Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 20, 1994 TAG: 9404200075
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: EXTRA-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Loi, Cavanaugh and his wife, Ema - the only adult students this semester - sit with bowed heads and furrowed brows grappling with a lesson in "Children's Chinese Reader 2."
"My father is tall and big. He likes to read. He likes to paint pictures.... Good morning, father. Good morning, mother. They say I am a good girl," they intone in halting Mandarin.
Their classmates Hagen and Jennifer Chang, 8, by comparison, seem to breeze through the exercises in the pretty, mostly pictorial primary textbook supplied by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission.
"It seems that language comes more easily the younger you are," explains elementary-level instructor Wendy Cheng.
But Cheng and fellow instructors Susan Lin and Ed Cheng impart more than mastery of China's official language to their students; their lessons include Chinese culture. Preservation of their heritage among the mostly Chinese-American students is an important part of the Roanoke Chinese School's purpose, principal Rosa Cheng says.
"These students are only different in appearance, but otherwise they're totally American and could easily lose their heritage," Wendy Cheng adds.
Ed Cheng, who also for 22 years has taught engineering at Virginia Western Community College, says that most large cities have Chinese schools. Roanoke's, which meets weekly at the main county library on Electric Road, has operated about 10 years, resuming about three years ago after a brief interruption.
It basically follows the same timetable as Roanoke County schools, although it will end its semester earlier than the schools when the libraries discontinue Sunday hours during late May through early September. Homework, a lot of which is sheer memorization, is assigned weekly. The school's fee varies; this semester's was $30.
The students are a hodegepodge of ages, capabilities, needs and aspirations. At all three levels, they use texts, supplemented by special teachers' materials and reinforced through general review units.
The most basic requirement for admission to the school is that students, who may be as young as 4 or 5 years old, be mature enough to sit still during lessons. Rosa Cheng interviews each pupil to determine the best placement level.
First-grader Trina Loi, for example, speaks Cantonese, Vietnamese and English, but cannot read or write either Chinese language. An engineer, she hopes that mastering Mandarin will improve her chances for advancement at GE, which has several bases in China.
Mike Cavanaugh, the only Caucasian student, is fluent in English, Japanese and German. "This is the hardest language I've learned because of the pronunciations," he says.
He, too, hopes his language skills will aid his career advancement. In fact, he recently was sent by GE to Taiwan, where he was able to use some of his new knowledge, though not necessarily that well, he laughs.
At the elementary level, students learn the 37 characters of the Chinese alphabet and how to form words phonetically. By semester's end they will be able to say many words, but they won't necessarily understand their meanings, Wendy Cheng says.
At the intermediate level, students begin to write words and form simple sentences. Hagen's older brother, Eric, 9, who speaks Mandarin fluently but doesn't read or write it well, is among this group of four students.
By the time the students reach Ed Cheng's advanced class - the rough equivalent of sixth grade - they can translate between English and Mandarin - sometimes easily; sometimes not.
Students learn lore and facts about Chinese heritage, such as the foods, customs and symbols surrounding the New Year, or the Dragon Boat or Autumn Moon festivals, that help them learn the language.
They also learn about the language's construction.
On a small portable chalkboard, Ed Cheng draws what looks like two swinging half doors with little tails.
"This is the symbol for a door," he tells his five students.
Adding what vaguely resembles a pair of piggybacking Fs, he says, "This means that the door is open."
Chinese is read from top to bottom and is full of basic symbols, such as the one for door or for water, wood or animal, he explains. Additional symbols can then clarify whether the door is open or closed; whether the water is a river or a lake; whether the wood is a tree, a forest or furniture; or whether the animal is a lion or a kitten.
Ed Cheng estimates that there are about 90 families of Chinese lineage in the Roanoke Valley. Of those, he says, about 75 belong to the 10-year-old Roanoke Chinese Association, of which he is the president and founder. The association, which also aims to preserve Asian culture, presents four major activities per year and is the school's main source of student referrals.
"The school is open to everyone, although it probably is not for those who are interested only in learning conversation," Ed Cheng says.
by CNB