Summer Language Learning

Remember the Chinese Language Camp Zoe attended last summer? Well, now is the time to think about whether your area has similar offerings. You'll recall that the course came about because of a federal program, the Security Language Initiative, and is called STARTALK. You can find all the offerings here, and also search by language (,Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Persian, Swahili, Turkish, Urdu) by state, by residential/nonresidential program. There are 53 programs of Chinese instruction in these states: AZ CA CO CT DE HI IA IL IN KS KY MA MD ME MI MN MS MT NC NH NJ NM NY OH OK PA RI SC SD TX UT VA WA WI WV.

Look for Texas programs here. Zoe will be going to the Birdville ISD/Fort Worth one, which runs June 8-30;  rising 3rd graders are eligible.

Language Learned in Childhood Not Lost

From Scientific American, hope for adults who want to re-learn a language previously learned -- but forgotten -- in childhood:

What happens when a language learned as a child is forgotten over time? Many adoptees and emigrants have no conscious memory of their native tongue, but a new study suggests at least some information remains in the brain. A team from the University of Bristol in England showed that English-speaking adults older than 40 who had spoken Hindi or Zulu as children were able to relearn subtle sound contrasts in these languages, but adults who had never spoken the languages could not—even though the childhood speakers had no explicit memory of the languages. Because memories are neuronal connections that get reinforced with regular access, the finding means that even connections that have not been reaccessed for decades do not disappear completely, as previous evidence had suggested.

Last Day of Camp

Today was the last day of the Chinese Language/Culture Camp Zoe has been attending for the past 3 weeks. We were entertained with songs and dances and skits and a parade of Chinese costumes (the middle school/high school class got to show off Tang Dynasty, etc., royal costumes).

I was surprised at how much everyone learned in just three weeks. Our friend, L., who had not had ANY Chinese language instruction before camp knew all seven of the songs the group sang, can introduce herself, say her age and date of birth and Zodiac sign, describe the members of her family, give her nationality, say what foods she likes to eat, name body parts. . . . Pretty impressive! (L. is not pictured in the photo above, though. Her feelings got hurt because she was not in the group of top students who were awarded a certificate. It's a very Chinese thing, giving these awards without thinking about the kids who are left out. I really felt bad for her, and she wasn't consoled by all of our compliments of her hard work and bravery. It didn't help that Zoe and Syd got certificates. Sigh. Maya took L.'s place in the photo; she insisted on wearing her Chinese dress, and also dressed her American Girl doll in HER Chinese dress!)

Zoe gained a lot of confidence, and had a great time. Here she is telling me about her "All About Me" poster, which each child had to make.

An interesting point about Zoe's poster -- she wrote "I'm not an American, I am Chinese." Hmmmm.

I hope the federal funding continues for next year!

Chinese Language/Culture Camp

Zoe and two of her friends started an immersion Chinese language class today (we're calling it "Camp," since it makes it sound more fun!), and all were very excited and had a great time. One of her friends is adopted from China, the other is a non-adopted Caucasian classmate with an interest in languages (it's so cool that the Chinese girls can see that non-Chinese people are ALSO interested in learning Chinese. They're not so different after all!). There are ten kids in the class, 3 of whom have no previous experience with Chinese language. The class also covers Chinese culture -- today they learned how to play with Chinese yo-yos (I don't think they're quite as good as the guys in the video yet!). Although it's supposed to be an immersion program, with the course guidelines saying, "The teacher will use the target language most of the time, with English instruction used only when absolutely necessary," Zoe tells me the teacher mostly spoke English. I hope that changes as the class progresses.

I'm thrilled with this opportunity! We always slide back on Chinese language during the summer, so this gives us a chance to stay with it. And guess what? The program is FREE! We paid a $100 deposit, which we'll get back as long as we attend regularly and do the assignments!

This or similar programs may be offered in your area -- it's called STARTALK, and is part of the National Security Language Initiative (hum the them from "Jaws" or the "Twilight Zone," your choice, as you read those words!), which "seeks to expand and improve the teaching and learning of strategically important world languages that are not now widely taught in the US." How cool is that?! I actually love that my federal tax dollars are going into such a smart program (so much smarter than expelling Arabic-language translators from the military because they're gay, which seems to be our other popular strategic language initiative).

Click here for a list of all summer Chinese programs through STARTALK. They've got them all over the place: AZ CA CO CT DE HI IL IN KS KY MA MD ME MN MS NC NJ NM NY OH PA RI TX UT VA VT WA WI. There are also other langages, including Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, Persian, Swahili, Turkish, and Urdu.

When I first heard about the program in our area, I was disappointed to learn that it was being offered only to middle and high school students. I talked to the director (who also happens to be the principal of the Chinese School the girls have attended for years!), and begged to have Zoe included if at all possible. He emailed me a few weeks later to say they'd decided to include rising 3rd graders, to my utter delight! So if your child doesn't meet the listed criteria, my experience says it doesn't hurt to ask. Next year, they expect the Fort Worth area program to include all elementary grades, so Maya can go too.

