1980s Heritage Language Programs Sucked

Like many CBC kids, I was forced to go to Chinese school on Saturdays when I was in elementary school.  The classes I went to were held at local elementary schools (offered by the school boards…it is celebrating its 30 anniversary in Toronto in a few weeks).  The teachers were often board-employed teachers as well, but they didn’t know how to teach us.  Perhaps they just didn’t care.  We weren’t, after all, their “real” day kids!  From what I recalled, they taught us as if we were Hong Kong kids, not Canadian children.  The teacher wrote words on the board, we copied them down.  We didn’t always get a definition.  We didn’t usually get definitions during dictations either.  I recall most of us were kind of WTF about it, since our “regular” teachers would always define words for spelling tests.

Chinese school was NOT FUN.  At recess, we were often yelled at by other faculty for speaking English, the default language for most of us.  I’ve never done French Immersion, but teachers at immersion schools generally aren’t strict, are they?  I mean, they aren’t going to yell at you if you don’t parle français (maybe someone who has gone through immersion can tell me) outside of class.  The supplementary texts they used were often straight out of Hong Kong, and therefore we couldn’t relate well to them.  Most of us didn’t live in small apartments.  We lived in suburban homes with a big back yard.  We didn’t wear school uniforms.  Oh, and we didn’t stand up when faculty entered the classroom. Most of us weren’t really able to retain much, either.  After all, class was only once a week for about three and a half hours.  I dropped out (or rather, my parents pulled me out) after Grade 2 or 3.  For those who actually stayed until the end of the program (I think it was Grade 8), many still can’t read well.  Not at a Grade 4 or 5 level…good enough to read a Chinese version of the Toronto Sun, anyway.  Most forget.

I guess what I’m saying is that these programs are (or at least were in the 80s) a waste of money.  No one really learned anything, and it made many kids hate their heritage even more.  But maybe it was just the Cantonese programs.  Honestly, it would have been more interesting if the teachers played games, told stories and used better text books.  Perhaps it would have been better if the teachers treated us like they treat their day/regular students.

Learned Another Language as a Tot, English at School - ESL or Not?

I didn’t speak English until I started school.  English is technically not my first language.  Cantonese is.  According to the Statistics Canada definition, Cantonese is my mother tongue, as it is defined as “the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood by the individual at the time of the census.”  I certainly still understand Cantonese.  My parents and grandparents speak Canto to me every day.  I usually reply in English to my parents, but in Cantonese to my grandparents. Gung Gung and Poh Poh do not speak much English.  Neither does my paternal grandmother.  English is my most comfortable language.  It’s the language I use before anything else.  I think in English.  However, Statscan does not have a category for people like me.  And there are plenty of people like me.  Many second generation Canadians, regardless of culture are like me.  We may not have said anything yet, but I’m pretty sure we don’t want to be grouped in the same  category as people who learned English much later in life.  We don’t sound like English is our second (or third, fourth, etc) language.  Our accents are indistinguishable from people whose families have been in English Canada for generations.  And at the same time, we’d be lying if we said that English was our first language.  It’s tough when we have to check off a box!

I think it’s time that they actually have a box for people in this situation.  I think it’s a great way to find out how many Canadians UNDERSTAND their ancestral language, but do not speak it or default to it.

Bananas, Part II (or Classism, Part I)

Being a Banana is an identity. It’s used to differentiate from the various Chinese and western cultures that exist all over the world. Some may ask why one just doesn’t use the term “CBC” (or ABC, BBC, etc)? Answer? Not all CBCs are the same. While the vast majority grow up in Canada (or what ever western country) and are exposed to Canadian (again, whatever country) culture, there are some who actually move back to the old country at a young age. Take my cousin, Jennifer (not her real name), for example. She was born in Toronto, but she moved back to Hong Kong just weeks after she was born. She’s technically CBC, but she has much more in common with foreign students and recent HK immigrants). She’s now going to school in North America. What is this young woman? CBC or not?

There are those, such as Restructure, who feel that Bananas think they’re white. Do they, Restructure? I’m pretty sure they know that they’re Asian. They just enjoy things that people, Chinese or not, consider “white culture.” Usually, they are aspects of white culture that are foreign or “bad” to Chinese immigrants, including certain sports like hockey and football, playing musical instruments other than classical piano or violin (again, classical. God forbid an East Coaster CBC who wants to fiddle) and dating non-Chinese. Come to think of it, being a Banana isn’t really about being “white”, but really being more of a “commoner.” But in any case, being “banana” is a cultural identity. Language and customs play an important role in this.  Restructure points out that lots of non-white Canadians don’t know how to read/write the language,  yet they still aren’t white.  Well, Restructure, that was a really weak point.  Lots of non-white Canadians (and white, non-Anglo Canadians) know how to read/write their old country language, especially if they’re first generation.  And since most Chinese Canadians over 18 are no more than second generation, the expectation of reading/writing, or at least speaking, is still there.  And in any case, in North America, the ability to speak more than one language is a privilege, and again, tied with whether one is “common” or not “common.”   As for speaking English, there are different tones, of speaking the language, even if you have a perfect, “standard” Canadian accent that are associated with class, region and the time one arrives in this part of the world.  The HK Mallrat voice is highly influenced by HK movies and many young women (as in under 40) who watch these movies have that kind of voice.  I have also come in contact with Italian Canadians over 50, who for some reason sound like Martin Scorsese or Rudy Guiliani, both New Yorkers of Italian descent.  Interesting, no?

Forcing people to identify as plain Canadian, Chinese-Canadian, CBC, or whatever is like taking the Newfoundlander, Quebecois or Texan identities away and forcing people there to call themselves Canadian or American. Many people from these regions consider themselves Canadian/American SECOND (even if the stereotypes, especially with Newfoundlanders, are negative). It’s like telling someone who is metrosexual that he’s really in the closet and should come out.  It’s questioning an already-outed gay person’s sexuality.  Don’t you see anything wrong with that?