 200,000 students attend some 450 of these heritage schools in the country, Ms. Cheng said.
They range in size from a small group of 20 students to large systems with branch campuses where thousands of students learn.
Toledo has a heritage school. It was started in the 1970s in a church by parents. It is now a nonprofit organization with a board of directors and is on the campus of Maumee Valley Country Day School.
The Chinese Center of Toledo, also called Toledo Chinese School, has about 95 students ranging in age from 3 to 17, said Ye Liang, the school's principal.
The majority of the students are children of Chinese parents who want them to learn the language, but there are a few nonheritage, English-speaking families interested in having the children learn Chinese, Ms. Liang said.
"It's not only speaking and listening, but the parents want them to read and also write in Chinese," Ms. Liang said. There is a growing population of American parents who adopt a child from China and want them to learn the language and culture of their native country. For those classes, parents are invited to participate, Ms. Liang said.
The first part of the research is to locate all U.S. Chinese heritage schools and send detailed surveys requesting information about their history, student demographics, teaching methods, and more.
Using those responses, the project will find ways to improve the programs and instruction materials.
There also will be a Web site to organize all the information and to allow interaction among them, Ms. Cheng said.
Contact Meghan
Gilbert-Cunningham at:
mcunningham@theblade.com
or 419-724-6134.
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