We're still going to be going to Chinese Heritage Camp this year, since it doesn't do as much about language, so it really won't be duplicative. It's also fun -- if you're going to Tulsa for this camp, let us know to look for you!

Cultural Competence of Transracial Adoptive Parents

Have you noticed the plethora of "studies" I've posted lately? I just discovered that the law school's subscription to Adoption Quarterly gives me electronic access to all issues past and present! So I've been enjoying an orgy of reading medical/sociological/psychological studies of adoption. Yes, I'm geeky enough to love this stuff!

Here's another, Factors Related to Transracial Adoptive Parents' Levels of Cultural Competence:

The first component of cultural competence is racial awareness. As defined in the model, racial awareness for TRA parents involves attitudes related to helping children develop positive racial and ethnic identity. These include understanding personal racial and ethnic identity, the role of race and ethnicity in their children's lives, and the potential effects of racism or discrimination on the lives of their children and family. With racial awareness as a foundation, the model describes the second and third aspects of cultural competence for TRA parents.

Multicultural planning involves the creation of bridges over which children may learn about and participate in the culture of their race or ethnicity. In TRA families, this requires specific efforts on the part of parents who are not themselves personally identified with their child's race and ethnicity. Socialization in the child's racial and ethnic culture may take many forms, but the model suggests that more integrative, experiential participation with people who are part of the child's birth culture are preferred over more static activities such as reading culturally relevant books.

The last component of the model, survival skills refers to the ability of parents to help their children learn skills necessary to cope with discrimination or racism. As with multicultural planning, this may require TRA parents to stretch, seeking help from others who have experienced discrimination in order to learn active coping skills that go beyond “just ignore it.”

Evidence is accumulating to support a direct relationship between aspects of ITRA parents' cultural competence and their children's development of racial and ethnic identity. In three studies on racial identity among Korean adoptees, a positive relationship was found between parents' racial and/or ethnic socialization practices and their children's racial identity and well-being. That is, Korean children of ITRA parents who provided greater cultural exposure and involvement were more likely to have positive racial identity, greater psychological adjustment, and greater understanding of the implications of their Korean status as related to their own identity and relationship with peers.

Similar results were found in a study of Asian adoptees in which parents' support of cultural socialization was associated with children's sense of belongingness and self-esteem. Further, a positive relationship was found between both parents' networking with Chinese adults and the racial composition of their residence with Chinese adoptees' competence in Chinese culture.

In each of these studies, aspects of the multicultural planning component of the model were associated with positive results among the children. Moreover, Thomas and Tessler's 2007 study provides evidence of a positive relationship between the racial awareness component of cultural competence and children's well-being. Their study reports that ITRA parents' attitude toward cultural socialization was directly related to their Chinese children's competence in Chinese culture.

The study identified a number of factors that seemed to determine the level of cultural competence of adoptive parents, including families' participation in postadoption support groups; parent's sex, that is, female; traveling to the child's country of origin for adoption; postadoption contact with adoption professionals; absence of biological children in the family; and families' annual income over $75,000.

English Language Acquisition in Children Adopted From China

Way back in 2001, I participated in a study about speech and English language development in China adoptees. The results of that study, and some other studies as well, can be found at this website. Yesterday, I got an email from the researchers about a follow-up study: "The majority of children who took part in the longitudinal study are now in school, and we have designed a follow-up study to investigate more complex language and academic skills. Little research currently exists concerning longer-term outcomes for our children. Because of the data you provided as part of the longitudinal study, we have a unique opportunity to directly examine the relationship between early speech-language skills and later school-age language and academic abilities."

Too cool! We'll happily participate -- it will be interesting to see the results in the near future.

Language and Culture

Mei Ling's challenges with language learning (see here, here, and here) brought to mind this post from last year, as Zoe tried to "be Chinese" while we were in China:

"I wish I was Chinese." This has been Zoe's frequent lament lately. The first time she said it, I replied, " Well, since you were born in China and since your birthparents are Chinese, you are Chinese -- and American, too." But when she said again today, "I wish I was Chinese," this time I was smart enough to ask, "Well, what makes someone Chinese?"

Zoe's answer, "You have to speak Chinese."

"So would I be Chinese," I queried, " if I could speak Chinese?"

Zoe said, "Yes, you would."

So there you have it -- we can ALL be Chinese!

But on a serious note, Zoe's a pretty smart cookie to have figured this out. Maybe ethnicity and birthplace are not not enough to make one Chinese. Here, without language and culture, she is American. And in America, because of her appearance, she is seen as Chinese and perpetually foreign . . . .

Our children adopted from China are really betwixt and between, aren't they? Not fully Chinese to some, not fully American to others. That's really why we're here, to give Zoe and Maya a chance to feel Chinese. I suppose I'll know that the effort has paid off when THEY feel fully Chinese and fully American, no matter how others might choose to label them.

Even at age 6, Zoe understood the centrality of language to culture and identity. And the loss of language is another adoption loss.